‘Science essential to society’: PhD candidates honored at 2026 award ceremony

Graduating PhD candidates in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School were celebrated during the 2026 Student Academic Achievement and Leadership Awards Ceremony on Thursday, May 28. 

“We have more hope for our future because of you. I’m not naive to the fact that in research we're facing a lot of headwinds right now, but our biomedical PhD graduates should remain optimistic because of all the skills you learn. Nobody can take away your skills as a scientific thinker, your technical skills, your adaptability, or the fact that science remains essential to the well-being of our society,” said Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Elisabeth Chair for the Dean of Medicine, executive deputy chancellor, provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, in opening remarks.

Chancellor Michael F. Collins, who is stepping down as chancellor at the end of June, presented the Chancellor’s Award to PhD candidate Nicholas Harper, mentored by Michael Lee, PhD, professor of systems biology. Harper, who was described by Dr. Lee as a rare talent who is innovative, detail-oriented and intellectually bold, reshaped scientific understanding of cell lethality in response to transcriptional inhibition in his thesis, revealing a new signaling pathway that actively orchestrates cell death. Harper joined Dana Farber Cancer Institute as a postdoctoral fellow in January.

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 the Dean’s Award for Most Insightful Doctoral Thesis Research to PhD candidate Mariana Noto Guillen and MD/PhD student Samantha Tse-Kang.

Noto Guillen was recognized for her work with Amir Zadok Mitchell, PhD, associate professor of systems biology, developing a powerful genetic screening platform that allowed Noto Guillen to characterize antibacterial compounds and interrogate mechanisms of 200 different drugs. This sheds light on drug-induced toxicity in the human microbiome.

Tse-Kang was recognized for her work with Read Pukkila-Worley, MD, professor of medicine. Tse-Kang discovered how intestinal model host C. elegans survey pathogens in a complex microbial landscape, revealing how nuclear hormone receptors function as sensors for bacteria metabolites and activate tailored immune responses, directly informing broader principles of immune homeostasis in animals.

Inaugural “Director Awards,” meant to recognize a graduating student who has completed outstanding work in the eyes of program directors and program faculty members, were presented this year to students from five programs in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences: the Cancer Biology Program; Interdisciplinary Graduate Program; Immunology and Microbiology Program; Neuroscience Program; and the Systems, Computational and Quantitative Biology Program. PhD candidates Michael Lero, Dylan Doxsey, Pooja Parameswaran, Lauren O’Connor and Vista Sohrab accepted the new awards.

“The ultimate outcome of doctoral education is the formation of creative, agentic people capable of exercising thoughtful judgment under uncertain conditions in pursuit of deeper understanding,” said Dean Lane in closing remarks. “You’ve earned this. Carry it forward with pride and confidence.”

The following awards were presented at the ceremony: