The ceremony celebrated the accomplishments and future endeavors of the graduates who are continuing their scientific discoveries at cutting edge industry positions and at academic institutions including Harvard University, the Mayo Clinic, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and The Rockefeller University.

Stowers Graduate School President Betty Drees, M.D., addressed the graduates and members of the Institute along with remarks from Dean Matt Gibson, Ph.D., Graduate Joaquín Navajas Acedo, Ph.D., and Board Member Nipam Patel, Ph.D.

The Stowers Institute and the Graduate School are proud to recognize the graduates in order of Ph.D. conferral year and commend their current positions below:

2019 Graduates

• Joaquín Navajas Acedo, Ph.D., from the lab of Investigator Tatjana Piotrowski, Ph.D., currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Biozentrum at the University of Basel
• Raquel Barajas Azpeleta, Ph.D., from the lab of Scientific Director Kausik Si, Ph.D., now Head of Research Department at the Francisco Luzon Foundation

2020 Graduates

• Cassandra Kempf, Ph.D., from the lab of Michael Washburn, Ph.D., and the lab of Investigator Jerry Workman, Ph.D., now Scientist I at the Stowers Institute
• Dayebgadoh Gerald, Ph.D., from the lab of Michael Washburn, Ph.D., and the lab of Investigator Jerry Workman, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Mayo Clinic
• Elizabeth Bauerly, Ph.D., from the lab of Matt Gibson, Ph.D., currently a senior scientist at Pfizer
• Jelly Soffers, Ph.D., from the lab of Investigator Jerry Workman, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Missouri, Kansas City
• Marìa Angélica Bravo Núñez, Ph.D., from the lab of Associate Investigator SaraH Zanders, Ph.D., currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard
• Nicole Nuckolls, Ph.D., from the lab of Associate Investigator SaraH Zanders, Ph.D., currently a Grant Writer and Program Manager at Frontiers, Kansas City
• Xingyu Liu, Ph.D., from the lab of Michael Washburn, Ph.D., and the lab of Investigator Jerry Workman, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Researcher at Washington University

2021 Graduates

• Cheng-Yi Chen, Ph.D., from the lab of Investigator Matt Gibson, now a Bioinformatics Scientist at Vizgen Inc.
• Darrick Hansen, Ph.D., from the lab of Investigator Linheng Li, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne
• Irina Pushel, Ph.D., from the lab of Investigator Robb Krumlauf, Ph.D., currently a Senior Bioinformatic Scientist at Children’s Mercy Hospital
• Karla Terrazas, Ph.D., from the lab of Investigator Paul Trainor, Ph.D., now Project Manager for the Stowers Graduate School
• Shuonan He, Ph.D., from the lab of Investigator Matt Gibson Lab, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Harvard University
• Soon-Keat Ooi, Ph.D, from the lab of former Stowers Investigators Joan Conaway, Ph.D., and Ron Conaway, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Pennsylvania
• Yanfeng He, Ph.D., from the lab of former Stowers Investigators Joan Conaway, Ph.D., and Ron Conaway, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
• Zachary Lee, Ph.D., from the lab of Investigator Matt Gibson, Ph.D., currently Group Leader at Catalent Pharma Solutions

2022 Graduates

• Alejandro Rodrìguez Gama, from the lab of Assistant Investigator Randal Halfmann, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University
• Ahmet Karabulut, Ph.D., from the lab of Investigator Matt Gibson, Ph.D., currently a Postgraduate Researcher at the Stowers Institute
• José Fabricio López Hernández, Ph.D., from the lab of Associate Investigator SaraH Zanders, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Chicago
• Qiushuang Wu, Ph.D., from the lab of Assistant Investigator Ariel Bazzini, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Researcher at Rockefeller University
• Viraj Doddihal, Ph.D., from the lab of President and Chief Scientific Officer Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, Ph.D., currently a Postgraduate Researcher at the Stowers Institute
• Wei-Ting Yueh, Ph.D., from the lab of Investigator Jennifer Gerton, Ph.D., now a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Fox Chase Cancer Center

Congratulations to all graduates of the Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.