Photo: Hallie Leo
Nursing PhD student William “Bill” Mar, RN, MSN; PhD candidate Humberto Ochoa; and MD/MBA student Suhas Suddala will represent their respective peers in the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and T.H. Chan School of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School’s 2026 Commencement on Sunday, May 31.
Mar, who aspires to become a full-time professor, teaching nursing students while continuing research on communication and language barriers in health care, has been working as an ICU nurse at Newton-Wellesley Hospital for nearly 20 years.
“I didn’t always see people in nursing or academia who looked like me, which pushed me to keep going and create that space for others,” said Mar, who grew up speaking Cantonese in New York City. “For my speech, I’m thinking about the journey it took to get here, what it takes to keep going and what responsibility looks like in practice.”
Ochoa, a proud immigrant from Guatemala, was raised in Trenton, New Jersey, and was inspired to pursue a scientific career by his childhood fascination with Jurassic Park, dinosaurs and paleontologist Alan Grant. His research in the lab of Nobel laureate Craig C. Mello, PhD, the Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine and distinguished professor of RNA therapeutics and molecular medicine, focuses on how germ cells, the cells that pass genetic information to the next generation, protect themselves and their contents.
“Instead of studying extinct species, I study the genes that help prevent extinction,” Ochoa said. “My work helps us understand how life preserves its most essential information across generations.”
In his speech, Ochoa plans to celebrate his own and his classmates’ mentors, family members and loved ones. After graduation, he is seeking postdoctoral opportunities to start his research group.
Suddala, who was born in Huzurabad, India, and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts, said being selected as the class speaker for the T.H. Chan School of Medicine is an incredible honor.
“Our class is full of incredibly driven, thoughtful and talented people, so to be chosen by them and the selection committee means a lot. This process made me step back and appreciate everything we’ve been through together: the late nights, stress, new experiences and all the fun!”
Suddala hopes to address imposter syndrome in his remarks.
“When you’re surrounded by incredibly driven people, it’s easy to feel insufficient,” he said. “I want to reframe that and emphasize leaning into your strengths, because that’s what makes you effective and sets you apart.”
Suddala, a U.S. Navy ensign, will be promoted to lieutenant this month and begin his anesthesiology residency at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in June.
The Commencement ceremony will be livestreamed on YouTube. The procession starts at 11:45 a.m. on Sunday, May 31.
