Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences held its 2009 Convocation ceremonies on June 2. Graduate School leadership, including Dr. David Hajjar, dean; Dr. Randi Silver, associate dean; and Francoise Freyre, assistant dean, presented the following awards for special achievement.
Col. Geoffrey Ling, M.D., Ph.D., recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award, with Dr. Hajjar.
Distinguished Alumnus Award
Col. Geoffrey Ling, M.D., Ph.D.
Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring Award
Marilyn D. Resh, Ph.D.
Distinguished Student Commencement Speaker Award
Anne Marie Hein
Vincent du Vigneaud Award
Nikki Charles, "Nitric Oxide in the Glioma Stem Cell Niche" (Professor Eric Holland)
Nikki Charles, a recipient of the Vincent du Vigneaud Award, with Dr. Hajjar.
Jennifer Chien, "Identification of Notch Receptor Binding Peptides Using Whole Cell Planning Phage Display" (Professor Yueming Li)
Chao Shi, "CCR2-Mediated Signals Are Dispensable for Inflammatory Monocyte Trafficking Into Liver During Listeria Monocytogenes Infection" (Professor Eric Pamer)
Rebecca-Ahrens Nicklas, "Dynamic Clamp Method to Unmask Arrhythmias in Murine Cardiac Myocytes" (Professor David Christini)
Kang Chen, "Immunoglobulin D Enhances Immune Surveillance by Activating Antimicrobial, Pro- Inflammatory and B Cell-Stimulating Programs in Basophils" (Professor Andrea Cerutti)
Vasilena Gocheva, "Tumor-Associated Macrophages Upregulate Cathepsin Proteases B and S to Promote Cancer Growth and Invasion" (Professor Johanna Joyce)
Vasilena Gocheva, a recipient of the Vincent du Vigneaud Award, with Dr. Hajjar.
Vincent du Vigneaud First-Year Award
Christina Maksymiuk, "The Protective Effects of SS-31 in Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion" (Professor Hazel Szeto)
Julian R. Rachele Prize
Gloria Kwon, "The Endoderm of the Mouse Embryo Arises by Dynamic Widespread Intercalation of Embryonic Lineages" Developmental Cell (Dr. Anna-Katerina Hadjantonakis)
Andrea Hooper, "Engraftment and Reconstitution of Hematopoiesis is Dependent on VEGFR2-Mediated Regeneration of Sinusoidal Endothelial Cells" Cell Stem Cell (Dr. Shahin Rafii)
Photography by Amelia Panico.