Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences celebrated students in the Class of 2025 for their academic achievements during its May 14 convocation ceremony.
The ceremony honored students who are graduating with their master’s degrees, as well as those who earned special awards and prizes for their accomplishments in research, scholarship and service. The ceremony also recognized exemplary graduate school faculty.
Dr. Ting Jia (Ph.D. ’08), founder and managing member of Octagon Capital, won the 2025 Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences Award of Distinction. This award honors alumni who have demonstrated exceptional achievements and outstanding contributions to biomedical research and education.
2025 Award Winners:
DISTINGUISHED STUDENT COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER AWARD
Chiara D. Mancinelli
Pharmacology Program
(Mentor: David Eliezer, Ph.D.)
JULIAN R. RACHELE PRIZE
Mir Zainab Howlader, “Lymphatic Dysfunction in Lupus Contributes to Cutaneous Photosensitivity And Lymph Node B Cell Responses.” Journal of Clinical Investigation. (Mentor: Dr. Theresa T. Lu, M.D., Ph.D.)
Kathleen Mills, “GM-CSF-Mediated Epithelial-Immune Cell Cross-Talk Orchestrates Pulmonary Immunity to Aspergillus fumigatus.” Science Immunology. (Mentor: Dr. Tobias Hohl, M.D., Ph.D.).
DAVID P. HAJJAR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AND MENTORING AWARD
Yael David, Ph.D.
Associate Member, Sloan Kettering Institute
Pharmacology Program
PROGRAM-SPECIFIC TEACHING AND MENTORING AWARDS
Jeremy Dittman, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biochemistry
Physiology, Biophysics and Systems Biology Program
Lonny Levin, Ph.D.
Professor of Pharmacology
Pharmacology Program
STUDENT SERVICE AWARDS
Louisa Schilling and Erica Bulzomi
Neuroscience Program
In recognition of their efforts and dedication to “Brain Day,” an immersive, educational program teaching brain awareness at NYC public elementary schools.
Celeste Parra Bravo
Neuroscience Program
In recognition of her mentorship of incoming first-year Ph,D. students in the graduate school near-peer mentorship program and at the New York Academy of Sciences.
Vincent Du Vigneaud Research Symposium Awards
ORAL PRESENTATION AWARDS
Dana Goerzen “Machine Learning-Enabled Liquid Biopsy Identifies Brain Tumors via Systemic Immune and Tumor Microenvironment Signature.” (PI: Daniel Heller)
Wanyi Chen “Trastuzumab Deruxtecan (T-DXd) Resistance via Loss of HER2 Expression and Binding.” (PI: Sarat Chandarlapaty)
POSTER PRESENTATION AWARD - FIRST YEAR
Sebastian Brylka “Optimizing Missing Data Detection in Commercial Health Data." (PI: Samprit Banerjee)
POSTER PRESENTATION AWARDS - SECOND YEAR AND ABOVE
Anna Peczak “Exploring potential mechanisms by which the E167K variant of TM6SF2 increases MASLD predisposition in humans.” (PI: Robert Schwartz)
Guillermo Hoppe-Elsholz “Molecular Analysis of Enterococcus faecalis with Reduced Susceptibility to Ampicillin Associated with a Frameshift Deletion in pbp4.” (PI: Cesar Arias)
Jaina Wollowitz “Machine Perception-Based Prediction of Pregnancy Loss.” (PI: Daniel Heller)