2022 Dean’s Award winners announced

L-R: Stephanie Cajigas, Larry Marnett, Yasminye Pettway, Nicholas Shealy, Emilie Fisher, Emily Overway, Jeanette Miller, Zahra Farahbakshs, Rebecca Buchanan. Tierney Baum not pictured. — L-R: Stephanie Cajigas, Dean Larry Marnett, Yasminye Pettway, Nicholas Shealy, Emilie Fisher, Emily Overway, Jeanette Miller, Zahra Farahbakhsh, Rebecca Buchanan. Tierney Baum not pictured.

By Lorena Infante Lara

Thanks to their high academic and scientific achievement, nine graduate students have been named recipients of the 2022 Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in Graduate Studies. The students were recognized for the originality, significance, and rigor of their dissertation research.

The awardees were selected by a committee made up of the directors of graduate studies for each of the Ph.D.-granting programs in the School of Medicine and was chaired by Bruce Carter, professor of biochemistry. Each awardee will receive $5,000 in stipend support for each of the next two years.

“We are so pleased to recognize students who have excelled in their graduate training programs,” said Larry Marnett, dean of Basic Sciences and Mary Geddes Stahlman Chair in Cancer Research. “Each year the competition for the Dean’s Award is high, and this year was no exception. These students have accomplished a great deal, not only in the laboratory but as members of our community. We are fortunate to have them as colleagues.”

The awardees, their programs, and mentors are:

Nicholas Shealy, Microbe-Host Interactions. Advised by Dr. Mariana Byndloss.
Tierney Baum, Cell and Developmental Biology. Advised by Vivian Gama.
Stephanie Cajigas, Neuroscience. Advised by Erin Calipari.
Jeanette Miller, Microbe-Host Interactions. Advised by Eric Skaar.
Emilie Fisher, Molecular Pathology and Immunology. Advised by Jeff Rathmell.
Yasminye Pettway, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. Advised by Dr. Al Powers.
Zahra Farahbakhsh, Neuroscience. Advised by Cody Siciliano.
Emily Overway, Molecular Physiology and Biophysics. Advised by Richard O’Brien.
Rebecca Buchanan, Neuroscience. Advised by Fiona Harrison.

“Our students are truly amazing!” said Carter. “I always feel very inspired after reading their applications.”

All students in Ph.D. programs tied to the School of Medicine are eligible for nomination, including students working on the Ph.D. portion of the Medical Scientist Training Program, the School of Medicine’s M.D./Ph.D. program.

Recipients are selected based on research excellence, evidenced by fellowship awards, publications, and presentations at conferences. The awardees demonstrate a mastery of their disciplines through a track record of high achievement in their classes and of strong performances in their qualifying exams and committee meetings.