Infection and Immunity: The Pathogenesis of Host-Microbe Interactions Training Program
Infection and Immunity: The Pathogenesis of Host-Microbe Interactions Training Program
The overarching goal of this predoctoral training program is to train the next generation of researchers in microbiology, and to prepare them with the skills necessary to address the nation’s critical needs in the battle against infectious disease. Our program takes a student-centric approach that blends didactic and wet lab learning with the University of Rochester’s signature URBEST program in career preparedness to develop self-motivated, independent research scientist who are well prepared for diverse research careers.
Our Faculty
The training faculty in this program are members of the various departments across UR and URMC.
Our T32 Trainees
Blurb about the trainees. This blurb should be approximately this long (in words).
News and Announcements
News and Announcements
Microbiology & Immunology Ph.D. Thesis Seminar: Analysis of the effects of scheduling, dexamethasone co-administration, and NKG2A signaling on the anti-tumor immune response elicited by radiotherapy
Nicholas G. Battaglia - IMV PhD Candidate
Dec 15, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
ZoomHost: Edith Lord, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Microbiology & Immunology Department Seminar: Improving Adaptive Immunity During Viral Infection and Vaccination
Pablo Penaloza-MacMaster, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Northwestern University
Dec 14, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
ZoomHost: Thomas Ciucci, Ph.D.
Research in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): TBD
MBI 501 Student Seminar: TBA
Microbiology & Immunology Ph.D. Thesis Seminar: An Investigation into the Effects of URMC-099 on Peripheral Immune Cells in Neuroinflammatory Disease Models
Priyanka Saminathan - IMV PhD Candidate
Dec 09, 2020 @ 1:00 p.m.
ZoomHost: Harris Gelbard, M.D., Ph.D.
Microbiology & Immunology Department Seminar: A multifaceted approach to combating antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae
Crista Wadsworth, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology, Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences
Dec 07, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
ZoomHost: Paul Dunman, Ph.D.
Prospective Student Informational QA Session
BIO Undergraduate Peer Advisors
Dec 04, 2020 @ 3:00 p.m.
Prospective Student Webinar Registration FormResearch in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): B cell responses to SARS-CoV-2
Prospective Student Informational QA Session
BIO Undergraduate Peer Advisors
Dec 03, 2020 @ 5:00 p.m.
Prospective Student Webinar Registration FormMBI 501 Student Seminar: Neutrophil Elastase and GPNMB are Pro-Tumorigenic in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM)
Microbiology & Immunology Department Seminar: Multifaceted Host Protein SAMHD1 Modulates Viral Infection and Innate Immunity
Li Wu, Ph.D. - Professor, Chair and Department Executive Officer, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Carver College of Medicine - The University of Iowa
Nov 30, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
ZoomHost: Yiping Zhu, Ph.D.
Research in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): Re-emergence of IL-12 as a Potent Anticancer Agent in Pancreatic Cancer
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Circadian control of macrophage function in the tumor microenvironment
Research in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): Epigenetic Silencing of Extrachromosomal Retroviral DNA
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Modulating the gut microbiota of obese/type 2 diabetics to restore immune defenses against Staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis
Microbiology & Immunology Ph.D. Thesis Seminar: Lung Megakaryocytes are a Novel Immune Modulatory Cell and Present Antigen to CD4+ T
Daphne N. Pariser - IMV PhD Candidate
Nov 09, 2020 @ 2:00 p.m.
ZoomHost: Craig N. Morrell, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Special Department of Microbiology and Immunology Seminar: From Graduate School to Industry: My Journey As A Minority Woman in STEM
Prospective Student Informational QA Session
BIO Undergraduate Peer Advisors
Nov 06, 2020 @ 3:00 p.m.
Prospective Student Webinar Registration FormProspective Student Informational QA Session
BIO Undergraduate Peer Advisors
Nov 05, 2020 @ 5:00 p.m.
Prospective Student Webinar Registration FormMBI 501 Student Seminar: The role of BCA2 in Breast Cancer
Microbiology & Immunology Department Seminar: The evolutionary potential of the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain
Jesse D. Bloom, Ph.D. - Professor, Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center, Affiliate Associate Professor, Genome Sciences & Microbiology, University of Washington Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Nov 02, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
ZoomHost: Virology Track Student Invited Speaker (Michael Lutz)
Research in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): T cell pool assembly and disruption in premature infants
Kristin Scheible - Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Neonatology
Oct 30, 2020 @ 8:30 a.m.
Zoom InvitationMBI 501 Student Seminar: The Responder/Nonresponder Phenomena: The Immune System’s Role in Determining the Outcome of Radiation Therapy in Rectal Cancer
Microbiology and Immunology Department Seminar: Beta-lactamase Inhibitors: a Renaissance
Robert A. Bonomo, MD - Associate Chief of Staff for Academic Affairs Director, GRECC and Case VA CARES Professor, Case Western Reserve University
Oct 26, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
ZoomHost: Martin Pavelka, Ph.D. and Nicole Pecora, M.D., Ph.D
Research in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): Migration of CAR T cell: Barriers to cancer immunotherapy and potential solutions
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Defining the minimal genetic elements required for T3SS-mediated Vibrio cholerae colonization
Prospective Student Informational QA Session
BIO Undergraduate Peer Advisors
Oct 16, 2020 @ 3:00 p.m.
Prospective Student Webinar Registration FormResearch in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): TBD
Prospective Student Informational QA Session
BIO Undergraduate Peer Advisors
Oct 15, 2020 @ 5:00 p.m.
Prospective Student Webinar Registration FormMBI 501 Student Seminar: S. aureus virulence factors enhance viral pathogenesis of the skin epithelium
Research in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): The generation of defective viral genomes during respiratory syncytial virus infection
MBI 501 Student Seminar: IFN-g Triggers an mTOR-dependent Cell Death Pathway in Peritoneal Tissue-resident Macrophages
Microbiology and Immunology Department Seminar: Mathematical modelling of vaccine dose response curves
Research in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): T cell immunology during pregnancy
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Mechanism of Host Adaptation of the Influenza A Virus through Polymerase PA Mutations
Microbiology & Immunology Ph.D. Thesis Seminar: Characterization of Two Disparate Modes by which Viruses Exploit Host factors to Promote their own Dissemination and Replication
Sydney R. Simpson - PhD Candidate
Sep 30, 2020 @ 10:00 a.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Stephen Dewhurst, PhD & Sanjay Maggirwar, MBA, PhD
Department of Microbiology and Immunology Seminar Series: Cold-blooded killers: Eco-evolutionary dynamics of infectious diseases in ectothermic vertebrates
Anna Savage, Ph.D. - Assistant professor University of Central Florida Department of Biology
Sep 28, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Jacques Robert, PhD
Research in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): The µSiM: A Tissue-Chip Platform for Modeling Barrier Tissues during Infection, Inflammation, and Injury
MBI 501 Student Seminar: The aryl hydrocarbon receptor regulates T follicular helper cells during influenza virus infection
Research in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): Optimizing effector T cell function in inflamed tissues
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Stress Regulation of Rhamnose Biosynthesis in Streptococcus mutans and the Implications on Rhamnose-Glucose Polysaccharide Production
Research in Progress Seminars in Immunology (RIPS): Pathogen and tumor specific CD4+ T cell responses at the single cell resolution
Thomas Ciucci, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the Center for Vaccine Biology
Sep 11, 2020 @ 8:30 a.m.
Zoom InvitationMBI 501 Student Seminar: Understanding the Mutual Antagonism Between HIV and Autophagy
Sergio Castro-Gonzalez - PhD Student from Texas Tech University, Department of Biological Sciences in Dr. Ruth Serra-Moreno’s Lab
Sep 10, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: R. Serra-Moreno
MBI 501 Student Seminar: The Search for Novel Antimicrobials: Testing the Luedemann Hypothesis
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Live Attenuated Influenza Vaccine as a potential viral vector for immunization against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Characterization of IDO1 expression in the human placenta across gestation
MBI 501 Student Seminar: The role of Staphylococcus aureus nitric oxide reductase (Nor) in biofilm formation and programmed cell death
Microbiology & Immunology Ph.D. Thesis Seminar: Characterizing and Targeting the Pancreatic Tumor Draining Lymph Node to Enhance Antitumor Responses in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
Booyeon Julia Han - IMV PhD Candidate
Jul 10, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Advisor: Scott Gerber, Ph.D.
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Influenza A Vaccine Comparison Study: Analysis of the Memory B Cell Expansion After Vaccination with Egg-Adapted H3N2 Influenza A Vaccine
Aizan Embong - IMV PhD Candidate
Jun 18, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Advisor: David Topham
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Assessing urmc-099 as a therapeutic agent for progressive multiple sclerosis using the EAE mouse model
Priyanka Saminathan - IMV PhD Candidate
Jun 11, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Advisor: Harris A. Gelbard
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Lung Megakaryocytes are a Novel Immune Modulatory Cell and Present Antigen to CD4+ T cells
Daphne Pariser - IMV PhD Candidate
Jun 04, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Advisor: Craig Morrell
Microbiology & Immunology Ph.D. Thesis Seminar: Protein Kinase D- A Key Regulator of Pulmonary Barrier and Early Innate Immunity
Janelle Marie Veazey - IMV PhD Candidate
Jun 04, 2020 @ 9:00 a.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Advisor: Steve N. Georas, M.D.
MBI 501 Student Seminar: Functional analysis of influenza and coronavirus host shutoff proteins
Megan Dunagan - IMV PhD Candidate
May 28, 2020 @ 1:00 p.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Advisor: Toru Takimoto
MBI 501 Student Seminar: NKG2A inhibits the anti-tumor CD8 T cell immune response elicited by radiotherapy
Nicholas G. Battaglia - PhD Candidate
May 21, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Advisor: Edith Lord
Microbiology & Immunology Ph.D. Thesis Seminar: IFN-?-Mediated Death of Metabolically Altered Paneth Cells
Microbiology & Immunology Ph.D. Thesis Seminar: Investigating the Role of Tetherin in Monocyte Derived Microparticle Regulation during HIV Infection
Emily A. Weber - IMV PhD Candidate
May 05, 2020 @ 10:00 a.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Advisors: Sanjay Maggirwar, Ph.D. & Stephen Dewhurst, Ph.D.
Microbiology & Immunology Ph.D. Thesis Seminar: Discovery of macrophage hypophagia as a critical regulator of antibody mediated cellular cytotoxicity
Jonathan J. Pinney - IMV PhD Candidate
May 01, 2020 @ 1:00 p.m.
Zoom InvitationHost: Advisor: Michael R. Elliott, Ph.D.
Human sirtuin-2 protein (SIRT2) – a validated target for a broadly-effective host-targeted antiviral
Lillian W. Chiang, PhD, MBA - President & CEO of Evrys Bio
Mar 09, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Upper Auditorium 3-7619
Host: Joshua Munger
Anti-CD19 CAR T-cells in Lymphoma
Patrick Reagan - Assistant Professor, Lymphoma Program at Wilmot Cancer Center
Mar 06, 2020 @ 8:30 a.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
Center Research Meeting
Phuong Nguyen
Mar 05, 2020 @ 4:00 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
Microbiology & Immunology Ph.D. Thesis Seminar: Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated is required for response to influenza A virus infection
Rachel R. Warren - Microbiology & Immunology PhD Candidate
Mar 03, 2020 @ 2:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Lower Auditorium (Adolph) 1-7619
Host: Dr. Michael O'Reilly
Elucidating and harnessing the bacterial biofilm matrix
Paula Watnick, M.D., Ph.D. - Harvard Medical School
Mar 02, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Upper Auditorium (3-7619)
Host: Michelle Dziejman
Center Research Meeting
Cassandra Houser
Feb 27, 2020 @ 4:00 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
“A CD8+ T cell-dependent immunopathologic pathway is a target for host-directed therapies in leishmaniasis”
Phillip Scott, Ph.D. - Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Department of Pathobiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine; Vice Dean for Research & Academic Resources, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
Feb 24, 2020 @ 2:00 p.m.
Medical Center | K 207 (2-6408)
Host: Felix Yarovinsky
Intestinal epithelial cell functions in host-microbiome interactions”
Maayan Levy, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Feb 17, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Upper Auditorium 3-7619
Microbiology & Immunology Seminar Series: Intestinal epithelial cell functions in host-microbiome interactions
Maayan Levy, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Microbiology
Feb 17, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m.
Medical Center | Upper Auditorium 3-7619
Host: Immunology Student Hosted Seminar (Booyeon Han)
Center Research Meeting
Rohith Palli
Feb 13, 2020 @ 4:00 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
MBI 588 Virology Seminar Series: T cell search strategies for finding infection foci
Deborah Fowell, Ph.D. - Professor, Microbiology and Immunology in the Center for Vaccine Biology and Immunology
Feb 12, 2020 @ 3:30 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
Center Research Meeting
Keegan Vaughn
Feb 06, 2020 @ 4:00 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
MBI 580 Research in Progress (RIPS) Seminar: The Role of Adhesive Signaling in Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Jeevisha Bajaj - Assistant Professor of Biomedical Genetics
Jan 31, 2020 @ 8:30 a.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
Center Research Meeting
Anuj Rattan
Jan 30, 2020 @ 4:00 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
MBI 588 Virology Seminar Series: Elucidating the role AMPK plays in HCMV infection
Diana Dunn, Ph.D. - Postdoctoral Fellow Biochemistry & Biophysics
Jan 29, 2020 @ 3:30 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
Xenopus as experimental organism for host-viral pathogen interaction and immunotoxicity
Jacques Robert - Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
Jan 24, 2020 @ 8:30 a.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
Center Research Meeting
Brad Mills
Jan 23, 2020 @ 4:00 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
MBI 588 Virology Seminar Series: Flow Cytometry, it’s not just for cells anymore
Timothy Bushnell, Ph.D. - Director, Shared Resource Laboratories Associate Professor, Pediatrics
Jan 22, 2020 @ 3:30 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
Center Research Meeting
Scott Leddon
Jan 16, 2020 @ 4:00 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
MBI 588 Virology Seminar Series: Antigen and Antibody Microarrays for Influenza Surveillance and Serology
Benjamin L. Miller, Ph.D. - Professor of Dermatology
Jan 15, 2020 @ 3:30 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
Center Research Meeting
Emma Reilly
Jan 09, 2020 @ 4:00 p.m.
Kornberg Medical Research Building | 3-9624
Daniel Steiner Wins The Sayeeda Zain Fall 2020 Travel Award
Friday, December 4, 2020
Congratulations to Dan Steiner for winning a Sayeeda Zain Fall travel award. Dan is planning to attend the SPIE Photonics West meeting, to be held at the Moscone Center, San Francisco, California, March 6-11, 2021, He states "I am excited to represent our department and present my work in San Francisco (virtually or otherwise) . Networking and reaching out to labs and PIs at this conference will help me learn more about the entrepreneurial side of science and how to develop my career after I defend." The Sayeeda Zain Travel Award honors the distinguished career and charitable life of Dr. Sayeeda Zain. The award is given in recognition of research excellence to support expenses associated with attendance at a scientific conference or corporate internship to gain practical experience. Dan Steiner is a Biophysics graduate student studying in Dr. Ben Miller's lab
Karl Foley, Receives NIH F30 Award
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Karl Foley, an MSTP graduate student, has received an NIH F30 award starting Feb 1, 2020 for his research in the Xia lab.
Project title: "Protein phosphatase 1 isoforms and human de novo mutations in synaptic plasticity"
Agency: NIMH (F30MH122046), $50K total/year for four years starting 2/1/2020
Congrats Karl!
Nazish Jeffery, Biochemistry Ph.D. Candidate Pens Guest Column in the Democrat & Chronicle on Scientists’ Need to Communicate Clearly to the Public
Monday, October 19, 2020
Nazish Jeffery
Graduate student Nazish Jeffery published an editorial-style column entitled "Scientists Must Communicate More Clearly" which appeared on the Opinion page of the Sunday, October 4th edition of the Democrat and Chronicle. Ms. Jeffery argues that scientist have a civic duty to clearly inform and educate the public and public officials with regard to the results of biomedical research. She states "As scientists, our civic duty becomes twofold. Not only must we better our understanding of the world through research, we also need to use our training and expertise to help inform who govern so they can craft policies that are scientifically sound." Ms. Jeffery will be taking a brief hiatus from her laboratory research in Michael Bulger's lab to remotely participate in an internship with the American Institute of Biological Sciences in Washington DC, where she will focus on science and public policy.
Dr. Robert Freeman Selected As 2020 Outstanding Graduate Course Director
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Dr. Robert Freeman has been selected as this year's recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Course Director Award. Established in 2013, this award is based on the course's record of excellence based on course-instructor survey evaluations and letters of recommendation from students enrolled in the course.
This award comes with $1,000, to be paid as unrestricted education support monies (for education-related expenses such as travel to professional meetings, work-related computers, textbooks, courses, etc.) and is available immediately.
The award will be presented at the School of Medicine and Dentistry Convocation Ceremony. The Virtual Convocation Celebration will be posted to the following websites at 5pm on Monday, September 14th:
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/graduate.aspx
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/md.aspx
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education.aspx
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd.aspx
The department would like to congratulate Bob on this recognition, as it is a well-deserved honor.
Halima Aweis Wins Graduate Alumni Fellowship Award
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Halima Aweis has been selected by our faculty to be one of this year's recipients of the Graduate Alumni Fellowship Award. Graduate alumni in the School of Medicine and Dentistry established this fellowship award to recognize an incoming graduate student's promise for exceptional accomplishment in graduate study.
The award, which includes a monetary prize of $500, will be presented at the School of Medicine and Dentistry Convocation Ceremony. The Virtual Convocation Celebration will be posted to the following websites at 5pm on Monday, September 14th:
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/graduate.aspx
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/md.aspx
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education.aspx
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd.aspx
Congratulations Halima!
Romeo Blanc Selected to be this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Post-doctoral associate, Romeo Blanc, in the lab of Dr. Joe v. Chakkalakal has been selected to be this year's recipient of the Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award. This award was established in 2015 to recognize a School of Medicine and Dentistry postdoc for outstanding research contributions. The selection was based on the originality, creativity, and significance of your research accomplishment.
The award will be presented at the School of Medicine and Dentistry Convocation Ceremony. The Virtual Convocation Celebration will be posted to the following websites at 5pm on Monday, September 14th:
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/graduate.aspx
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/md.aspx
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education.aspx
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd.aspx
Congratulations on being chosen for this award, Romeo!
IMV Grad Student Megan Ulbrich Wins the Melville A. Hare Award for Excellence in Teaching
Friday, June 5, 2020
Please join the department in congratulating Megan Ulbrich, this year's winner of the Melville A. Hare Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award is given annually by the Department of Microbiology and Immunology to a graduate student who has displayed outstanding qualities of mentoring and teaching in one or more MBI courses. The award will be officially conferred at URMC Convocation in the late summer.
Megan is currently an IMV graduate student in Michelle Dziejman's lab working on multidisciplinary approaches to uncover novel effector protein functions. Megan grew up in Buffalo, NY and received her B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh.
This week’s URMC Research Heroes featured the Maquat lab’s Tatsuaki Kurosaki, PhD, and Shuhei Mitsutomi, MS
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
This week's URMC Research Heroes featured the Maquat lab's Tatsuaki Kurosaki, PhD, and Shuhei Mitsutomi, MS, who were recognized today for their work on SARS-CoV-2.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA-QN7oAl07/
Both Tatsuaki and Shuhei have worked as members of the Maquat Lab (Center for RNA Biology and the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics) during the sequestration on SARS-CoV-2, collaborating with a lab at Harvard to determine the mechanism by which the virus inhibits human-cell nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) so as to express and replicate its RNA efficiency.
From Tatsuaki: "Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic, is a novel enveloped RNA virus carrying a large (~30 kb) positive-sense single-stranded RNA genome. Although human cells innately have an RNA surveillance pathway called nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) that generally protects cells from infection by many different types of viruses, little is known about how SARS-CoV-2 inhibits NMD to proliferate in human cells. We hope that our research helps to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 proliferation in human cells, eventually contributing toward the development of therapeutic strategies to combat COVID-19."
Matthew Rook awarded a Joan Wright Goodman Dissertation Fellowship
Monday, June 1, 2020
Matthew L. Rook, M.S. (MacLean Lab) has been awarded a Joan Wright Goodman Dissertation Fellowship for 2020-2021! This fellowship was endowed by Joan Wright Goodman, PhD class of 1952, to support doctoral students across disciplines in the sciences. It is one of the University's most competitive dissertation fellowships and is given to students who display exceptional ability and promise. It is a testimony to the University's commitment to supporting your scholarship.
The award is $20,000, and must be used over at least 9 months between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. Congrats Matthew!
Graduate Student Appreciation Week 2020
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Celebrating the more than 600 graduate students and postdoctoral appointees at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry. Meet some of our grad and post doc researchers.
Timmy Li, URMC Epidemiology PhD Graduate in NY Post as "Hero of the Day"
Monday, April 13, 2020
Volunteer EMT Timmy Li normally spends his free time treating injured runners and cyclists in Central Park.
But as the Big Apple gets crushed with 911 calls due to the coronavirus pandemic, he's now devoting his nights and weekends to far more serious emergencies, far outside the park's borders.
"When it was declared a pandemic, I told myself, 'as long I am not sick myself and as long as I'm available, I will continue to take shifts and calls,'" Li, 30, told The Post.
"Pretty much every 911 call right now is COVID related. Almost everything. We still have the injuries, the car crashes, but almost everything is a potential COVID call."
The Queens resident, who also works full-time as a clinical researcher at Northwell Health, is part of the Central Park Medical Unit, a team of 150 volunteer EMTs who typically patrol the park's 843 acres.
But as emergency calls skyrocket past previous records and hordes of EMTs call out sick, the team has now stepped up to handle emergency calls across Manhattan under the FDNY's Mutual Aid system.
"We're working almost 24/7," Li said. "It's definitely challenging, physically exhausting, and mentally exhausting knowing that a lot of people are dying."
The medic, who holds a doctorate in epidemiology, said his unit is used to disaster response, but the coronavirus is a whole different monster.
"We have responded to things like 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, the blackout and the heat wave last summer. And those feel a little different in that those, the risk of me getting infected or injured was low. But this is very real," Li said.