DrMaria Lastra Cagigas

Dr Lastra Cagigas provides high-quality teaching and research training through supervision of PhD candidates, MD students, postdoctoral researchers, and research assistants. Her mentees have secured major competitive scholarships, including the Heart Foundation Postgraduate Scholarship, best-presentation awards, and co-authorship on multiple peer-reviewed publications. She received the SEMCAN Good Mentor Award, recognising her as one of the top early-career supervisors at the University of Sydney. Her teaching emphasises mechanistic reasoning, hands-on laboratory training, and research translation. She contributes to capacity building across the Faculty by training clinicians in healthspan biology and mentoring a growing cohort of early-career scientists in preventive healthcare.