Congratulations to Our GMS Distinguished Alumni Award Winner, Dr. Vladimir Kefalov (GMS ’99)!
Vladimir Kefalov, PhD (GMS ’99), currently serves as a professor of ophthalmology, and of physiology & biophysics, at the University of California Irvine, holding the Allergan Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology and serving as Vice Chair for Research in Ophthalmology. He is recognized worldwide as one of the top electrophysiologists in... More
GMS Celebrates Fourth-Annual Gear-Up Week
The Community Catalyst Center's fourth-annual Gear-Up Week brought students together for a week of connection, academic skill-building, creativity and more. Gear-Up Week, hosted this year from Sept. 8 to 12, offered four different activities and events throughout the week. The week began with Community & Belonging Office Hours, hosted by Dr. Karin Schon... More
The Fall 2025 Semester Has Begun at Graduate Medical Sciences!
Welcome to Fall 2025 at Graduate Medical Sciences! This semester, we welcomed 486 students to GMS, including 459 master’s students, five MD/PhD students and 22 PhD students. Our incoming students are joining us from 22 different countries and 39 states, attending a collective 220 undergraduate institutions. Most of our new students arrived... More
Physician Assistant Class of 2028 Celebrates White Coat Ceremony
The new students will join first-year medical students for 18 months of team-based learning The Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Physician Assistant (PA) Class of 2028 celebrated their White Coat Ceremony with family, friends, faculty and staff in Hiebert Lounge on Friday, Aug. 8, officially marking their entry into the... More
BU’s Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (CryoEM) Core Facility: Understanding the structures of life at a near-atomic scale
Studying the biological structures of viruses, proteins and other tiny macromolecules is key to understanding how life systems function and what happens when disease or injury cause these systems to break down. These macromolecules are so small that traditional microscopes can’t see them very well. Instead, it takes a special kind... More
Dollar$ & $ense: August 2025
Dollar$ & $ense: August 2025 Aid Awarding Timelines and Updates Future Federal Student Aid Updates On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law, creating significant changes to access to federal financial aid programs. Borrowers of Federal Direct Loans (Unsubsidized and/or Graduate PLUS) before June 30, 2026 will be entitled... More
GMS MS in Oral Health Sciences (OHS) Welcomes 50 New Students – Its Largest Cohort in Program History
The Master of Science in Oral Health Sciences (OHS) program welcomed 50 students to its Class of 2026, comprising the program’s largest cohort since it was founded in 2005. This year’s new students attended an Orientation event on Thursday, July 31. The incoming Fall 2025 cohort is represented by students from... More
Living Longer and Living Healthier: The intersection of regenerative medicine and healthful aging
What’s the key to healthful aging? Ask George Murphy, PhD, associate professor of medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. The Murphy Lab applies stem cell-based models and regenerative medicine to develop and advance techniques in the advancing fields of geroscience and aging biology. Rather than studying disease itself, More
Vickery Trinkaus-Randall, PhD, and Steven Borkan, MD, Receive $1.6M Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) Award to Train MD/PhD Students
Read full article Congratulations to Vickery Trinkaus-Randall, PhD, professor of biochemistry & cell biology, and ophthalmology, and Steven Borkan, MD, associate professor of medicine, who have received a multi-PI Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The $1.6 million award is the first received by BU for... More
Congratulations to Our 2025 GMS Educator and Mentor Awardees!
Each year, the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine honors Graduate Medical Sciences faculty who deliver exceptional education and mentorship to graduate students in masters and doctoral programs. The awards are granted based on recommendations from across GMS programs. This year, GMS is pleased to share that Elizabeth Duffy, More
GMS Spotlight: Kanishka Mehra (MHCBM ’25)
Kanishka Mehra is a May 2025 graduate of the Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling & Behavioral Medicine at Graduate Medical Sciences. In her work as a therapist, Kanishka aims to work with adolescents, young adults, and midlife adults through transitional periods that can hold the potential for transformation. More
Congratulations to the Graduate Medical Sciences Class of 2025!
Over 300 Graduate Medical Sciences students crossed the stage at the 2025 Master’s and MD & PhD convocation ceremonies, held Thursday, May 15 at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center. The Master’s Ceremony started at 10 a.m., followed by the MD & PhD Ceremony at 3 p.m. Graduates from August... More
Congratulations to Our 2025 Outstanding Student Achievement Award Winners!
Graduate Medical Sciences has awarded three high-achieving, graduating students with Outstanding Student Achievement Awards in the categories of “Community Service” and “Outstanding Research.” The “Outstanding Research” Award recognizes achievement related to scientific impact, breakthroughs and intellectual contributions during a student’s time at GMS. The “Community Service” Award recognizes initiative and... More
2025 Outstanding Student Achievement Award: Master’s Community Service Category
Marine Chido Nimblette Master of Science in Medical Sciences (MAMS) Program Nimblette is a member of the MS in Medical Sciences graduating class of 2025. Since 2024, she has served as one of 38 mayor-appointed members of the SPARK Boston Council, where she advises Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on programs and policies... More
2025 Outstanding Student Achievement Award: Master’s Research Category
Gloria Urrutia '25 Master of Science in Medical Sciences (MAMS) Program Urrutia matriculated into the MS in Medical Sciences (MAMS) Program in 2023 and is preparing to graduate in May 2025. During her thesis year, Urrutia has worked on several projects addressing overlooked educational and healthcare barriers that disproportionately affect underrepresented communities. More
2025 Outstanding Student Achievement Award: PhD Research Category
Todd W. Dowrey '25 PhD in Molecular & Translational Medicine, Program in Biomedical Sciences Dowrey matriculated into the PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences (PiBS) in 2020 before transitioning to the Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine (MTM) following his first rotation year. He currently works in the lab of Assistant Professor of... More
CReM Founding Director Darrell Kotton, MD, Named BU Innovator of the Year
Darrell Kotton, MD, founding director of the Boston University and Boston Medical Center Center for Regenerative Medicine, has been named BU's Innovator of the Year. Kotton is a mentor in Graduate Medical Sciences whose research focuses on advancing understanding of lung disease and developmental biology using stem cell biology and gene... More
GMS PhD Spotlight: Ellen Suder
Ellen Suder is a May 2025 PhD candidate in the graduate program in Virology, Immunology & Microbiology. Ellen’s dissertation research investigates how filoviruses such as Ebola and Marburg virus regulate their gene expression processes, focusing on the transcriptional activities of the filovirus-specific protein VP30. Ellen matriculated into GMS via the... More
GMS PhD Spotlight: Stacy Jankowski (MTM ’25)
Stacy Jankowski is a PhD candidate in the GMS Graduate Program in Molecular & Translational Medicine, through the Program in Biomedical Sciences (PiBS). Stacy’s research in the lab of Dr. Maria Kukuruzinska investigates serine and the synthesis pathway’s impact on cell plasticity through epigenetic modification in oral squamous cell carcinoma. More
Breadth and Depth of GMS Research on Display at Inaugural Research Symposium
This story was first published on the Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine news website on April 25, 2025. Please find a full slideshow of pictures from the Research Symposium at the bottom of this article. The inaugural Graduate Medical Sciences (GMS) Research Symposium was held on April 10 in Hiebert... More
GMS PhD Spotlight: Riley Pihl (MTM ’25)
Riley Pihl is a PhD candidate in the lab of Assistant Professor of Medicine Katrina Traber, MD, PhD. Riley matriculated into the Program in Biomedical Sciences (PiBS) in 2020 before transitioning into the Molecular and Translational Medicine program. His research in the Traber Lab focused on neutrophil regulation during acute... More
Introducing Our 2025 GMS Commencement Speakers!
We are quickly counting down to Spring 2025 Commencement, where the Graduate Medical Sciences community will come together and celebrate this year’s graduating students. Today, we are excited to introduce you to the four students selected to speak at this year’s GMS Convocation exercises. Three students were chosen to speak at the... More
GMS C3 Student Intern Honored as BU Graduate Student Employee of the Year
We are so proud of our GMS Community Catalyst Center student intern, Crystal Vejar (MAMS '25), who has been honored as Boston University's Graduate Student Employee of the Year! During her internship, Crystal has taken the lead on planning and implementing C3 events and communicating with mentors and students across C3's... More
GMS Hosts 5 Days of Graduate & Professional Student Appreciation Week Events
Graduate Medical Sciences Student Affairs, GMS Professional Development and the Community Catalyst Center celebrated the accomplishments of our students during Graduate & Professional Student Appreciation Week from April 7 to 11. Throughout the week, we hosted a variety of events that brought students together for community building, social interaction, academic enrichment, More
Student Spotlight: Filip Engström (HEM ’25)
Filip Engström is a student in the Healthcare Emergency Management master’s program at Graduate Medical Sciences. Originally from Sweden, Filip is a double Terrier who also earned bachelor’s degrees in human physiology and psychology from Boston University. Filip is currently researching management of mass casualty incidents for his master’s thesis... More