Biomedical Sciences White Coat Ceremony Reveals Matches for Trainees and Labs

By Dirk Hoffman

The trainees honored included students from the Class of 2025-2026 in the PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences (PPBS), the MD-PhD Program and those students who were directly admitted by their departments.

In her opening remarks, Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, noted the white coat is a symbol of professionalism.

“You will not only be learning, but you will be teaching, and the white coat symbolizes those roles and your professionalism as a teacher, a researcher and a scientist,” she said.

“We are committed to making sure you are learning the most advanced technologies, but we also want you to learn to be creative thinkers. It is about being a lifelong learner and a lifelong educator.”

“I want to congratulate every one of you for getting to this next step of your career,” Brashear told the trainees. “We are excited for the science that you will create, both while you are here, and in the future.”

John C. Panepinto, PhD, senior associate dean for biomedical education and professor of microbiology and immunology, offered some thoughts on what makes a scientist.

“Being a responsible scientist happens every day,” he said. “Each time we walk into the lab, we make an active decision to be the most rigorous scientist that we can possibly be.”

Panepinto said that no matter what happens outside the doors of the lab, inside the lab there are important questions that need to be answered.

“Things are weird in the world right now, but your role doesn’t change in the chaos that surrounds us.”

Panepinto also reminded the trainees that “science is hard,” and that they will fail a lot in their research efforts.

“I am going to suggest to you that in those moments of challenge is when you learn the most about what it means to be a scientist,” he said. “Take the wins when they come, but remember that those moments that are the hardest are teaching you the most about what it means to be as scientist.”

“You do not become a scientist because of the graph you make, or the paper you publish, or the fellowship that you get. Becoming a scientist happens in the space in between all of those benchmarks.”

Andrew M. Gulick, PhD, professor of structural biology, is stepping down as director of the PPBS program after six years in the position.

Panepinto thanked him “for the leadership that you have brought, for the mentorship that you have touched each and every one of our students with, and for your vision on what it means to be a biomedical scientist in today’s era.”

“Your steadfast leadership has brought the program to a new height, and I look forward to seeing where we go from here,” he added.

Gulick then announced the students’ names for the cloaking ceremony.

The students are listed below, with their department or program and mentor matches:

• Abigail Lowder — Satrajit Sinha, PhD
• Namya Manoj — Andrew T. Lombardo, PhD
• Ketsia Seide — Rebekah M. Charney, PhD

• Maryam Alhadlaq — Tracey A. Ignatowski, PhD
• Sarah Balghonaim — Vincent M. Tutino, PhD
• Rakesh Choudhary — Scott T. Doyle, PhD
• Otega Oviri — Roberto Pili, MD

• Eshaan Deshmukh — Jamal B. Williams, PhD
• Shahad Mustafa — Rabi Yacoub, MD
• Diana Rodriguez — Omer Gokcumen, PhD

• Sofia Alexander — Chelsie E. Armbruster, PhD
• Gillian Hodge — Elsa Bou Ghanem, PhD
• Adam Marin — Chelsie E. Armbruster, PhD
• Chloe Picciano — Ryan Hunter, PhD
• Shaughnessy Shephard — Saikat Boliar, PhD
• Alya Theriault — Ryan Hunter, PhD
• Maritza Ventura — Gustavo Arrizabalaga, PhD

• Meghana Kushwaha — Daesung Shin, PhD
• Emmanuel Vargas — Jae Lee, PhD

• Katlind Nearing — Arin Bhattacharjee, PhD
• Rathnakar Poddeti — Fraser J. Sim, PhD
• David Romero — Bhaskar Das, PhD
• Maowei Wang — Jun-Xu Li, MD, PhD

• Shane Chuwonganant — Mikhail V. Pletnikov, MD, PhD
• Kritik Kumar — Dheeraj Roy, PhD

• Alex Colarusso — Monica Pillon, PhD

• Graeme Frost — Kenan Onel, MD, PhD
• Lucas Kruse — Scott Abrams, PhD
• Matthew Long — Anna Bianchi-Smiraglia, PhD

• Triniti Fitts — TBD

The PPBS provides an entry portal and a common first-year curriculum, mentoring, hands-on opportunities and financial support.

With its laboratory rotation system, students can explore a variety of disciplines before committing to their specific area of research.

The white coat ceremony was conducted in the Ronald I. Dozoretz, MD ’62 Auditorium in the Jacobs School building. A brief reception in the building’s atrium followed the ceremony.