Parinaz Fathi, a Rockville native who graduated from the University of Maryland in 2015 before moving on to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to complete her Ph.D.in 2020, has been named in the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 List in the Science category. She now works an independent research scholar (PI) at NIH.

Fathi developed VIPER (Vital Injury Protein Evaluation for Recovery), a powerful tool that can predict survival in cases of traumatic injury. Per the University of Maryland, “As an independent research scholar at the National Institutes of Health, Fathi leads a team that creates miniature organ models to study immune-related conditions, and examines how biological nanoparticles play a role in cancer and autoimmune diseases, with the goal of eventually developing therapeutic interventions. She likes creating “technology that could improve people’s health and well-being,” Fathi told NIH earlier this year.” She also received the Rising Terp Award from the Alumni Association in 2024.

Per Forbes, “Parinaz Fathi developed “VIPER,” a powerful tool that can predict survival in patients by identifying critical biomarkers linked to traumatic injuries. Now, Fathi is building tools to understand why the immune system sometimes attacks healthy tissues or ignores cancer cells, a crucial step in developing therapies for these conditions.”