- This year we were thrilled to establish the Raymond Dingledine Award for Extraordinary Graduate Achievement. This award was made possible by a philanthropic gift from MSP alumnus Tom Macek 00G and named for his mentor and founding Director of the MSP program, Ray Dingledine. The award will be given each year to one MSP student whose overall graduate school career has been particularly extraordinary. Nominees are solicited from program faculty and may also be submitted by MSP Executive Committee members. The winner is determined by a vote of the MSP Executive Committee. Criteria include scholarly productivity, service, leadership, teaching, mentoring and public outreach. Congratulations to the first recipient of this award, Lauren Shapiro, who is now working in a postdoc at Northwestern University. Thank you to Tom and Ray for your outstanding contributions to the department.
- Thanks to the philanthropic support of alumnus William G. Rice 86G, an IMP student, Taryn McLaughlin, will be a summer intern at Dr. Rice’s company, Aptose. Bill and his wife Cathy were recently in Atlanta celebrating Cathy, the newest member of the Rice family to graduate from Emory with her MPH! Taryn had the chance to meet Bill and Cathy at that time and thank them for their generosity while discussing logistics for this incredible professional development opportunity. Taryn is an outstanding student, deserving of this experience, as demonstrated by this story where Taryn and her teammates won the International Emory Global Health Case Competition.
- In recognition of Dr. Keith Wilkinson’s contributions to the quality of graduate education and the training experiences of students since the 1980s, the faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the GDBBS joined together with philanthropic contributions to established The Keith Wilkinson Division Service Award. Dr. Wilkinson served as director of GDBBS for almost 14 years, and he was a professor at Emory University School of Medicine as well director of two of our PhD Programs. In his role as division director, Keith oversaw the GDBBS’s development and expansion into the home of some of the nation’s top training programs. We are thrilled to share that this brand new fund has raised approximately $32,000. We need a minimum of $50,000 total to establish an endowment in Keith’s name. Make a gift to the fund by selecting “other” under Designations and then write in “Wilkinson Award-LGS.” You’ll have the option of making a single payment or making a gift in installments. Help us reach our goal so we can honor Keith in perpetuity the same way his legacy and impact on the GDBBS will be celebrated indefinitely.
- IMP hosted 4 outstanding alumni for a career panel in May and MSP will host an alumni symposium in June. If you’re interested in being involved in events like these, our Pathways Beyond the Professoriate series, or our Behind the Academic Curtain programs, please contact Jessica Stephens so we can get you scheduled. Students love hearing from alumni who were once in their shoes!
I’d like to tell you my story about how I found myself on a project dedicated to helping families who have a child diagnosed with 3q29 deletion.