For immediate release: May 2, 2006
GALVESTON, Texas — The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston will award 54 degrees during its 38th commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 6. UTMB President John D. Stobo and GSBS Dean Cary W. Cooper will preside over the ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m. in Levin Hall on the UTMB campus.
“These graduates have reached a high level of achievement through a major investment of their time, energy and creativity,” Cooper said.
“They are a credit to the university and we will follow their careers with great interest and with considerable pride,” he said.
During the commencement, 31 graduates will be awarded Ph.D. degrees; 12 will receive Master of Science degrees; six will receive Master of Public Health degrees; one will receive a Master of Medical Sciences degree; one will receive a Master of Arts degree; and three will receive combined M.D./Ph.D. degrees.
Cynthia Robbins-Roth, recipient of the GSBS Distinguished Alumnus Award, will be among three speakers to deliver remarks. Dr. Robbins-Roth is a 1980 graduate of UTMB and has spent her entire career at the forefront of the biotechnology industry. She is the editor and author of "Alternative Careers in Science: Leaving the Ivory Tower" and writes a biotechnology column for Forbes Magazine.
Two GSBS faculty members will also address the graduates. They are Drs. Wayne Bolen, recipient of the Graduate Student Organization’s Distinguished Faculty Teaching award, and James Halpert, recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Research award.
The GSBS Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence will be presented to Stacey Tovino and Cristi Galindo. For the first time, there is a tie for this outstanding academic award. The recipients have maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average in rigorous coursework and submitted outstanding dissertations. Stacey Tovino will also receive the Harry Ransom Dissertation Award in the Medical Humanities for her work titled, The invisible brain: Confidentiality and privacy implications of functional magnetic resonance imaging
This year’s graduates of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences have excelled in 11 graduate programs including microbiology and immunology, pharmacology and toxicology, cell biology, experimental pathology, neuroscience, medical humanities, biochemistry and molecular biology, preventive medicine and community health and doctoral nursing.
Graduates have accepted post-doctoral fellowships at academic institutions across the country, including the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, Duke University and Northwestern University. Dr. Darci Smith will return to active duty with the rank of Captain at the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, while Todd Hieronymus has accepted a position at Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis; Tina Cuellar will continue her work as a member of the UTMB faculty in the School of Nursing, and Joe Karam will continue his studies as a second year medical student in the UTMB School of Medicine.
Stacey Tovino, an attorney at the Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston, received a law degree magna cum laude from the University of Houston Law Center prior to enrolling in UTMB’s graduate program in the Medical Humanities. She will be joining the faculty of the Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minn. Joal Hill will continue her work as the Director of Research Ethics and Chairman of the Institutional Review Board at Advocate Health Care in Oak Brook, Ill.
Graduates Erin Scott and husband, Ben Scott, met and married while they were students at UTMB; both have accepted post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Fifteen graduates will continue their work at UTMB with postdoctoral fellowship positions in the departments of neuroscience, pathology, pharmacology and toxicology.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
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Marsha Canright: marsha.canright@utmb.edu