Student scientists honored for academic achievement

The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School honored student scientists during the 2024 Student Achievement and Leadership Awards Ceremony on Thursday, May 30. 

MD/PhD student Eric Romo accepted the 2024 Chancellor’s Award, the highest award presented to a member of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences graduating class, while his parents smiled from ear to ear.

Described by his thesis advisor Peter Friedmann, MD, MPH, as a smart, detail-oriented and compassionate scientist, Romo researched the impact of syringe service programs on the prevalence of hepatitis C in rural populations and unveiled a critical need for expanding the programs.

“It’s really an honor to be here at UMass Chan with so many talented scientists and physician-scientists. I’m blown away that I was selected for this award,” said Romo, who will be heading to Boston Medical Center for his family medicine residency while his wife, Lindsay Romo, MD/PhD’19, works nearby at Boston Children’s Hospital. “My parents are here, and they encouraged me to pursue anything I want to do in education ever since I was a kid. I couldn’t have done this without family and friends.”

Mary Ellen Lane, PhD, the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Biomedical Sciences, professor of neurobiology and dean of the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, presented MD/PhD students Alysia Bryll and Henry Pratt with the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Thesis Research. 

Bryll was recognized for innovative work that led to the discovery of a novel mechanism that uses chromatin regulation to control RNA transcription. Dean Lane said Bryll’s work uncovered a feedback mechanism linking post-transcriptional RNA decay to transcriptional control by a chromatin structure. She will serve her residency in pathology at UMass Chan.

Pratt was acknowledged for dissertation work that bridged the gap between vast computational data analysis and practical human medicine, tackling the challenges of identifying causative genetic variations and non-coding sequences. Dean Lane said Pratt’s work was instrumental in developing novel algorithms and software crucial to constructing the encyclopedia of non-coding DNA elements or the ENCODE project which enabled the accessibility of complex genomic data to broader scientific and clinical audiences. He will serve his residency in internal medicine at Yale University.

“While economic and vocational outcomes are important, the core purposes of a PhD extend further,” said Lane. “It’s about stewardship of the discipline—ensuring that core knowledge and methodologies not only persist but advance. Our graduates, on average and with some variation by field, author about four peer-reviewed publications from their graduate work, including one to two lead author peer-reviewed publications. Your work sustains our institutional research mission and contributes to the impact we have in the advancement of science.”

In closing remarks, Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, reminded members of the Class of 2024 to bask in their achievements. 

“The most important thing that the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences produces is not papers, patents or grants, but it's you—the graduates themselves. The accomplishments of our students reflect this institution in the fact that they keep becoming more and more impressive, more and more impactful.”

Award recipients, some of whom will earn their degrees during Commencement on Sunday, June 2, are: