1.
2018 Candidacy Ceremony
UT Health San Antonio
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

2.
Sadiya Ahmad
Undergrad Institution: University of Texas Pan American
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Cell,
Genetics & Molecular Medicine)
Mentor Name: Naomi Sayre, Ph.D.
“
”
Never stop doing your best
just because someone doesn't
give you credit.

3.
John-Paul Andersen
Undergrad Institution: Utah Valley University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Physiology
& Pharmacology)
Mentor Name: Yuguang Shi, Ph.D.
“
”
Always reach for that next step
up in life.

4.
Laura E. Avena
Undergrad Institution: University of Texas at San Antonio
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Cell Biology,
Genetics & Molecular Medicine)
Mentor Name: Anthony Griffiths, Ph.D.
“
”
Well-behaved women seldom
make history.
⎼ Laurei Thatcher Ulrich

5.
Eric Baeuerle
Undergrad Institution: Rice University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences
(Biology of Aging) and M.D./Ph.D Program
Mentor Name: Nicolas Musi, M.D.
“
”
One day, someone is going to
refer to me as Dr. Bae, and
then I will feel old.

6.
Daniel Chupp
Undergrad Institution: Indiana University South Bend
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Molecular
Immunology & Microbiology)
Mentor Name: Paolo Casali, M.D.
“
”
To raise new questions, new
possibilities, to regard old problems
from a new angle, requires creative
imagination and marks real advance in
science.
- Albert Einstein

7.
Somewhere, something
incredible is waiting to be known
-Carl Sagan
Mentor Name: Kexin Xu, Ph.D.
“ ”
Richard De La Rosa
Undergrad Institution: New Mexico State University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Cell
Biology, Genetics, & Molecular Medicine)

8.
Science is more than a
body of knowledge. It's a
way of thinking.
- Carl Sagan
Michelle Doyle
Undergrad Institution: Tufts University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences
(Neuroscience)
Mentor Name: Gregory Collins, Ph.D.
“ ”

9.
Thu Duong
Undergrad Institution: Cal State University, Northridge
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences
(Cell, Genetics & Molecular Medicine)
Mentor Names: Thomas Boyer and Renee Yew, Ph.D.
“
”
Failure is success in progress.

10.
Liliana Espinoza
Undergrad Institution: St. Mary’s University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Neuroscience)
Mentor Name: Mark S. Shapiro, Ph.D.
“
”
Do not go where the path may
lead, go instead where there is
no path and leave a trail.

11.
Chelbee Farnen
Undergrad Institution: Angelo State University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Cell
Biology, Genetics and Molecular Medicine)
Mentor Name: Karl Rodriguez, Ph.D.
“
”
However difficult life may seem,
there is always something you
can do and succeed at. It matters
that you don't just give up.
- Stephen Hawking

12.
Somewhere, something
incredible is waiting to be known
- Carl Sagan
Stephen “Jake” Gonzales
Undergrad Institution: Angelo State University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Infection,
Inflammation, & Immunity)
Mentor Name: Evelien Bunnik, Ph.D.
“ ”

13.
Aaron Oracio Gonzalez
Undergrad Institution: Texas Tech University
Graduate Program: Biomedical Engineering
Mentor Name: Xiao-Dong Chen, M.D., Ph.D.
“
”
The only way to discover the limits of the
possible is to go beyond them into the
impossible.
-Arthur C. Clarke

14.
Shawn R. Gray
Undergrad Institution: State University of New York at Oswego
Graduate Program: Biomedical Engineering
Mentor Name: Martin Paukert, M.D.
“
”
An expert is a person who has made all
the mistakes that can be made in a very
narrow field.
- Niels Bohr

15.
Jose M. Gutierrez IV
Undergrad Institution: Texas A&M University- Kingsville
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Cell Biology,
Genetics, & Molecular Medicine)
Mentor Name: Denise O’Keefe, Ph.D.
“
”
Education is the passport to
the future, for tomorrow
belongs to those who prepare
for it today.

16.
Allison K. Hester
Undergrad Institution: Howard University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Molecular
Immunology & Microbiology)
Mentor Name: Ann Griffith, Ph.D.
“
”
Challenges make you discover things
about yourself that you never really
knew.
- Cicely Tyson

17.
Jeffrey Kim
Undergrad Institution: Stony Brook University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Cell Biology,
Genetics, & Molecular Medicine)
Mentor Name: Marcel M. Daadi, Ph.D.
“
”
The steps you take don’t need
to be big, they just need to take
you in the right direction.

18.
Adam Kosti
Undergrad Institution: Trinity University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Cancer Biology)
Mentor Name: Luiz Penalva, Ph.D.
“
”
I nodded, understanding nothing.
― Dan Simmons, Hyperion

19.
Eithan Kotkowski
Undergrad Institution: University of Texas at Austin
Graduate Program: Radiological Sciences (Neuroscience Imaging)
and M.D./Ph.D Program
Mentor Name: Peter T. Fox M.D.
“
”
I intend to live forever,
So far so good.

20.
Meena Kusi
Undergrad Institution: Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Cell
Biology, Genetics & Molecular Medicine)
Mentor Name: Tim H.-M. Huang, Ph.D.
“ ”
I may not be there yet, but I am
closer than I was yesterday.

21.
Rebecca Lane
Undergrad Institution: Texas A&M University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Molecular
Immunology & Microbiology )
Mentor Name: William Kaiser, Ph.D.
“
”
Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s
determination and commitment to an
unrelenting pursuit of your goal that will
enable you to attain the success you seek.
- Mario Andretti

22.
Cassandra Leonardo
Undergrad Institution: New York University
Graduate Program: Radiological Sciences (Neuroimaging)
Mentor Name: Peter Fox, M.D.
“
”
Do the best you can until you
know better. Then when you
know better, do better
– Maya Angelou

23.
Simon Levy
Undergrad Institution: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Neuroscience)
Mentor Name: Bess Frost, Ph.D.
“
”
The universe is under no
obligation to make sense to you.

24.
Kristen Malloy
Undergrad Institution: University of Connecticut
Graduate Program: Radiological Sciences
Mentor Name: Michael Charlton, Ph.D.
“
”
The grass is greener where
you water it.

25.
Christina McElvogue
Undergrad Institution: Baylor University
Graduate Program: Nursing Science
Mentor Name: Andrea Berndt, Ph.D.
“
”
Yesterday I was clever,
so I wanted to change the world.
Today I am wise
so I am changing myself.
- Rumi

26.
Mustafa Mithaiwala
Undergrad Institution: University of Mumbai
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences
(Neuroscience)
Mentor Name: Jason O’Connor, Ph.D.
“
”
Change is a natural phenomenon
required for the evolutionary
process of survival.

27.
Justin Moroney
Undergrad Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Molecular
Immunology & Microbiology )
Mentor Name: Paolo Casali, M.D.
“
”
Let go of your misconceptions,
or your creativity will never
breathe

28.
Elizabeth Ochoa Thomas
Undergrad Institution: Seattle University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences
(Cell Biology, Genetics, & Molecular Medicine)
Mentor Name: Bess Frost, Ph.D.
“
Life is not easy for any of us. But
what of that? We must have
perseverance and above all
confidence in ourselves. We
must believe that we are gifted
for something and that this thing
must be attained.
– Marie Curie

29.
Denisse Paredes
Undergrad Institution: Trinity University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences
(Neuroscience )
Mentor Name: David Morilak, Ph.D.
“
”
To know how much is to know
is the beginning of learning to
breathe.
- Dorothy West

30.
Grace Porter
Undergrad Institution: Kent State University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Neuroscience)
Mentor Name: Jason O’Connor, Ph.D.
“
”
You can do anything you
decide to do.
- Amelia Earhart

31.
Jake Rembish
Undergrad Institution: Texas A&M University
Graduate Program: Radiological Sciences (Medical Physics)
Mentor Name: Pamela Myers, Ph.D.
“
”
If you can’t dazzle them with
your brilliance, baffle them with
your bulls*#t.
- W.C. Fields

32.
Nestor A. Ruiz González
Undergrad Institution: University of Puerto Rico
Graduate Program: Radiological Sciences (Diagnostic Medical
Physics)
Mentor Name: Geoffrey D. Clarke, Ph.D.
“
”
Given all men are created equal, all men are
then equally intelligent; knowledge,
dedication, resources, and opportunity make
any difference.
- N. Ruiz

33.
Alexandra Sharp
Undergrad Institution: Texas A&M University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Neuroscience)
Mentor Name: David Morilak, Ph.D.
“
”
Above all, don’t fear
difficult moments.
The best comes from
them.
– Rita Levi-
Montalcini

34.
Alisha Smith
Undergrad Institution: St. Mary’s University
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Molecular
Immunology & Microbiology)
Mentor Name: Sunil K. Ahuja, M.D.
“
”
Success is not final; failure is
not fatal: It is the courage to
continue that counts.

35.
Juan Vasquez
Undergrad Institution: Vassar College
Graduate Program: Radiological Sciences (Diagnostic Medical
Physics)
Mentor Name: Geoffrey Clarke, Ph.D.
“
I want to live my life . . . always
operating hungrily on the
margins of a potentially great
harvest of future knowledge
and wisdom.
- C. Hitchens

36.
Wan-Chen (Amy) Wu
Undergrad Institution: China Medical University, Taiwan
Graduate Program: Integrated Biomedical Sciences
(Neuroscience)
Mentor Name: Jason Pugh, Ph.D.
“
”
Carpe diem. Seize the day,
boys. Make your lives
extraordinary.
- Dead Poets Society

37.
Leticia M. Ybarra
Undergrad Institution: University of the Incarnate Word
Graduate Institution: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Doctoral Program: Nursing Science
Mentor Name: Sara Gill, Ph.D., RN, IBCLC, FAAN
“
”
The things you are passionate
about are not random. They are
your calling.
- Fabienne Fredrickson

38.
A special shout out to…
Siqi Gong Nema
Bassiri
Brian
Iskra
Andy Banh Ngoni Madungwe

39.
A special shout out to…
Daniel
Shropshire
Gabrielle
Zuniga
Jacob
Boyd
Obadah
Austah
Shaimar Gonzalez Aryana Cruz

40.
A special shout out to…
Jasmin GrawThomas Vanasse Ashley Wallace
Marisol Bretón-Leija