Outstanding Students Honored at Convocation

WCGSMS Convocation 2016

On the eve of their commencement, students from Weill Cornell Medical College and Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences were recognized for their outstanding achievements.

More than 60 medical and graduate students received special awards, prizes, certificates and the Weill Cornell Medical College seal during two ceremonies on May 24 in Uris Auditorium. The awards acknowledge the students' exceptional academic achievement, scholarship, research, teaching and service. The ceremony also honored other students, alumni, faculty and staff.

The following is a complete list of all of the award winners:

Weill Cornell Medical College

Student Awards

The Coryell Prize in Surgery
Matthew Conti

The Coryell Prize in Medicine
Lusha Wei Liang

Alfred Moritz Michaelis Prize in Medicine
Rachel Adele Venn

Oskar Diethelm Prize for Excellence in Psychiatry
Matthew Michael Sheehan

The Joan Severino Parisi Prize in Internal Medicine
Samuel Decker Woodworth

The David and Gladys Drusin Memorial Prize
Milna Rose Rufin

The T. Campbell Thompson Prize for Excellence in Orthopedic Surgery
Matthew Conti

The Mitchell Spivak Memorial Prize in Pediatrics
Jordan Elizabeth Roberts

The Gustav Seeligmann Prize for Efficiency in Obstetrics
Stephanie Ann Sansone

The Henry C. and Anne Hayworth First Honor Prize
Ilana Scandariato

The Sidney and Viola Borkon Memorial Prize
Joseph Koressel

The George S. Meister Prize in Pediatrics
Elizabeth Peale Cowell

The Elise Strang L'Esperance Prize in Public Health
Josephine Andree Clara Cool
Stephanie Lauren Gold

The George G. Reader Prize in Public Health
Daniel Leon Kornberg
James Xiao Wang

The G. Thomas Shires II Prize in Surgery
Emma Vartanian

The Alan Van Poznak Award for Excellence in Anesthesiology
Yifan Xu (Absentia)

The Richard N. Kohl Prize for Excellence in Psychiatry
Pedro Antonio Duran, Jr.

The David Clayson Prize for Creativity
Francesco Michelassi

The Charles Horn Prize
Noreen Shaikh

The Gustave J. Noback Memorial Prize in Anatomy
David Cassagnol

The Gustave J. Noback Memorial Fund for Advanced Study and Teaching in the Field of Anatomy
Genevieve Chartrand

The Weiss Prize for Excellence in Clinical Medicine
William Randal Shrauner

The Medical Society of the State of New York award
Eda Dou

The Yvette and Seymour Feil Prize in Medicine
Mike Tzuhen Wei

The William C. Thro Memorial Prize
Scott Ward Connors

The Arthur Palmer Prize for Efficiency in Otorhinolaryngology
Wesley Davison

The Herman L. Jacobius Prize in Pathology
Kartik Viswanathan

The Jay Lawrence Award for Clinical Proficiency in Infectious Diseases
Milna Rose Rufin

The Faith Stewart-Gordon Prize for Excellence in Rehabilitation Medicine
Marco Masci

The Anthony Seth Werner, M.D., Memorial Prize
Akanksha Vinay Vaidya

The Barbara Schmalzriedt Gast Memorial Fund for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Jordan Elizabeth Roberts

The Edward Norton Prize in Ophthalmology
Kelley Jean Bohm

The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine's Excellence in Emergency Medicine Award
Luis Alberto Puchi

The E. Darracott Vaughan, Jr. Prize
Michael Louis Schulster

The American Academy of Neurology Medical Student Prize for Excellence in Neurology
Emily Rachel Grodinsky

The William J. Ledger Prize in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Jennifer Leigh Bender

The Fabrizio Michelassi Medical Student Annual Award
Stefanie Paige Lazow

The Frederick M. Brown, M.D. Award for Allergy and Immunology
Charlie Gene Buffie

The Dean's Research Award
Stephanie Lauren Gold
Matthew Michael Sheehan

The Gustavo Cudkowicz Memorial Prize in Immunobiology
Matthew Michael Sheehan

The Sondra Lee Shaw Memorial Prize
William Lou

The Harold G. Wolff Research Prize
Leslie Walker Hotchkiss

The Medical Student Executive Council Award
Noreen Shaikh

The Paul Sherlock Prize in Internal Medicine
Nicholas Fries Maston

The John Metcalf Polk Prizes
Evan Bander
Kunal Sanatkumar Patel
Emma Vartanian

Glasgow-Rubin Memorial Achievement
Jaclyn Lee Estes
Jordan Roberts
Rachel Adele Venn

Janet M. Glasgow Memorial Award
Emma Elizabeth Vartanian

The Hayworth-Gold Award for Excellence in Medical Professionalism
Jonathan Bar (Absentia)
Salvatore D'Amato
David Dillon

The Compassionate Physician Award
Pedro Antonio Duran, Jr.

The Good Physician Award
Myles Frank Melton

The Leonard P. Tow Humanism Awards
Pouya Jamshidi
Dr. Susan Ball

Teaching Awards

Class of 1952 Resident Physician Prize
Dr. Bryant Webb

The House Staff Teaching Award
Dr. Jaime Fineman (Absentia)
Dr. Josh Smith

The Senior List

  • Dr. David Berlin, associate professor of clinical medicine
  • Dr. Pamela Charney, professor of clinical medicine, professor of medicine in clinical obstetrics and gynecology
  • Dr. Todd Cutler, assistant professor of medicine
  • Dr. Ernie Esquivel, assistant professor of medicine
  • Dr. Domenick Falcone, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, associate professor of cell and developmental biology
  • Dr. Dimitri Francois, assistant professor of psychiatry
  • Dr. Jana Gordon-Eliott, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry
  • Dr. Thanakorn Jirasevinda, associate professor of pediatrics
  • Dr. Yoon Kang, the Richard P. Cohen, MD. Associate Professor of Medical Education, associate professor of medicine
  • Dr. Barry Kosofsky, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Professor of Pediatrics, professor of pediatrics, professor of neurology, professor of neuroscience, professor of pediatrics in radiology
  • Dr. Matthew McCarthy, assistant professor of medicine
  • Dr. Estomih Mtui, professor of anatomy in radiology
  • Dr. Joseph Murray, associate professor of clinical psychiatry
  • Dr. Anthony Ogedegbe, assistant professor of clinical medicine
  • Dr. Joseph Safdieh, associate professor of neurology
  • Dr. Debra Taubel, associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology

The First Year Teaching Award
Drs. Lawrence Palmer and Robert Kim

The Second Year Teaching Award
Dr. Joseph Safdieh

Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award of Alpha Omega Alpha
Dr. Lawrence Levin

The Charles L. Bardes, M.D. Teaching Prize
Dr. Lonny Levin

The Richard A. Herrmann, M.D. Teaching Award
Dr. Joseph Safdieh

The Elliot Hochstein Teaching Award
Dr. Joseph Safdieh

Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences

WCGSMS Convocation 2016

2016 Distinguished Alumnus
Lisa S. Coico

2016 Distinguished Student Commencement Speaker Award
Natalya Gertsik

2016 Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring Award
David Scheinberg

2016 Student Service Award
Alexandra Cohen
Sara DiNapoli
Michael V. LeVine

2016 Vincent Du Vigneaud Research Symposium

2016 Vincent du Vigneaud Student Talk Award

  • First Place
    Emily Mercer, "Evidence that HSPB7 Chaperone Coordinates Cardiac Cytoskeletal Turnover." (Professor Todd Evans)
  • Second Place
    Bharat Vaidyanathan,"The Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Controls Cell-Fate Decisions in B Cells." (Professor Jayanta Chaudhuri)

2016 Vincent du Vigneaud First-Year Poster Presenter Award

  • First Place
    R. Lea Sanford, "Membranes Matter: Predicting Drug Toxicity." (Professor Olaf Andersen)
  • Second Place
    Thomas Li, "P75 Positive Tumor Fibroblasts Promote Tumor Metastasis in a Mouse Model of Breast Cancer." (Professor Barbara Hempstead)

2016 Vincent du Vigneaud Second-Year and Above Poster Award

  • First Place
    Ron S. Gejman, "A High-Throughput, Cell-Based Method for Screening T Cell Receptor Mimic Antibodies Against Major Histocompatibility Complex Ligands." (Professor David Scheinberg)
  • Second Place
    Thomas Galassi, "Investigating and Monitoring Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease with a Carbon Nanotube Optical Reporter." (Professor Daniel Heller)

2016 Julian R. Rachele Prize

  • Faranak Fattahi, "Deriving Human ENS Lineages for Cell Therapy and Drug Discovery in Hirschsprung Disease." Nature 531, 105–109 (2016) (Professor Lorenz Studer)
  • Kari Fischer, "Epithelial-to-mesenchymal Transition is not Required for Lung Metastasis But Contributes to Chemoresistance." Nature 527, 472–476 (2015) (Professor Vivek Mittal)

Physician Assistant Student and Faculty Awards

  • Academic Excellence Award Pre-Clinical
    Oluyombo O. Ojebiyi
  • Academic Excellence Award Clinical
    Jamie Hannigan
  • Academic Excellence Award Clinical
    Shauna Theresa Linn
  • Peer Award
    Frank J. Jackson
  • Research Excellence Award
    Shauna Theresa Linn
  • Pre-Clinical Instructor Award
    Gerald T. Simons, CRT, PA-C, MPAS
  • Clinical Instructor Award
    Stephan C. Lansey, MD

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