GSBS News

A UMass Medical School postdoctoral research associate in the Grunwald Lab, Li-Chun Tu, has received a National Institutes of Health Pathway to Independence (K99/R00) Award.

A grateful alumna and her husband have pledged $2 million to UMass Medical School to advance amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and neuroscience research. The gift from Diane M. (Casey) Riccio, PhD, GSBS ’03, and her husband, Dan Riccio, of Los Gatos, Calif., comes four years after the couple made a $1 million gift to UMMS for ALS research, which was then the single largest alumni donation in the history of the medical school.

The Society for Neuroscience has named Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences student Ciearra Smith a Neuroscience Scholar. One of only 15 students nationwide selected for the prestigious fellowship, Smith is researching genetic underpinnings of nicotine dependence and withdrawal in the lab of Paul Gardner, PhD.

Ciearra Smith has been selected by the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) as a Fellow in the Neuroscience Scholars Program (NSP).  The NSP provides neuroscience trainees from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds with career development and networking opportunities to help them reach their career goals.  Only 15 such fellows were selected from applicants across the United States.  The award will pay for Ciearra to travel to the next two Annual Meetings of the SFN and will provide her a formal mentoring team with experience in diversity mentoring.  They also will present their work at the SFN meeting in an NSP-specific poster session.  

More information: http://www.sfn.org/careers-and-training/diversity-programs/neuroscience-scholars-program

Hawa Abu and Ariel Beccia - two students in the CPHR program - were awarded scholarships to attend the 2017 PCORI Annual Meeting “Delivering Results, Informing Choice” from October 31st-November 2nd 2017. 

UMMS postdocs named American Cancer Society Fellows: Caitlin Brown, PhD; Amanda Monahan, PhD; and Gregoriy Dokshin, PhD, postdocs at UMass Medical School, have been named 2017 American Cancer Society Fellows.

The students, faculty and staff of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences have accomplished in a few years what others might have considered impossible, said Dean Anthony Carruthers at the GSBS Celebration of Student Achievement on Thursday, June 1.

Jeanne McKeon, PhD, and Bruno Miguel da Cruz Godinho, PhD, have each received $100,000 from the ALS Association to support research of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The GSBS held its inaugural GSBS Alumni Reunion on Saturday May 6th in collaboration with the Alumni Office. This first-ever GSBS Reunion, which attracted 28 of our alumni from across the country.

PhD candidate Ami Ashar-Patel was awarded a competitive Burroughs Wellcome Fund scholarship to attend the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) Certificate in Bioscience Management Program. Her experience was also supported by a career development award, offered by the GSBS Graduate Student Body Committee.

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)/Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program has selected Larisa Kamga for a FASEB Mentored Poster/Platform Presenter Award to present her work at The American Association of Immunologists Meeting to be held in Washington, DC, May 12-16, 2017. 

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences student Sumeet Nayak is adding communications and public engagement skills to his portfolio as a scientist-in-training. The Genetics Society of America has named Nayak the 2017 co-chair of its communication and outreach committee.

As Program Director for Early Career Scientist Engagement for the Genetics Society of America (GSA), Dr. Hall will be establishing a GSA early career scientist steering committee led by graduate student and postdoc members of the scientific society. Her goals are to enhance the voices of early career scientists within the society, and tackle national challenges facing the next generation of scientists.

Learn more via this interview of Sonia Hall, postdoctoral fellow in the GSBS Center for Biomedical Career Development. http://genestogenomes.org/early-career-scientist-engagement-sonia-hall/

Cara Weismann, PhD, will unify her love of science with her passion for communication and collaboration when she begins a fellowship sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science this month.

Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences student Hatem Elif Kamber Kaya was honored to have two speaking engagements at The Allied Genetics Conference, the annual national meeting of the Genetics Society of America held in Orlando from July 13 to 17.

The Clinical and Population Health Research program recently received approval from the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) to start a student ISPE chapter at UMMS. This student chapter will meet regularly to discuss pharmacoepidemiology methods, share research in progress, and provide peer review. The faculty co-advisors are Kate Lapane and Christine Ulbricht. All students interested in learning more about the chapter are invited to participate in a kickoff meeting at 12 PM on Wednesday, May 4, in AS7-2069. Please RSVP to Christine Ulbricht by Monday, May 2: christine.ulbricht@umassmed.edu

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)/Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program has selected Andrea López-Cepero for a Mentored Poster/Platform Travel Award to present her work at Experimental Biology 2016, in April 2016, in San Diego, CA. 

Andrea López-Cepero is a Clinical and Population Health Research Pathway student in the Pathway to Graduate Study Program.

Andrea López-Cepero, Pathway to Graduate Study Program - Clinical and Population Health Research Pathway student, has been named a finalist in the American Society for Nutrition’s (ASN) Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Competition, an event that recognizes the highest scoring research presented by students and young investigators at ASN’s Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology 2016. 

More than 1,000 abstracts were submitted by students and postdoctoral fellows and the Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Competition aims to recognize the top 20% highest scoring abstracts as finalists. Andrea's abstract is titled Associations between dysfunctional eating behaviors and cardiovascular risk among Latinos and will be presented at a poster competition to be held on April 2 at Experimental Biology 2016.

Lauren Powell, a PhD Candidate in the CPHR program, will serve as a Visiting Fellow at the Office of Health Disparities Research at The Mayo Clinic's Scottsdale, AZ campus in February 2016. She will gain practical experience and build upon her current dissertation work by exploring how to reduce health disparities through improving research literacy in the Phoenix African-American community. The concept of research literacy was developed in the work she's done with her mentor, Dr. Stephenie Lemon and the Community Engagement Core of the Center for Health Equity Intervention Research. At Mayo Clinic, she will be working with Drs. Scott Leischow and Kenneth Poole of the Department of Research on Health Equity & Community Health, to create and facilitate a workshop on explaining the principles of research and research participation for parishioners in Phoenix-area African-American churches. 

Mollie Wood, MPH announced as winner of the 2015 SPER Student Prize Paper Award for her paper entitled “Prenatal triptan exposure increases externalizing behaviors at three years: results from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.”

The Boston Business Journal announced the 20 recipients of its 2015 Women to Watch in Science and Technology awards. They are driven and influential leaders and mentors in the community.

Natasha Dolgin, an MD/PhD student in the CPHR doctoral program, has been selected to be a guest editor of American Medical Association Virtual Mentor during the 2015-2016 academic year. Natasha will attend a meeting in Chicago in February as part of this experience.

The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences honored 44 newly qualified PhD candidates with a formal ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 17, marking the milestone achievement as they transition from classroom-based learning to candidacy for a doctoral degree. The event recognized those who have successfully completed the Qualifying Exam.

Read full story and see photos from event on UMassMedNow

Tariana V. Little, a doctoral student in the CPHR program, has been selected to receive a highly competitive travel award to present her work at the 142nd American Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana in November 2014.

Informal GSBS learning communities provide essential teaching opportunities

Tariana Little presented her research, "Sin Provecho: Food Insecurity and Migration Factors among Caribbean Latinos in Massachusetts" at the Hispanic-Serving Health Professions Schools (HSHPS) Professional Development Workshop, held on July 24-25, 2014 at the HHS/NIH in Bethesda, MD

For the past few years, GSBS Cares has organized a “build day” with Habitat for Humanity. This year, students spent the day working in Wayland alongside the future homeowner. In addition to their generous contribution of time, GSBS Cares also made a donation to local chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

GSBS Alumna Diane M. (Casey) Riccio, PhD ’03, and her husband, Dan Riccio, of Los Gatos, Calif make largest ever alumni donation to UMMS to support ALS research.

Read full story here: http://www.umassmed.edu/news/news-archives/2014/07/Inspired-by-Gov-Cellucci-Riccios-give-1-million-for-ALS-research-at-UMMS/

Several graduates of the MD/PhD Program at UMass Medical School have been inducted into the AOA Honor Medical Society. Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society, a professional medical organization, recognizes and advocates for excellence in scholarship and the highest ideals in the profession of medicine. 

The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences paused to mark the end of another academic year and recognize outstanding students at the Celebration of Student Achievement on Thursday, May 29. Students were honored for academic achievement, mentoring, service and scholarship. See

Tariana Little, CPHR student, will present her poster, "Studying Experiences of Racism among African Americans in Tallahassee, Florida A Community University Collaboration" at the 142nd APHA Annual Meeting "Healthography How Where You Live Affects Your Health and Well Being" to

The MD PhD Program held their 9th Annual Research Retreat on Wednesday, April 16th. Once again, the students in the program spearheaded the effort to organize and facilitate this event. It was a great success with attendees that included students,

Jennifer MacDonald earns state higher education award for community service, academic achievement.Read full story on UMass Med Now http www.umassmed.edu news news archives 2014 05 Rising UMMS physicianscientist one of 29 Who Shine in Mass 0none2014 05 06Rising UMMS physician

MD PhD student, Peter Cruz Gordillo, has been awarded a Medical Student Rotation Award from the Conquer Cancer Foundation (CCF) of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). ASCO is the largest professional organization representing all oncology healthcare subspecialties. Peter

Lauren Powell, a first year graduate student in the Clinical and Population Health doctoral program was awarded the 2014 2015 Hope Scholarship. The Hope Scholarships are awarded to New England minority students, enrolled in high school, college, medical, graduate or

Alan Rathbun, who successfully defended his dissertation last week, has been selected to receive a highly competitive travel award to present his work at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology EULAR 2014 in Paris, France in June 2014. 0none2014 04

Gillian Griffith's work entitled Gender Differences in Psychiatric Comorbidity and Treatment Outcomes in a Medicaid Insured, Opioid Dependent Population was accepted for a podium presentation at the Gender Health Interest Group at Academy Health in June in San Diego, CA.

Mollie Wood, a doctoral student in the CPHR program, has been selected to receive a Travel Award to attend the Society of Epidemiologic Research 47th Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington in June 2014. These awards are highly competitive and will

Emma Watson (thesis mentor Dr. Marian Walhout) and Colin Conine (thesis mentor Dr. Craig Mello) are recipients of the 2014 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award. This award, established in 2000, recognizes outstanding achievement during graduate studies in the biological

CPHR student Tariana Little was awarded a Travel Award to present her research at the Latina Researchers Conference, April 3 5, 2014 in New York City. Her poster is entitled "Everyday Discrimination, Family Relations, and Psychological Distress among Latina os".

Tariana Little, a Ph.D. student in the CPHR program, was selected as a 2014 Health Equity Scholars Program (HESP) Intern for EquityRx. The 6 month internship includes an orientation at the NIH's National Library of Medicine web based curriculum of

Tariana Little, CPHR student, will chair the panel "Lessons from the 2013 Ethnographic Field School in Tallahassee, Florida", and orally co present on "Becoming Ethnographers Learning and Negotiating Identities in the Field" as well as co present on "Cultural Meaning

Lauren Powell, CPHR Student, selected to serve as Student Meeting Director at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, "Think Global, Act Local Best Practices Around the World."  To be held November 2 6, 2013 in Boston. 127left2013 10 17Lauren Powell selected

Tariana Little, CPHR student, will present her poster, "Studying Experiences of Racism among African Americans in Tallahassee, Florida A Community University Collaboration" at the 3rd Annual UMCCTS Community Engagement and Research Symposium, “Community Engaged Research Exploring the Reach, Impact and Value” to be held

CPHR student Gioia Persuitte has a first author publication in Nutrients. The article is available to read at http www.mdpi.com 2072 6643 5 10 3910. It was one of four manuscripts that she worked on during her independent study over

Lauren Powell, a Ph.D. student in the CPHR program on the Worcester campus, has received a supplemental grant from NIH NIMHD through CHEIR. The project is an extension of the work of CHEIR community engagement core independent project, which is

Wednesday, September 18, 2013 we celebrated with a inaugural ceremony recognizing all current GSBS students who have been admitted to doctoral candidacy. Over 240 students, faculty and staff attended the ceremony which was watched live by viewers in 10 states across the nation

The Health Promotion & Wellness in Developmental Disabilities Research Group at the UMMS E.K. Shriver Center was recently awarded a three year grant from the Maternal Child Health Bureau to establish a national research network on healthy weight in children

Alan M. Rathbun, a PhD candidate in the CPHR program, was selected as the recipient of the 2013 Rheumatology Research Foundation Student Achievement Award. The award is related to work from the second aim of his doctoral dissertation, "Temporal Associations

We will be presenting the following (and other) abstract(s) at the Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference (MESC) in Charleston, South Carolina, September 10, 2013.   Developing and Reporting Performance Metrics for Exchange and Medicaid Systems Responsible Lead and co authors presenters

The prestigious NIH Medical Scientist Training Grant was awarded to the MD PhD Program at UMass in July 2013. This training grant will help support the exceptional students enrolled in the program here in addition to the institutional funding that

Lauren Powell, a Pathways to Graduate Study Program student, has been selected as a Boston Schweitzer Fellow. The Albert Schweitzer Fellows will spend the next year learning to effectively address the social factors that impact health, and developing lifelong leadership

CPHR doctoral student Sherry Xiao, MPH won a poster competition in nutritional epidemiology at the Annual Meeting of Experimental Biology 2013. The title of the poster is "Acid lowering agent intake and Vitamin B12 status among elderly Puerto Rican Adults".

Lisa Lines, a doctoral student in the CPHR program, was recently awarded a Health Services Dissertation grant from the Agency Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This grant entitled “Outpatient Emergency Department Utilization Prevalence and Predictive Models” will support her dissertation

Mollie Wood (PhD student) and Dan Frendl (MD PhD student) were both awarded Travel Awards from the International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology to present their work at the 29th International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology & Therapeutic Risk Management. 0none2013 05 28CPHR Doctoral

Cami Benedicto Pimentel, a doctoral student in the CPHR program, has been named as a recipient of the Alice S. Hersh Student Scholarship. The award provides free registration to attend the 2013 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting, June 23 25 in

Tariana Little has been selected to participate in the 2013 Ethnographic Field School in Tallahassee, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Tariana will attend the five week program that provides training in a wide range of

The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences hosted its 3rd annual Celebration of Student Achievement on Friday, June 1, 2012. Students and graduates were recognized for outstanding achievement in a variety of academic and co curricular endeavors. 2012 Graduates were joined

2008 graduate, Hsien Sung Huang, Ph.D., has discovered topoisomerase inhibitors that can unsilence Ube3a in several regions of the central nervous system such as hippocampus, striatum, cerebral cortex, cerebellum and spinal cord. Ube3a is paternally imprinted and maternally active. Loss

Lisa Lines won a student travel award to attend the International Conference on Health Policy Statistics in Cleveland in October. At the conference, she presented a poster entitled "Quantile Regression Analysis of the Effect of Health Maintenance Organization Enrollment on

Yendelela Cuffee MPH, is a fourth year student in the CPHR program with an interest in prevention and management of cardiovascular disease among African Americans. She was recently awarded a Health Services Dissertation grant from the Agency Healthcare Research and

M.D. Ph.D. candidate Keith Romano received the Journal of Biological Chemistry Herbert Tabor Young Investigator Award at the 25th annual symposium of the Protein Society, which was held July 23 27 in Boston. Read full article on JBC website. 0none2011 07

Dr. Gellar has accepted a tenure track assistant professor position in Public Health Nutrition at the University of Tennessee. She will continue to conduct research which focuses on the behavioral and physiological factors associated with nutritional health status and how

The Hope Scholarship is awarded by the Biomedical Science Careers Program (BSCP) at Harvard. The Biomedical Science Careers Program (BSCP), founded in 1991, was incorporated as a not for profit organization in 1994. BSCP's first student conference took place in

MD PhD Student, Jen MacDonald, wins a Visions Community Award, presented by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for her volunteer work at two free medical clinics.  Read full article here  http www.telegram.com apps pbcs.dll article?AID= 20110210 NEWS 102100900 1116 0none2011 02 10MD PhD

Shira Fischer's recent publication in the Journal of the Americal Medical Information Association, Impact of health information technology interventions to improve medication laboratory monitoring for ambulatory patients a systematic review, was featured this week in the What's New this Week (11 10 2010)

Melissa Matzelle, a Cell Biology graduate student in the lab of Ellen Gravallese, Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology and Chief of Rheumatology at UMass Memorial, was awarded the Abbott Bioresearch Fellowship in Translational Science. This award will support Melissa's

Melissa Matzelle, PhD student, will give an oral presentation at the American College of Rheumatology national meeting in Atlanta, Georgia in a Concurrent Session on RA pathogenesis. Melissa is studying pathogenic mechanisms of articular bone destruction in arthritis in Dr.

Dr. Potts (2010 CPHR Graduate) has accepted a position as a Biostatistician at the Global Medical Affairs branch of Biogen Idec in Wellesley, MA. He will participate in multiple Phase IV studies, including involvement in study design discussions and running

Dr. Nguyen has accepted an Associate Research Scientist position in the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. As part of the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) research team, Dr. Nguyen will

The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences hosted the first annual Celebration of Student Achievement on Friday, June 4, 2010. Students and graduates were recognized for outstanding achievement in a variety of academic and co curricular endeavors. 2010 Graduates were joined

Tanya Lord, MPH, is a fourth year student in the CPHR program with an interest in Patient Safety research. She was recently awarded a Health Services Dissertation grant from the Agency Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This grant will support

The Hope Scholarship is awarded by the Biomedical Science Careers Program (BSCP) at Harvard. The Biomedical Science Careers Program (BSCP), founded in 1991, was incorporated as a not for profit organization in 1994. BSCP's first student conference took place in

Two UMMS GSBS students have been awarded the 2010 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. This award is widely regarded by faculty as the highest award that any graduate student in the biomedical

Dr. Bentley has accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Yale Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. She will be involved in a number of research projects as part of a NIMH

JAMA News ReleaseCHICAGO Older adults newly admitted to nursing homes with high rates of antipsychotic prescribing in the previous year are more likely to receive antipsychotic agents, according to a report in the January 11 issue of Archives of Internal

Charusheila Ramkumar, a graduate student in the Department of Cell Biology, presented a poster titled " Smurf2 deficient mice exibit increased tumorigenesis " at AACR (American Association of Cancer Research) Conference on Frontiers in Basic Research. Charusheila was the first

Linzy Hendrickson received the Suzannah Bliss Tieman Award for the best poster by a graduate student at the 17th Northeast Under graduate Research Organization for Neuroscience (N.E.U.R.O.N.) conference, held at Boston Latin School on Nov. 22, 2009. Linzy is a

Hantavirus research of Dr. Francis Ennis' lab was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal. Read Full Article   http online.wsj.com article SB10001424052748703819904574553810498042156.html     0none2009 11 24Of Mice and Men Why Hantavirus is so Deadly

Nang Maung is a fifth year PhD candidate in the lab of Dr. John Leong (MGM). Recently, Nang's abstract was selected for a Travel Grant to attend the 7th International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases meeting in Tel Aviv,

Bharath Nath, an MD PhD student who recently completed his dissertation in the lab of Gyongyi Szabo MD PhD, presented a talk on his dissertation work at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases 2009 Annual Meeting in

Dr. Ding will join in Dr. Clemens Scherzers Neurogenomics group at Brigham and Women's Hospital of Harvard Medical School as a genetic epidemiologist focusing on analyzing and conducting genetic, gene expression, integrative genomic, and laboratory biomarker studies nested in Harvard NeuroDiscovery

James Potts, CPHR third year student, received a runner up Young Investigator award and $250 for his poster presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). The 57th ASTMH was held in New

Hongliu Ding, MD, MPH, PhD and Virginia Briggs, MS, PhD (pictured right at June Commencement) as well as Mayra Tisminetzky,MD, MPH, PhD, are the first group of graduates from the CPHR Program. Dr. Briggs conducted an observational study, “Injection Treatment

Elena Salmoirago Blotcher, MD, is a cardiologist who joined CPHR as a full time student in 2007 to launch a research career after being a practicing clinician for many years. She recently was awarded a National Research Service Award for

James A. Potts, MPH, is a fourth year student in the CPHR program with an interest in infectious disease research. He was recently awarded a public health research dissertation grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to