Vagelos Institute's Biomedical Research Education PhD Programs

News

Graduates Honored at the 2026 PhD Hooding Ceremony 

At the 2026 PhD Hooding Ceremony during commencement week, Columbia University celebrated 61 new PhD graduates of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Four graduates were honored with thesis awards—the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research and the Titus M. Coan Prize for Excellence in Research. Congratualtions to our four awardees on this recognition and to all our 2026 graduates.

  • Jennifer Gamarra (Coan Prize)–"Manganese is a physiologically relevant modulator of hepatic insulin signaling and lipid metabolism" (Advisor: Rebecca Haeusler)
  • Kevin Gonzalez (Dean's Award)–"Mechanisms of memory encoding and consolidation in the hippocampus" (Advisors: Franck Polleux and Attila Losonczy)
  • Stephen Tang (Dean's Award)–"RNA-templated DNA synthesis in antiviral immunity and genome evolution" (Advisor: Samuel Sternberg)
  • Zachary Walsh (Coan Prize)–"Dissecting the human immune variome" (Advisor: Benjamin Izar)
Photo of the four 2026 graduate student Dean's and Titus award winners
Back to top