Program
Class picture on steps of Gordon Hall
Welcome
George Q. Daley, MD, PhD Dean of the Faculty of Medicine
Opening Remarks
Rosalind A. Segal, MD, PhD Dean for Graduate Education
Keynote Speaker
Eric Rubin, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Adjunct Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine
Introduction of the Student Speaker
Johanna L. Gutlerner, PhD
Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education
Remarks from Student Speaker Ruisi Chen
Master’s Degree Programs (in order of procession)
Master of Medical Sciences in Medical Education
Krisztina Fischer, MD, PhD, Director
Ayres Heller, EdM, Associate Director
Narjis Corbett, Program Coordinator
Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health
Neal Baer, EdM, AM, MD, Co-Director
Jason Silverstein, PhD, Co-Director
Christina Thompson Lively, MEd, Associate Director of Education Programs
Allison Lewis, Program Coordinator
Master of Medical Sciences in Immunology
Shiv Pillai, MD, PhD, Director
Michael Carroll, PhD, Co-Director
Gavin Porter, PhD, Associate Director
Naima Abdullahi, EdM, Senior Program Manager
Master of Science in Healthcare Quality and Safety
Anjala Tess, MD, Director
Brittany Esty, MD, MPH, Associate Director
Katherine Santos, MBA, Associate Director
Jennifer Coulombe, PhD, Program Manager
Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery
Joia Mukherjee, MD, MPH, Director
Christina Thompson Lively, MEd, Associate Director of Education Programs
Katie Player, MA, Program Coordinator
Master of Science in Clinical Service Operations
J. Kevin Tucker, MD, Director
Rachel Wasserstrom, MBA, Co-Director
Ann Prestipino, MPH, Pathway Leader
Harry W. Orf, PhD, Pathway Leader
Preeti Sharma, MBA, Program Manager
Teresa Gorman, Interim Program Manager
Master of Science in Clinical Research
Lourdes Pérez-Chada, MD, Co-Director
Sagar Nigwekar, MD, Co-Director
Katherine King, Ed.D., Assistant Director
Master of Medical Sciences in Clinical Investigation
Ajay K. Singh, MBBS, FRCP, MBA, Director Emeritus
Finnian R. Mc Causland, MBBCh, MMSc, FRCPI, PG CertMedEd, Director
Martina M. McGrath, MB, BCh, FASN, FRCPI, Co-Director
Rosalyn Adam, PhD, Associate Director
Kerri LaRovere, MD, MMSc, Assistant Director
Suman Srinivasa, MD, MS, Assistant Director
Molly Gallagher, Program Manager
Master of Sciences in Biomedical Informatics
Nils Gehlenborg, PhD, Director
Aparna Nathan, PhD, Associate Director
Lilen Uchima, PhD, Director of Educational Programs
Rebecca Fitzhugh, ALM, Senior Program Manager
Jesse Ellis, Education Program Coordinator
Master of Science in Bioethics
Rebecca Weintraub Brendel, MD, JD, Director
Joni R. Beshansky, RN, MPH, LPD, Associate Director
Crystal Chang, MPH, Associate Director of Education
Samantha Pitkin, MEd, Education Program Administrator
Jesse Tucker, Admissions and Recruitment Administrator
Sadé Chisolm, Program Engagement and Alumni Development Coordinator
Closing Remarks
Johanna L. Gutlerner, PhD
Senior Associate Dean for Graduate Education
2026 HMS Master’s Programs Graduates
Master of Medical Sciences in Medical Education
Distinguished Deans, Faculty, and Guests,
Above all, Dear Graduates of the MMSc in Medical Education Program,
Congratulations! Take a moment to reflect on all you have accomplished. You have worked incredibly hard to earn this degree, and along the way, you have gained a rich and nuanced understanding of medical education, including cognitive science, adult learning theory, curriculum development, educational technology, assessment principles, simulation, leadership, and teamwork. You have also developed a robust set of research skills that equip you to investigate and address meaningful questions in our field.
Through your scholarship, you have taken on ambitious and consequential topics in medical education and, in doing so, have advanced the field in meaningful ways. Whether using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods, your research has addressed a wide range of questions with insight and rigor.
Your thesis projects examined how educators, learners, and health care systems can continue to grow in an increasingly complex educational landscape. You explored how residency program directors navigate the paradoxes of accountability, how learning skills instruction can strengthen study habits and academic performance in a traditional preclinical curriculum, and how physician-scientists understand the distinctive components and values of their professional identity. You also investigated how AI-driven virtual patient modules may enhance clinical communication skills, how generative AI can support evidence-based learning strategies among medical students, and how primary care physicians perceive the role of artificial intelligence in geriatrics and palliative care education and clinical practice.
Your work also advanced faculty development, assessment, simulation, and clinical learning. You designed and studied an asynchronous, gamified faculty development program to enhance teaching engagement and competency; developed an observational checklist to measure facilitation skills and behaviors in case-based collaborative learning; and examined the implementation and impact of a graduate medical education-wide optout mental health appointment program. You assessed neuraxial procedures in obstetric anesthesiology through a Delphi study, created simulation-based training for needle handling and tracking in ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia, explored how sonographers approach high-uncertainty cases, designed and validated a proficiency index for crisis management assessment in anesthesiology, assessed deep suturing using AI analysis, and developed an evidence-based observational tool to explore trace-based communication in surgical settings.
Your findings have the potential to influence medical school curricula, hospital policies, residency programs, and health systems today. Just as important, however, is how well you have prepared yourselves to carry forward these rigorous approaches and apply them to any educational project you choose to pursue in the future.
As we celebrate your academic accomplishments, we also want to honor who you are and how you have contributed to this educational community. You brought perspectives from multiple continents, health professions, and clinical domains, enriching our conversations and deepening our collective learning. Throughout the program, your partnership, creativity, and thoughtful feedback helped shape a vibrant and supportive virtual learning environment. We also recognize the invaluable support many of you received from your families, colleagues, and communities along the way.
Your mentors, thesis committee members, and program faculty have been honored to accompany you throughout this period of professional growth. We know that you will continue to make meaningful contributions to medical education, and we look forward to seeing the many ways you will help shape the future of health professions education.
Congratulations to the Class of 2026; we are so proud of you!
Krisztina, Ayres & Narjis
Jennifer A. Best
"I'm In It For The Long Game": A Constructivist Grounded Theory Study of Residency Program Directors as Stewards of Accountability Paradox
Gergely József Csaba
Make Them Stick: Effects of a Learning Skills Course on Study Habits and Academic Performance in a Traditional Preclinical Medical Curriculum
Alexander Gural
An Assessment of Consensus Opinion Regarding the Unique Components and Values of Physician-Scientists' Professional Identity
Ami Kobayashi
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Different AI-Driven Virtual Patient Modules in Enhancing Student Clinical Communication Skills
András Komócsi
TEACH-UP: Enhancing Teaching Engagement and Competency Through Asynchronous, Gamified Faculty Development
Rachel Elizabeth Korus
Default Enrollment, Improved Access: The Implementation and Impact of a GME-Wide Opt-Out Mental Health Appointment Program
Hange Li
Exploring the Potential for Generative AI to Facilitate Medical Students’ Use of EvidenceBased Learning Strategies
Gimena Marzán
The Facilitator Toolbox: A Checklist to Measure Facilitation Skills and Behaviors in the Context of Case-Based Collaborative Learning
PJ McGuire
Assessment of Neuraxial Procedures in Obstetric Anesthesiology: A Delphi Study
Federico Puerta-Martinez
Mixed-Reality Simulation for Needle Tracking Skills in Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia: An Evaluator-Blinded, Randomized Controlled Trial
Jaspreet Randhawa
Identifying the Unspoken: Development of an Evidence-Based Observational Tool to Explore Trace-Based Communication in Surgical Settings
He Sun
Needs Assessment in Primary Care Physicians on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Geriatrics and Palliative Care Education and Clinical Practice
Sandra Taves Bhutto
Exploring How Sonographers Approach High Uncertainty Cases: A Mixed Methods Study
Sue Wang
"Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast”: AI Analysis of Suturing at Depth Utilizing a Novel Simulator
Dario Winterton
A Multidimensional Proficiency Index for Assessing Crisis Management in Anesthesiology: Development and Validation
Master of Science in Media, Medicine, and Health
Dear graduates of the Media, Medicine, and Health program,
This year you learned to use the arts to move us closer to a world where health is a human right. A world where the sick are given the highest quality care not because of where they live or what they have, but because they are human, and their lives are singular and sacred.
You sought out ways to be close to suffering, when turning away would have been easier. You built on years of relationships with people who are homeless in Boston to understand why so many face a greater risk of overdose in a city so rich in medicine. You fought to speak with women held in Iranian prisons, facing execution at any moment, because they dared dissent. You followed their suffering to its source in power, in law and you are bringing it into view, because what is done in the dark depends on not being seen.
Fighting suffering is not the work of one person, and not the work of one form. You worked on many kinds of health problems and made of them work that might change the fortunes of those too often pushed aside. You studied serious infections and how doctors work together, traced what families face before cancer surgery in China, and showed how social media reshapes how people see their bodies. You wrote about losing family and showed how patients, especially women, are not taken seriously by the very people who are supposed to help. You found ways to read trauma in the body and examined what football does to children. You made a game to help people with Long Covid, improvised a device for diabetes care, invented stories to steady children under the shadow of ICE, filmed how fathers help mothers survive pregnancy, and developed an app to reveal how clothing affects people and the environment. Across this work and more, you stayed with people in suffering long enough to learn from them and to show what it feels like and what produces it.
In doing this work, you learned that showing suffering is bound up with power who speaks, and who is heard. In Reimagining Global Health, you learned how money, rules, and history shape who gets sick and who is helped, who lives and who dies, from Boston to Malawi to Russia. In Marty Zeve’s class, you saw how knowledge and power shape disease, and define what counts as care and for whom. You argued over what empathy owes to those who suffer in your classes on storytelling and design thinking. You talked with Amber Husain and Jill Damatac about who gets to tell their stories. You listened to Maggie Smith, Saeed Jones, Tiana Clark, and Korintha Mitchell speak of how such stories
can stand against despair.
But it is not enough to attend only to the suffering before you. The harder work is to name what produces it, in distant and powerful places. Your work begins by meeting the world’s suffering and making it visible, refusing to accept it as “just the way things are,” and knowing that to confront it is to move us, however slowly, toward a more humane world.
You may fear, in taking this on, how much is asked of you. You will do it anyway. There is a passage attributed to the Talmud that reads, “Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
Those considered the last and the least denied their rights, unseen in their suffering, silenced by the violent and powerful are in need of your talent and your courage.
Class of 2026, do not be daunted,
Allison, Christina, Jason, and Neal
Denise Ellen Brodey
Long Covid Patient Advocacy Intervention: Spike! A Card Game for Health & Wellbeing
Angelica Faith Carrillo
El Cucuy and the Shadows of Worry: A Culturally Grounded Bibliotherapy Model for Mexican Childhood Mental Health
Ruisi Chen
Double Erasure: Platform Governance and Biomedical Neglect in Sexual Health Information Access among Lesbian and Bisexual Women in China
Imani Esosa Fonfield
“Breathing for Three:” A Novel Literary Intervention to Address the Respiratory Violence of Asthma Disparities in Boston, Massachusetts
Alyssa Greene
The Sick Show: Impression Management and Embodied Negotiations of Legitimacy in Chronic Illness
Sabrina Melody Kianni
NARM: A Digital Platform for Fabric Education to Reduce Synthetic Fiber Exposure and Promote Environmental and Human Health
Anna Jeanine Kim
Temporary Address: Understanding Mental Health, Displacement, and Housing
Insecurity
Saloni Kothari
Visualizing Data on the Effectiveness and Accuracy of WHO Treatment Decision
Algorithms to Support Policy Adoption for Pediatric Tuberculosis Diagnosis
Zhexu Li
Shaping Beauty: Women, Social Pressure, and the Medical Aesthetics Boom in China
Christy Marie Lucas
Ever After: A Narrative Approach to Early Parental Bereavement
Meghna Mallapan
Cartographies of Care: Participatory Mapping as an Advocacy Tool for Harm Reduction
Equity in New York City
Ana Patricia Marenco Flores
Liver Guide: A Bilingual Narrative Medicine Platform for Patient Education in Autoimmune Liver Disease
Ayden Massey
THE PELVIC ARCHIVE: A Biosocial Perspective on Medical Hyperobjects, Embodiment, and the Making of Trauma-Literate Urogynecologic Epistemologies
Elizabeth Meyer
Human Centered Design and Technology: Applying Play and Patient-First AnthroEngineering Principles to the Insulin Pump Interface
Benjamin David Myers
No Place for Sunshine: A Documentary Intervention on Punitive Homelessness Policy, Displacement, and Overdose Risk in Boston, Massachusetts
Avnit Natt
Turner Syndrome Representation: Opportunities in Media
Fredderick Nettles
Youth Concussions in Tackle Football: Concussion Risk, Brain Development, and Rethinking Early Contact Through Safer Alternatives for Athletes Under 14
Irene Newman Jimenez
Nuestra Medicina: A Culture-Centered Community Songwriting Approach for Latine/Hispanic Women in the U.S. Experiencing Barriers to Healthcare Access
Isioma Deborah Nwonye
Point To Where It Hurts: A Comic on the Social Forces Behind Baltimore’s Opioid Crisis
Daranie Pin
Unheard Voices: An Animated Narrative Intervention on Medical Gaslighting of Women with Gastrointestinal Symptoms
Mia Toubian
A Death Sentence for Dissent: Iran’s State-sanctioned Femicide
Medha Tripathi
The Cost of Fighting: A Video Intervention on Hospice Decision-Making in NeuroOncology
Ava Tsapatsaris
Pathophysiology of Diabetic Foot Infections: Implications for Multidisciplinary Care and Medical Journalism
Candace Bethany Williams
Dear Fathers: An Investigation into the Role of Partner Advocacy in Reducing Maternal Health Disparities Among Black Women in the United States
Melanie Winuk
Discipline or Disorder? Orthorexia Nervosa, Social Media, and the Moralization of Health
Zihua Zackery Yao
From Clinical Gaze to Cultural Screen: Caregiving, Anxiety, and a Media Intervention on Relational Distress in Preoperative Cancer Care in China
Hannah Shaye Young
Hannah’s Monster: An Amalgamative Examination of Science, Scientists, and Self Through Creative Nonfiction
Master of Medical Sciences in Immunology
Congratulations MMSc Immunology Graduates!
Mike, Gavin, Naima, and I all want you to know how immensely proud we are of each and every one of you! 2026 has been a year of almost universal disarray. But in the exact sciences – progress continues to be made. In this past year – the discoverers of regulatory T cells received Nobel honors. Work that many of you have done will keep the field moving forward – even when the world seems to be in a state of confusion. You are all poised to have a huge and positive impact, each in your own way, and we look forward to hearing about your future successes and accomplishments in the years to come.
We have been connected closely since the fall of 2024. We have watched with great pleasure as you have grown into knowledgeable immunologists and confident investigators in the making. It has been especially gratifying to listen to you present your findings during our monthly lunch meetings. You have each described with sophistication, thoughtfulness and rigor, the wonderful work that you have been doing as part of the thesis projects that you have all successfully defended. We know you are on your way to do great things in the years to come!
We all recognize that no other aspect of modern biology is more intimately connected to human disease than immunology. Medicine without immunology would be akin to the body without a brain, or an automobile without an engine. It is one of the most important drivers of rational therapies.
There is an almost divine quality to the exquisite precision with which our immune cells find their cellular partners to have a conversation with during an orchestrated, protective response. But things do fall apart sometimes. Beautiful, mind-blowing, precision can be put out of kilter. Distortions in an exquisitely regulated balance can contribute to the initiation of chaos. It is the loss of immune precision that is, as we all know, the underlying basis of disease. This is frighteningly apparent to all of us today. We are confident that all of you will continue to use your knowledge to change the world in the years and decades to come.
Congratulations once again! May you and your loved ones enjoy the moment, enjoy the day and stay healthy. We look forward to hearing from you about the great things you will continue to do. Stay in touch!
Shiv, Mike, Gavin and Naima
Yuxin Chen
Reprogramming Natural Killer Cells for Sensitive and Specific Targeting of Intra- and Extracellular Tumor Antigens
Héctor Ferrando Gómez
Regulatory T Cells at CNS Borders: Responsiveness to GLP-1 Receptor Agonism and Characterization of the Human Dural Compartment
Sri Vidya Niharika Gullapalli
Human Mast Cell Plasticity and Lineage Stability Shaped by Microenvironmental Signals
Qianqin Guo
New Knock in Mouse Lines Dmp1em1(CreERT2) and Dmp1em2(ZsGreen) Enable Precise
Osteocyte-Specific Targeting and Visualization
Fengting Huang
Dissecting the Antiviral Role of MUT-7
Caelyn Jarrett Poetz
Exploring the Expression and Function of Mechanoreceptors on Human Mast Cells
Jialun Lily Li
Immunotherapeutic Targeting of Viral Infection in the Central Nervous System
Keying Liu
Investigating How Dynamic Changes in Dendritic Cell Activation States Can Be Leveraged to Enhance Anti-Tumor Immunity
Samriti Balaji Mudaliar
Interrogating the Role of Type I Interferon in the Dysregulation of AhR Activity in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Yukun Ou
Epigenomic Liquid Biopsy: Nucleosome Repositioning, Gene Expression Inference, and Chromatin Dynamics in Cell-Free DNA
Haiyue Song
Nanoparticle-Mediated Modulation of Innate Immune Signaling to Enhance Dendritic Cell-Mediated Antitumor Immunity in Bladder Cancer
Yu Sun
Leveraging Trafficking Signals to Modulate Next-generation Tuberculosis Vaccine Responses
Kavya Thanki
Enteric Neuronal Culture System as a Platform to Study Neuroimmune Interactions in the Gut
James Townsend
Immunotherapeutic Enhancement of NK-cell Responses to Emerging Orthopoxviruses and Treatment-Refractory Lymphomas
Marie Verdonck
Noncanonical Targeting of pHLA Complexes
Sophia Villa
Characterizing CD4 T Cells Involved in the Extrafollicular Response
Yixue Wang
Decoding and Engineering the Tumor Secretome for Precision Immunotherapy
Yiyang (Jennifer) Wang
Structural and Biochemical Characterization of Human NOD2 Activation and Assembly
Miaoer Xu
Modulating Visceral Adipose Tissue Immunometabolism: GLP-1RA Semaglutide’s Impact on Immune–Stromal Networks
Zifeng Xue
Mapping the Interaction of Human Albumin with the Invariant Chain
Zhiyi Zou
Intercellular Mitochondrial Transfer between Fibroblasts and Macrophages: An Extrinsic Mechanism for Organelle Quality Control
Master of Science in Healthcare Quality and Safety
From the Master of Science in Healthcare Quality and Safety program, we write to congratulate our graduates in the Class of 2026!
It has been a tremendous one to two years in the MHQS program. We watched you come with full intention to your work and execute with grace and clarity. Whether in the most rural village clinics of your home country or in the well-resourced hallway of the academic medical center, we saw you apply your curiosity to the problems at hand. You won over your faculty, your classmates, and your peers and leaders at home. You were
able to apply the tools and frameworks, adapting along the way to the unique challenges you faced. And you have made us so proud.
We designed MHQS with the intent that it would accomplish one critical thing. That our graduates would leave with instincts around quality and safety to improve healthcare for all. A mindset of sorts. What is the “QI Mindset”? It is an approach that doesn’t just accept the need to make something better. It instead expands to celebrate the opportunity to make it better. The mindset recognizes that problem solving requires thoughtful assessment of the risk and its root causes, not just checking the easiest box to fix things. The solution must match the actual problem. The approach is rooted in tools and structures that use hypothesis-driven questioning to guide the path and relies on data to make final decisions. Most importantly, the QI mindset demands that the perspective of healthcare providers, and the patients they serve, remain at the center of all design. Though tools and methods will reinvent themselves over the years, the QI mindset remains steadfast. And you have all shown us you now have this instinct in you.
We would be remiss if we did not thank the many people who helped make this program a success. First, to your families who were kind enough to share with us, thank you. Their sacrifices were not small, and this degree is their accomplishment too. Secondly, we thank your course faculty, project mentors, and the rest of the team at HMS for making the experience as smooth as possible for everyone. And we thank you for making this program what it is – a place to foster learning and change.
Congratulations! Please know that we are going to miss you but intend to stay in touch. This is just the beginning of our journey together.
With warmth and best wishes,
Anjala, Brittany, Kae, Katie, and Jenn
Abdulsalam Mohammed Aleid
Implementing Clinical Decision Support to Improve Compliance with Standardized End-to-End Anesthesia Care for ASA III–IV Surgical Patients: A Quality Improvement Initiative
Entesar Abdulla AlHammadi
Reducing Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI) in the NICU at Latifa Hospital, Dubai
Bincy Anthony
Secure And Fearless Event reporting (SAFE)
Engie Attia
Optimizing Medication Reconciliation for Improved Accuracy in Transplant Patient Care
M. Kathleen Borchardt
Standardization of Antibiotics on Labor and Delivery to Improve Maternal outcomes
Michelle Burke
Health IT Solutions for Quality Improvement in Behavioral Health Systems
Yew Woon Chia
Reducing Emergency Department Boarding Time for Patients Who Require Telemetry
Monitoring in the General Wards
Edwin Aik Chen Chng
Reducing Medication Transcription Error Rates in the Inpatient Wards of a Private Tertiary Hospital in Singapore
Muhammad Ehtisham
A Quality Improvement Project To Decrease Six-Month COPD Exacerbation Related
Hospitalization by Decreasing “No-Show” Rate of COPD Patients in Pulmonary Clinic
Stephanie Grenier
Improving Timely Discharge Planning in a Geriatric Rehabilitation Unit: A Quality Improvement Project
Matthew Heron
Improving the Efficiency of Rocuronium Dosing for Neuromuscular Blockade Management During Anaesthesia
Paul Sudhakar Issack
Reducing Time to Surgery For Geriatric Hip Fractures at a Level 1 Trauma Center
Nancy Jacob
The Power of Breath: Modifying the Time Out Process in the Endoscopy Suite
Naif Marzook
P.A.I.N.L.E.S.
Pain Assessment Initiative Narrowing Latency & Ensuring Serenity
Amirah Momen
Improving Written and Verbal Communication at Discharge from the St. Michael’s Hospital
Inpatient Neurology Ward
Tegan Mosugu
Using Quality Improvement to Improve Efficiency in HIV Self-Testing Service Delivery in Lagos, Nigeria
Vikhashni Nagesh
Protocol Adherence and Hypoglycemia Reduction in Pediatric Diabetic Ketoacidosis: A Quality Improvement Initiative
Jeffrey Newman
OR to CVICU Structured Hand-Off Reliability Initiative
Florina Geok Cheng Ong
Retained Surgical Items and Specimens – See It, Say It, Sign-Out
Sristi Patodia
Improving Tracheostomy Discharge Process including Caregiver Training and Follow-Up: A Quality Improvement Initiative in a Tertiary Care ICU in South India
Hilary Radtke
Improving the Culture of Mobility to Reduce Length of Stay in Hospitalized Medical-Surgical Patients on an Innovation Unit
Dorcas Sackey
Adapting the New Timing for Acute Care Surgery (nTACS) Classification To Improve the Quality of Emergency Surgical Care – a Quality Improvement Initiative
James Sancrant
Improving Signal-to-Noise Ratio in Radiology-Specific History of Presenting Illness
Taro Shimizu
Redesigning the Blood Culture Response Workflow to Reduce Time to Antimicrobial Therapy After Positive Blood Culture Notification
Harsimar Singh
Implementation of a Standardized VTE Prophylaxis Review To Improve PSI-12 Outcomes in Orthopedic Care
Ameliane Tardif
Digital Discharge Instructions for Acute Low Back Pain: A Quality Improvement Initiative in the Emergency Department
Shaun Michael Warren
Improving Mortality Index Among Oncology Inpatients with a Standardized Documentation Tool
Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery
Dear graduates, colleagues, friends: our Global Health family could not be prouder of your accomplishments in these two years. We, the staff and faculty that have supported you all in this journey, are in awe of your brilliant scholarship in a dozen countries to
address the problem of delivery of care and the promise of health equity.
The advances in biomedicine in the twenty-first century are truly awe inspiring, yet the benefits of these advances are not shared equally across the world. More than a decade ago, this Master’s program in Global Health Delivery was designed for you people who work tirelessly to improve the lives of patients around the world. We believe that scholarship to address health inequalities should come from those most proximate to suffering. You came to study Global Health Delivery at Harvard Medical School to understand and remediate the persistent gap between those who have access to the fruits of science and those who do not. Your work has interrogated the social forces of racism, gender inequity, and impoverishment to understand how these social forces create and sustain health inequity. In these two years you have learned to practice a biosocial analysis of health problems. You have developed quantitative skills and become facile with tools of social medicine ethnographic and qualitative research. The latter deep listening to those affected by adverse social forces helped you to privilege the lived experience of patients in your research.
All of you used this bio-social lens to analyze complex problems in health delivery. And, so importantly, each of you proposed a roadmap for how we might remediate such suffering. Today you join more than 150 alumni of this unique program: people from communities across the globe doctors and nurses, policy makers and managers, pharmacists and laboratory specialists all of you working toward a fairer world. We have no doubt that you will use the knowledge you have gained here to ease suffering and bend the moral arc of the university toward justice and health equity.
In this difficult time, where the very mention of equity has become politicized, we are especially grateful for this diverse community. We are grateful for having shared this journey with you. We have learned so much together. Our Department of Global Health and Social Medicine indeed our entire community is enriched by your intellect and passion. We are excited to continue to work with you in the future as our community grows!
Joia, Christina and Katie
Dawnn Pauline Cruz Bituin
“Why Can’t She Just Leave?”: Pathways Toward Women's Liberation from Intimate Partner Violence, a Mixed Methods Study in Mabinay, Negros Oriental, Philippines
Ameena Mumthaz Mangattu Chalil
"Before and After It Had a Name" - The Journey of Diagnosis, Understanding, and Living with Bipolar Affective Disorder in Northern Kerala, India
Eddie Charles
Utilization of Mental Health Services During Socio-Political Violence in Haiti: 2015–2024
Tamba Amadu Gbamanja
From Donor Reliance to Domestic Ownership: Barriers to fully funding a Community Health Workers Program in Sierra Leone
Ahmed Abdurahman Hajikedir
Assessing and Exploring Factors Influencing Sexual and Reproductive Health Service
Delivery and Experiences of Adolescent and Young Women in Conflict-Affected Areas of Ethiopia
Vera Kabanda
Understanding the Multi-Sectoral Approach in Responding to Gender-Based Violence in Neno District, Malawi
Emmanuel Kamanzi
Adaptation of an Evidence-Based Patient Navigation Model to Enhance Treatment Outcomes for Patients with Breast Cancer at Butaro Cancer Center of Excellence (BCCoE) in Rwanda
Mariama Mahmoud
Evaluating the Readiness for Community-Based Management of Multidrug/Rifampin Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB) in Sierra Leone
Keisha Carisse Pamilar Mangalili
Understanding the Factors Affecting the Implementation and Utilization of the Konsulta Package in Public and Private Facilities in the Philippines: A Mixed Methods Study
Evan Yutaka Kamealawelawe’imi’āina Masunaga
Financial Toxicity in Craniofacial Care
Cecilia Doble Needham
Facilitators & Barriers in Outpatient Malnutrition Treatment in Neno, Malawi: A MixedMethods Study
Nguyen Do Thu Phuong
Understanding Mental Health Issues Facing Young Women in the Hmong Community: A Qualitative Descriptive Study in Sapa, Vietnam
Ikechukwu Nnanna
Causes of Severe Acute Malnutrition amongst the Under-five Children in Koidu, Sierra Leone
Stephen Wortejieh Picka
Assessing Barriers and Compliance with Antibiotic Stewardship Guidelines in Rural Hospitals in Southeastern Liberia
Priyanka
More Than Medicine: A Biosocial Analysis of Engagement with Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Preventive Treatment Among Close Contacts in Kazakhstan
Nilufar Qahorova
Understanding High Cancer Mortality in Uzbekistan: Identifying Barriers to Early Detection and Prevention of Screenable Cancers: A Mixed-Methods Study on Breast, Cervical and Colorectal Cancer in Uzbekistan
Cinta Nurindah Sari
Evaluation of a Community-Based Nutrition Program using Positive Deviance/Hearth Approach: A Biosocial Analysis of Determinants Influencing Effectiveness in Sambas and Malang Regencies, Indonesia
Nindya Nabilah Utami
Understanding Sociocultural Characteristics in Shaping Professional Burnout and WellBeing Among Resident Physicians in Indonesia’s Teaching Hospital: A Mixed-Method Study
Christy Abigail Wulandari
Bridging the Gap Between the National TB Program and Indigenous Communities: The Importance of Indigenous Community Health Workers in the Orang Rimba of Indonesia's Rainforest
Master in Clinical Service Operations
Over the course of the Master of Science in Clinical Services Operations program, you have committed yourself to the noble pursuit of advancing your leadership in health care clinical operations, which are fundamental to the delivery of patient care and the patient experience. We are impressed by your commitment to safe, accessible, equitable, efficient, compassionate, and affordable high-quality patient care.
Our three pathways of general clinical operations, industry leadership, and executive leadership have created a dynamic multi-disciplinary learning community of physicians, nurses and other clinicians, administrators, and industry professionals. A major focus of our program has been learning novel approaches to clinical operations, and you have immersed yourself in workflow management, innovation and technology, service lines, supply chain, health care finances, data analytics, value-based healthcare, and much more. You have also grown your leadership skills in teamwork, critical thinking, change management, strategic communications, stakeholder alignment and relationship building, mentorship, trust building, and crisis management.
Along the way, we watched you grow and develop into a cohesive unit, a true community of learners despite your locations across the globe. It has been heartwarming to see your friendships develop and to see how each of you contributed to the education of your peers. Each of you has brought a unique set of professional backgrounds and personal stories, and these diverse backgrounds have made for lively classroom discussions that reflected your collective experiences.
As you leave HMS to assume new challenges, new responsibilities, and new leadership roles, we hope that the lessons that you have learned in the classroom and beyond will remain with you. We are in a challenging era as healthcare professionals as we navigate the rising cost of healthcare, capacity constraints, and workforce challenges. Yet it is also the most exciting time in the history of health care with breakthroughs in health care including artificial intelligence, remote monitoring and telemedicine, integration of social determinants of health into care, and personalized medicine and genomics. We are positive that all of our MCSO graduates will play a significant role in transforming your organizations. We wish you all the success in your professional and personal journeys.
Kevin, Rachel, Ann, Harry, Preeti, and Teresa
Alistair Jacob Aaronson
CAIT Connect: Novel AI Platform that Addresses the Operational Challenges Faced by Parents Taking Care of Children with Medical Complexity
Bosede Adesola Afolabi
Establishing a Cost-Effective and Streamlined Cardiovascular Supply Chain
Asmaa Mahmoud Ali Ahmed
Pilot Implementation of a Value-Based Care Model for Diabetes: Optimizing Clinical Outcomes and Economic Sustainability in a Public Hospital Setting
Layth Suleiman Al Sayegh
Implementation of an Integrated In-House Specialty Pharmacy Service (SPS) Model: An Operational Framework for High-Complexity Care in the United Arab Emirates
Bader Ahmad S Alajlan
Home Hospital Program for Capacity Optimization at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre
Faisal Abdullah Alowaidi
Establishing an Inventory Management System for Public Health Laboratory
Maximus Bekada Ateba
Operational Blueprint for Commercializing Ambient Documentation Technology in Academic Medical Centers: A Reimbursement-Ready Scale Pathway for Mass General Brigham
Fatma Jamal Badyadaran
Hospital Beyond Walls: Designing an Inpatient Home-based Acute Care Model for Dubai Health.
Rose Christine Campomanes
AI-Enhanced Infectious Disease Exposure Management: Optimizing TB Exposure
Surveillance at Scale Through Workday Integration, Machine Learning, and Intelligent Workflow Automation
Kyli Brooke Day
Operational Strategies to Improve Clinical Documentation Compliance, Revenue Protection, and Outcome Performance in a Mixed-Payor Behavioral Health System
Juan De Dios Del Castillo Calcáneo
Implementing an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) Pathway for Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF) to Reduce Length of Stay at Centro Médico ABC
Utíéyinashola Christine Dediare
Enhancing Adult Oral Nutrition Supplements (ONS) in Electronic Healthcare Systems (EHS) for Palliative Care Post-Hospital Discharge to Primary Care Settings
Sangu Julius Delle
Healthy Aging@Home: Designing a Preventive, AI-Enabled, Home-Based Geriatric Service for Urban Accra
Emmanuel Desravines
Who is My Provider? Building Smarter Virtual Hospitals: Workflow and Communication Innovations in Hospital-at-Home Care Models
Chen Duan
Design and Optimization of a Hospital-Wide Bed Control Center: A Planning and Operations Perspective
Bethel Amei Dzobo
Measuring What Matters: Developing and Validating an Outcomes Dashboard for the Kinnections Brain Health Initiative at Asbury Methodist Village
Rana Elgendy
Implementing Early Obesity Risk Tracking and Family Education in Pediatric Primary Care to Prevent Long-Term Disease.
Hossam Hassan Abdelhamid Elmasry
Strategic Framework for Addressing Ageing and Escalating Medication Costs in the Medical Services Fund Under the Egyptian Cabinet
Hessa Fezai
Centralization of Medical Imaging Services Access at Dubai Health Contact Center to Enhance Patient Experience
William Lee Gregory
Addressing the Underdiagnosis of Malnutrition in a Rural Health System
Ilian Grigorov
Designing a Data-Driven Preventive Health Clinic: A Model for Early Detection and Lifestyle Interventions to Extend Healthy Lifespan
Candi Holyfield
Designing a Scalable, Telehealth-Enabled Oral Appliance Therapy (OAT) Pathway to Enhance Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Treatment Access and Long-Term Adherence
Anmar Homeida
System-Wide Emergency Department Throughput Optimization at Massachusetts
General Hospital: Reducing Length of Stay and Improving Patient Flow Through DataDriven Consult Workflow Redesign
Susan Hong
In Cancer Care, Food is Medicine: Addressing Food Insecurity in Cancer Patients on Active Treatment at a single NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center
Lubna Jamal
Viz.ai Workflow Redesign for Secondary Stroke Prevention: Implementing AI-Enhanced Workflow Modifications to Reduce Cardiology Referral Delays for Secondary Stroke Prevention
Sarah Elizabeth Johnson
Regional Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) Auto Launch System in Rural South Carolina
Payam Katebi Kashi
Enhancing Palliative Care Access for Gynecologic Cancer Patients at Inova Schar Cancer Institute
Badreya Ibrahim Khadim
Reducing Ultrasound Patient No-Show Rates at Dubai Academic Health Corporation: A Targeted Intervention Across Rashid, Dubai, and Latifa Hospitals
Rouba Bashar Khair
Optimizing Rehabilitation Service Utilization: Reducing Cancellations and No-Shows at Argan Riaya Hospital
Brandon Kirshner
Front-End Utilization Review as a Strategy to Improve Observation vs. Inpatient Status Accuracy in a Rural Community Hospital
James Hsing-Hsi Lee
Establishing a Center of Excellence for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) Patients at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, WA
Franck David Nelson
Addressing Sickle Cell Disease Through a Comprehensive and Standardized Operational Approach
Ahamefule I. Okorozo
Optimizing Procedural Efficiency and Scheduling Adherence in the Gastrointestinal Suite: A Quality Improvement Initiative at Montefiore Medical
Obiora Okoye
Exploring Opportunities to Improve Patient Access to Early Phase Clinical Trials: The Altido Blueprint
Eleonora Zusman Orloff
Improving Pediatric Eye Care and Operational Efficiency at Bronx Eye Associates Through Workflow Redesign and Strategic Referral Optimization
Abiola Oyewo
Optimizing Dialysis Delivery in Resource-Constrained Settings
Shehnaz Yasin Pancholi
Integrated Chronic Care Management Focused on Hypertension, Diabetes, and Cardiac Conditions for Senior Citizens Covered by Medicare to Reduce Hospital Admissions and Readmissions
Najimdin Pedro
Operational Strategies to Reduce Length of Stay and Alternative Level of Care Days in a Safety-Net Hospital: A Throughput Improvement Initiative at Harlem Hospital
Shannon Ranella
Optimizing Advanced Practice Provider Utilization in a Thoracic Surgery Clinic: an Operational and Financial Analysis
Bhavana Rebba
Integrating Outpatient Blood Transfusion Services (OBTS) into a Nursing Home Setting to Reduce Hospital Transfers and Subacute Readmission Rates.
Aneesh Remani Ravi
Bridge to Stability: Implementing a New SMS Based Post-Discharge Engagement Model at CER Hawaii Crisis Shelter (EKOLU)
Patrick Oliver Renner
Dynamic Recruitment Timeline Prediction Tool: Enhancing Accuracy of Study Delivery at Citruslabs
Lindsay Richerson
Closing the Gap: Improving Alumni Engagement and Continuity of Care at Lantana Recovery
Barak Ringel
Standardizing Endoscopic Documentation and Image Analysis to Improve Clinical Consistency in the Rhinology and Skull Base Clinic
Jose Santiago Santa-Cruz Sanchez
Developing Balanced Scorecards as Tools for Organizational Alignment in the Outpatient Service of a Rural Hospital
Jovanna Michelle Schlossenberg
Improving Clinical Research Trial Recruitment Through Digital Patient Matching: Development of ClinMatchGO Platform and the Clinical Research Trial Match System (CRTMS)
Adele Simard-Lebrun
Building a Comprehensive Ophthalmology Division in an Academic Center of Montreal to Address the Problematic of Growing Wait Times
Wempy Supit
Optimizing Clinical Operations: Balancing AI Diagnostics Tools and Workflow Efficiency
Maximilian David Cyril Thompson
Implementation of a Technology-Enabled Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Pilot Program in Primary Care for Underserved Patients with Chronic Conditions in New York City
Scott Patrick Tisoskey
New Knock in Mouse Lines Dmp1em1(CreERT2) and Dmp1em2(ZsGreen) Enable Precise Osteocyte-Specific Targeting and Visualization
Petra Tkacikova
Improving Blood Culture Collection: A Bundle Strategy Approach to Improve Sepsis Quality Measures and Ensure Accurate Sepsis Diagnosis
Grace van Leeuwen
Strategic Roadmap for Transitioning to a New ECMO System
Helena Varela de Araujo
Scaling Diagnostic Services: Building Capacity and Efficiency in Clinical Flow Cytometry
Taylor Nicole Vreugde
Optimizing Space Utilization of an Ambulatory Oncology Clinic
Ariani Dewi Widodo
Establishing Multidisciplinary Aerodigestive Clinic in a National Referral Center for Children: Integrating Care and Benefiting Patients
Salma Yassine
AI-Driven Smart Patient Flow and Risk Prediction System in Pediatric Ophthalmology
Emily Zimmerman-Bartko
Integrating Operational Excellence with Community-Centered Care: A Comprehensive Model for Standardized and Centralized Scheduling in Cancer Infusion Centers
Master of Science in Clinical Research
Congratulations to the inaugural class of the SMCR program on your graduation! Welcome to a moment that, one year ago, existed only on paper.
We know that there was a mix of excitement and some anxiety when you were accepted into this program as our inaugural class. Our program back then was merely an idea of what we wanted it to be. It needed more than a curriculum and a course schedule it needed believers like you. You may or may not know this, but we selected you not merely for what you had accomplished, but for your potential to shape what the SMCR will become. We are happy and proud to say that you delivered on that promise substantially.
With your dedication to academic work and scholarship, you proved yourselves 100%.
You chose the unconventional path. And because of that, you weren’t just students you were our partners. You taught us, the faculty, as much as we taught you. You modeled the exact qualities this changing world needs: resilience in the face of ambiguity, and innovation when there is no roadmap. Despite the unknowns that we faced as we welcomed your class, you helped build the foundation upon which the future SMCR cohorts will stand. In that regard, you are to be congratulated not just for your graduation, but also for your trailblazing role in the SMCR program. You have left an indelible mark on our institution, the SMCR program, and us!
Throughout this past year, you consistently showed up to advance your skills in evidencebased medicine. You actively participated in course work ranging from statistics to omics and from mixed methods to meta-analysis. And you successfully completed your Capstone projects probing the strengths and limitations of the existing literature and articulating implications for future research and clinical work. You did all that while managing the unique pressure of being the “first.” You have proven that you not only have determination to accomplish what is asked of you, but also agility needed in today’s
rapidly changing world.
As you graduate, you are embarking on a journey as an expert in evidence-based medicine destined for leadership. You will be the author of your own career path. We know that you will take the high standards you demanded of yourselves here during the SMCR program and apply them to your work, your communities, and your lives. In your careers, you will inevitably face situations where there is no precedent. When the world tells you, "we’ve never done it this way before." In those moments, we want you to remember your inaugural SMCR class. We want you to remember that you are capable of turning a blank page into a masterpiece. We are so proud of your dedication, brilliance, and boldness.
We look forward to hearing from you about the great things you will continue to do. We wish you the very best for your future.
Lourdes, Sagar, and Katie
Abdelrahman Ahmed Fekry Abaza
Evaluation of the Therapeutic Efficacy and Safety of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor–Based
Combination Therapies for the Management of B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Jeremiah Adie
Brain Computer Interfaces for Motor Restoration in Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury
Mohammad Abdulrahman M Almesned
Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection Versus Minimally Invasive Transanal Surgery for Rectal Tumors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Precious Idorenyin Anthony
Direct Oral Anticoagulants Versus Warfarin in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and Moderate to Severe Chronic Kidney Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Chi Wing Kandace Chan*
Lesion Topography and Etiological Subtypes of Acute Ischemic Stroke as Predictors of Post-Stroke Epilepsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Meiling Milagros Carbajal Galarza
Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Multiple Sclerosis: Systematic Review and Metaanalysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Inha Hwang
Efficacy and Safety of Oral Orexin Receptor 2-Selective Agonist in Narcolepsy Type 1: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Jumana Omar Mazhar
Survival and Clinical Outcomes of Premolar Autotransplantation to the Anterior Region: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Charlotte Grace Logue Nyland
Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in AML Harboring inv(3)(q21q26.2)/t(3;3)(q21;q26.2): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Oseiga Praise Odafen
S100B Protein – A Potential Biomarker of Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy in Neonates
Rohan Andrew Pancharatnam
Indexed Oxygen Delivery During Cardiopulmonary Bypass and Acute Kidney Injury: A Quantitative Synthesis of Physiological Exposure Patterns
Daniya Fatima Riha
Assessing Comparative Effectiveness and Safety Profile of Roflumilast versus Ensifentrine as an Add-on Therapies for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Exacerbation
Reduction: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis and Bucher indirect Comparison
Sebastian David Santos Patarroyo
Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Closure Versus Oral Anticoagulation for Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Assel Talaspayeva
"Risk Factors for "Strong" versus "Weak" Response to Anti-VEGF Therapy in CenterInvolved Diabetic Macular Edema".
Akshaya Thoutam
Transcriptional Programs Underlying Malignant Cell States in Cholangiocarcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-analytic Synthesis of scRNA-seq Evidence
* Note: All degree requirements have been completed. Final degree conferral is pending verification of completion of bachelor's degree or equivalent.
Master of Medical Sciences in Clinical Investigation
To the Class of 2026, we could not be prouder of your tremendous achievement congratulations to you, to your families, friends, and all who supported you along the way.
In the years you spent with us at Harvard Medical School, you learned the foundational skills necessary to succeed in clinical and translational research. You put these skills into practice by conducting cutting-edge research that addressed a spectrum of challenging research questions. Your growth and experiences over the last two years will serve as the foundation of what we hope will be a fulfilling, life-long journey as curious, innovative, and collaborative investigators. As Harvard graduates you are uniquely poised to tackle the most complex research questions, make discoveries that will impact patients' lives, and change the future of healthcare in your communities and the world.
We are truly excited to see the accomplishments that lie ahead for each of you, and we hope that you will continue to engage with and broaden your Harvard community.
Many congratulations and stay in touch,
Finnian, Martina, Rosalyn, Kerri, Suman, Molly, and Opeyemi
Habibah Azzahra Putri Agianda
Blood-Based Biomarker Discovery in Childhood-Onset Hereditary Spastic Paraplegias
Yeside Olubunmi Akinbolagbe
The Effect of Radon Decay Product Exposure on Asthma Morbidity in Students with Asthma & the Impact of Radon on Lung Health in Children with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia
Mohamad Zaki A Alzaher
Biomechanical Breakdown: The Roles of Radial Meniscal Tears and Bone Mineral Density in Subchondral Insufficiency Fractures of the Knee
Victor Anyebe Anyebe
Body Mass Index and the Risk of HIV Acquisition in Transgender Women and Men who have sex with Men: A Secondary Analysis of the HVTN 505 Trial &
Global Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Adolescents Living with HIV: A Systematic review and Meta-analysis
Manisha Rajesh Asrani
The Impact of Automated Tools on Clinical Decision-Making in Gestational Trophoblastic Disease
Samarra Badrouchi
Clinical Features at Admission for Heart Failure and Their Prognostic Significance: AIEnabled Phenotyping from DELIVER and PARAGON-HF
Zahra Bagheri
Evaluating CDK4/6 Inhibitors Treatment Sequencing and Genomic Predictors of Response to AKT Inhibitor in HR+/HER2− Metastatic Breast Cancer
Ilaria Caturegli
Localized Drug Delivery: A Therapeutic Approach for Retroperitoneal Sarcoma
Michael Christian
Finding Those in Needs for Antiretroviral: A Validation of an HIV Risk Prediction Model for Women Aged 15-49 Years and Evaluation of the Diagnostic Test Accuracy of Nucleic Acid Testing for Early Infant Diagnosis
Raysha Farah
Combining Genomics with Lipid and Inflammatory Biomarkers to Predict Coronary Artery Disease Risk
Chinmay Manoj Ghavat
Impact of Post Operative Recovery Pathways on Peri-Operative and Oncologic Outcomes in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients
Andres Inzunza Martin del Campo
Demographic and Diagnostic Characteristics of Virtual Reality Visual Field Testing in Primary Care Glaucoma Screening &
Perimetric Outcomes of Melbourne Rapid Fields in Patients with Glaucoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Ting-Wan Kao
Latent Morphologic Representations in Pathology Foundation Models and Their Implications for Algorithmic Disparities and Clinical Prediction
Basma Menif
Genomic Epidemiology to Inform Infection Control and Clinical Decision-Making
Olfa Messaoud
Improving Genetic Diagnosis: Why and How. Why: Participant Perspectives on Rare Disease Genomic Research & How: Analysis of Splicing Coding and Noncoding Genes and Pseudogenes Reveals Novel Gene-Disease Relationships
Kamila Muyasarah
Engineering CAR-NK Cells with Enhanced Persistence and Functionality for Cancer Immunotherapy
Loukman Omarjee
Two Beats Within One Heart: Autonomic and Vascular Biological Aging in Obesity and Exercise
Juliana Villanueva Congote
Risk Stratification in Kidney Stone Disease: Environmental Drivers and Perioperative Infectious Outcomes
Jason Young
Defining Bacteriophage Dosing and Pharmacokinetic Parameters for Staphylococcus epidermidis Prosthetic Joint Infection
Qilin Zhang
Genomic Features Associated with Clinical Heterogeneity in Corticotroph Adenomas
Master of Medical Sciences in Biomedical Informatics
Dear graduates, families, and guests!
The Department of Biomedical Informatics is excited to celebrate the achievements of our new graduates. This year is especially exciting because our first cohort of students is graduating from the newly redesigned Master of Medical Sciences in Biomedical Informatics program. This two-year training program complements our rigorous core curriculum with a year-long research thesis where students can apply their skills to real biomedical questions.
The 30 graduates crossing the stage today came to us with impressive training in biomedical and computational sciences and a desire to enhance their skills. They entered the program intending to pursue career paths dedicated to improving human health
using advances in data science and technology, and indeed, many of these students will go on to pursue PhD and MD degrees, or to roles in industry and academic research.
These students are well-equipped to tackle the most pressing problems in biomedicine today with their multidisciplinary skillset. Over the past two years, they took courses in machine learning, large-scale data analysis, molecular mechanisms of disease, clinical data, and the design and execution of impactful research projects.
In addition, all of our graduates designed and completed thesis research projects with the mentorship of expert faculty and researchers. Their projects use data and computing to tackle a wide range of biomedical problems: for example, developing a machine learning approach to assess Parkinson’s Disease severity through speech measurements, disentangling the complex associations between drug use and tuberculosis transmission, or using multiomic data to identify potential genetic mechanisms of blood disorders. Our graduates’ theses reflect the extraordinary skill and care required to ask impactful questions and design rigorous analyses that push the boundaries of data-driven biomedicine
As we celebrate the successful culmination of these graduates’ master’s training, we want to thank our instructional faculty and thesis advisors, who invest their time and energy into educating the next generation of biomedical informaticians and enable their success.
We are grateful to our graduates that they chose to come here to join our community, share their knowledge with us, and enrich our community by participating in the academic and social life in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Harvard Medical School.
We are also thankful to the families of our graduates, who supported them throughout their studies, and who undoubtedly shared many of the sacrifices that our students made to be graduating today. Dear families, you have many reasons to be proud today!
But most importantly, dear graduates, we want to emphasize that today does not mark the end of your time in our community; it is the beginning of the next phase. As alumni of our program and the Department of Biomedical Informatics, you will now be working alongside your former teachers and mentors to define the future of our field and leave your mark on the future of medicine. The importance of informatics in medicine and biology has never been more evident than today.
Wherever your careers may take you, you will always be a part of our community.
Congratulations!
Nils Gehlenborg (Program Director), Aparna Nathan (Associate Program Director)
Lilen
Uchima (Director of Educational Programs), Rebecca Fitzhugh (Senior Program Manager), and Jesse Ellis (Education Program Coordinator)
Valentin Badea
A Multi-Scale Computational Framework for the Longitudinal Analysis of Enlarged Perivascular Space Distributions Under Sleep Deprivation
Mohammed Salim Baharoon
Developing Collaborative Human–AI Systems for Radiology
Yourong Bao
Longitudinal Multi-Omics Analysis of Metastatic Melanoma Reveals Dynamic Tumor Evolution and Multi-Level Heterogeneity
Grant James Bell
Channel-Level Seizure Onset and Offset Detection in Stereo-EEG with Sub-Second Temporal Precision Using Machine Learning
Shuo Cai
Compositional Phenotype Representations and Population-Level Clinical Priors for Disease-Specific Missense Variant Interpretation
Shyam Chandra
Speech as a Digital Biomarker: A Computational Framework for Severity and Progression in Parkinson's Disease and Cerebellar Ataxia
Jiayi Chen
sc-Multiome Reveals a Time-dependent Regulatory Role of MECOM in Vascular Development
Stephanie Chen
Prediction of Progression from Mild Cognitive Impairment using Blood-Based Biomarkers and Amyloid-Beta PET: A Survival Analysis Approach
Yanshi Chen
Evaluating the Statistical Fidelity and Utility of Aggregated Patient Count as a Surrogate for Line-Level EHR in Kidney-Transplant Research
Yunyi Cheng
Get AHEAD of Acquired Epilepsy: An Acute Hospitalization Epilepsy Assessment and Detection tool
Jiabo Cui
Foundation Model Guided Flow Matching on Tree Manifold for Differentiable Phylogenetics
Neha Varma Dantuluri
Development and Validation of an Interpretable and Longitudinal Risk Prediction Model for Stillbirth using Machine Learning
Gaia-Marie Gerbaka
Predicting Sample Size for fMRI-guided TMS Biomarker Studies using Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Surabhi Ghatti
The Impact of Illicit Drug Use on Tuberculosis Transmission in South Africa
Rishabh Goel
Generating Actionable Clinical Summaries from EHR Data of Pediatric Patients Using Large Language Models (LLMs)
Andrew Barry Gumbert
Investigating Molecularly Defined Clusters of Parkinson’s Disease Based on Multi-Omics
Data with Clinical and Biological Implications
Rahul Gundamraj
Discovery of Novel Rare Disease Genes Through Scalable Prioritization and Geometric Scoring of AlphaFold3 Structures
Ningxi Huang
Characterizing cancer phenotypes and their tumor microenvironment across malignant progression.
John Seong-pil Jun
Deep Learning Pipeline Using H&E Images and Clinicopathological Features to Identify Early-Stage Melanoma Patients with a High Risk of Recurrence
Jiatong Li
Toward a Framework for Evaluating the Clinical Relevance of Cancer Cell Lines at SingleCell Resolution
Yunxi Li
Computationally Derived Histologic Features for Predicting Recurrence Risk in EarlyStage Melanoma
John Howard Lin
Non-Invasive Identification of Clinically Actionable Gene Fusions in Gliomas Using Deep Learning-Enabled Analysis of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scans
Sunni Chinjo Lin
Building a Generalized Decoder for Immune Profiling in Pathology
Seshagiri Rao Mallina
Early Detection of Pediatric Growth Disorders: A Deep Learning Approach to Longitudinal Electronic Health Records
Ananya Prasad
Divergent Effects of KLF1 Variants: Gain and Loss of DNA Binding Determine the Severity of Erythropoietic Disruption
Siavash Raissi
From Hidden Activations to Human-Interpretable Concepts: Explaining and Interpreting Computational Pathology Classifiers Using Concept Learning
Jiarong Ye
Domain Adaptation for Breast Cancer Computational Pathology: Evaluating FeatureLevel and Pixel-Level Approaches Under Leave-One-Domain-Out Evaluation
Wenzhu Ye
Bridging the Resolution Gap: Super-Resolution Enhancement of Dental Panoramic Radiographs to Periapical-Like Clarity Using Deep Learning
Xingli Yu
Investigating Antigen Recognition Patterns and T Cell Dynamics in Neoantigen Cancer Vaccine-Treated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Lanxin Zhang
Decoding the pathogenicity of epilepsy-associated non-coding genetic variants
Master of Science in Bioethics
We are overjoyed at the accomplishments of our 73 graduates of the Master of Science in Bioethics (MBE) program this year, bringing our community to more than 500 MBE graduates over the past decade. Bioethics is committed to exploring the moral dimensions and quandaries that are inevitable when we examine our lives and our health, and driven to broadening and deepening our moral lives and imaginations.
Bioethics is also demanding, asking us to bring knowledge, theory, and practice together because bioethics, as an applied field, is embodied in the doing. In that respect, MBE Class of 2026, you are prepared. You have bridged your academic learning in the classroom with practical experience through your Capstone work, collaborating with clinical teams, research programs, government agencies, and academic partners to tackle cutting-edge bioethical challenges. You have brought your whole selves to meet these challenges, with reason and emotion, principles and care, individuality, and relational commitments.
Today, respect for science and freedom of inquiry are at risk. Since its inception, the Center for Bioethics has steadfastly championed the pursuit of knowledge, the application of reason, and academic freedom. And we know that we cannot achieve these ideals without including as many voices as possible.
MBE Class of 2026, we are already proud of your remarkable achievements. You are advancing the work of bioethics by promoting health – and the human condition more broadly – with novel approaches and solutions to eliminate disparities and center the margins. As emerging technologies such as genome editing and artificial intelligence rapidly reshape healthcare, your training equips you to confront the ethical challenges they raise, ensuring that innovation is guided by transparency, accountability, fairness, and respect for human dignity.
Going forward, we have no doubt that you will use the strength of your minds, your hearts, and your bioethics community to continually improve the world we have inherited toward the goal of achieving a better planet that we imagine.
Congratulations!
Becca, Joni, Crystal, Jesse, Sadé and Sam (on behalf of the Center for Bioethics)
Hany Hamdy Abdallah
Physician Deference, Culture, and Refusal
Daniel Aillaud De Uriarte
Beyond the Patient: Ethical Responsibilities Toward Families Affected by Alcohol Use Disorder
Nada Abdulaziz AlYousefi
Responsible Use of AI in Bioethical Reasoning: Developing a Novel Assessment Toolkit for Medical Students
Radheesh Ameresekere
Sovereignty in the Global Market: A Defense of Compulsory Licensing Mechanisms
Nandita Ammanamanchi
Narrative Threads: Ethical Narratives and Emotional Landscapes of Mental Health Advocates - A Poetic Anthology
Sitara Anil Sivadas
Moral Reasoning or Learned Logic? Evaluating Large Language Models Across Ten Reproductive Ethics Cases
Hannah Rosemarie Bentz
Who Counts as a Sjögren’s Patient? Gender, Classification, and Epistemic Injustice
Karina Bhavsar
Access, Autonomy, and Augmentation: Ethical Tensions Between Fair Access to Mental Augmentation and Protection of Free Will in Neurotechnology
Madeleine Blair Bullen
Old Frameworks, New Frictions: AI as a Catalyst for Improving Informed Consent
Amanda Buster
A Final Resting Place: Aligning Policy with Patient Values for Aging Adults in Long Term Care Facilities
Lara Celik
Shadows of the Self: Beyond Individual Autonomy in Glioblastoma
Lawrence Chyall
Should Informed Consent Precede Brain Death Testing? A Normative Analysis from Nursing Ethics
Mariko Laura Costantini
Ethical Participant Selection in Fentanyl Vaccine Research: A Normative Analysis
Anna Beth Daley
Considerations for the Organizational Structure of a Hospital Ethics Program
Rohan Dasari
Code of Professional Ethics for AI Developers in IVF/PGT
Lourena C De Abreu
Reimagining Healthcare Evaluation: A Transformative Quality Evaluation Framework
Nathaniel George De Luca
How Much Should You Pay for a ‘Healthy Baby’? Developing Ethical Frameworks for Preimplantation Genetic Testing
Patrick Delices
Algorithmic Injustice in Psychiatry: A Bioethical Evaluation of AI-Driven Health Disparities in Black Patient Populations
Jeffrey Dimascio
Ground-Up Approach to Addressing Barriers to Curative Gene Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease
Taposh Dutta Roy
The Autonomy Index: A Validated Framework for Evaluating Large Language Models in Clinical Bioethics
Julia Sheridan Etkin
Regulating Consciousness: Epistemic and Exceptional Risks of Altered States
Erica Ivoon Fernandez
Care Beyond Words: A Bioethical Perspective on Artificial Intelligence Translation Applications in Healthcare
Emily Ann Folse
Ethical Considerations for Initiation of eCPR
Alexandra Fouad
Parent Perspectives on Withdrawing and Withholding Life-sustaining Treatments in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Louise Elizabeth Yulu Guentert
Ethics Education: Digital Twin Technologies in Geriatric Oncology
Sawsan Haider
Regulating Foreign AI in Canadian Healthcare: Addressing Trust Deficits in U.S.Controlled EMR Systems
Rand Hasan
Acute and Chronic Scarcity in Bioethics: Ethical Perspectives on Resource Allocation Across Global Health Systems
Anna Hayek
Justice, Stigma, and Dignity in Women's Hormonal Health: Cross-Cultural Care for PCOS and Menopause
Esther Peiying Ho
Navigating the Grey Zone: Supported Decision-Making for Older Adults in the Margins of Capacity
Jeffery Daniel Holiday
The Ethics of Agreement: Sycophancy in Artificial Intelligence Chatbot Use for Mental Health
Carmen Rae Holmes
Ethical Stewardship in Neurology: Protecting Brain Death Determination in Organ Donation Systems
Aleesha Imran
The GUIDE Framework: Integrating Consensual Paternalism into Shared Decision-Making
Kelly McKenzie Ivins-O'Keefe
Exploring Knowledge, Beliefs and Attitudes Regarding Perioperative Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders
Renuka Anjali Joshi-Dave
From Brussels To Beyond: Bioethics as a Tool for The European Health Data Spaces & Informing Its Secondary Use
Marharyta Krylova-Sutor
Advancing Patient Autonomy in AI-Supported Clinical Care Through an IPDAS-Based Patient Decision Aid
Bailey Ann Kuhn
The Ethics of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in the Adolescent Population
Shun Wang (Max) Kwok*
Ethical Governance of Adolescent Proxy Access in Patient Portals
Zoe Lewczak
From Black Box to Moral Space: A Behavioral Intervention to Increase Clinical Ethics Consultation (CEC) Utilization
Ying Yin Lim
Organizational Ethics and Moral Distress in Palliative Care: Balancing Sustainability and Standards of Care in Singapore
Noah Vinay Loran
Navigating Autonomy in Cognitive Decline: Ethical and Policy Approaches to DecisionMaking Capacity in Alzheimer’s Disease
Joseph John Lupski
Implementing Organizational Ethics in Academic-Affiliated Hospitals
Harvey J Mamon
A Bioethical Analysis of Lab-Grown Meat
William F Martin
Ethical Leadership in Healthcare: A Multi-Level Framework for Physician Leaders
Navigating Organizational Complexity
Amanda Michael
Protection of Sexual Partners in HIV Analytical Treatment Interruption (ATI) Studies
Kiley Moran
Justice at Birth - The Ethical Case for Universal Genomic Sequencing in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
David Christopher Motorniak
Smoke or Vapor: Harm Reduction, Youth Protection, and Power in the Ethics of ECigarette Policy
Bill Nam Nguyen
What Do We Demand From Bioethics?
Sarah Diane Obenauer
Everyday Care in a Landscape of Abandonment: Chronic Illness and Moral Life in Central Appalachia
Stephen Anderson Orr
Proactive Ethics Screening in the ICU: A Pilot for Early Identification of Ethical Concerns
Zazai Tyyinga Owens
Autonomy and Moral Agency in Community-Based Health Screening Encounters: An Ethics-Informed Community Health Education Initiative
Achyuth Ambat Parola
Divergence in Legal, Clinical, and Ethical Stakeholder Values in Perimplantation Genetic Screening
Tjörvi E Perry
Governing Machine Learning as Care Mediation: A Normative Framework Beyond Rights-Based Compliance
Ryan James Pogemiller
Developing a Taxonomy of Bioethical Dilemmas in Long-Duration Spaceflight Expeditions
Claudia Polgar
Invisible Injury: Neuroethics and Narrative Ethics in the Diagnosis of Post-Concussion Syndrome
Meena Ramadugu
Practicing Curiosity: Stories of Uncertainty in Medicine
Lily Fairchild Randell
Is This Ethical? Navigating the Everyday Dilemmas of Early-Stage Dementia Caregiving
Ilisa H Rooke-Ley
Confinement as Treatment? Not So Fast: A Principled Analysis of Civil Commitment for Substance Use Disorders
Deena Saadi
Moving at the Speed of Trust: Public Health Risk Communication and Trust-Building During Infectious Disease Outbreaks and Beyond
Rebecca Taylor Salky
Beyond Tokenism: Ethical Patient Engagement in Research
Leslie Schaar
The Principle of Non-Extraction: Reclaiming Bioethics as a Public Good
Zoey Ayden Scher
A Visual Exploration of Disability-Related Assumptions About Quality of Life in Clinical Decision-Making
Shantanu Kumar Sharma
Ethical and Responsible AI in Biomedical Innovation: A Framework for Global Health Governance and Policy
Chaya Tzivia Shor
Forever Empathy: An Arts- and Humanities-Infused Empathy Training Curriculum for Medical Students
Serena Shughoury
Reviewing and Refining the Bioethics Curriculum in Medical Education in Post-Conflict
Syria
Tin Yau Natalie So
Promoting Patient Autonomy by Improving Surrogate Decision-Maker Designation
Sydney Gabrielle Stupp
Observational Study of the Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT)
Consenting Process
Taruni Sri Tangirala
Narrative for Moral Distress in Medical Trainees: A Three-Year Capstone Project
Dimitra Tzeferakou
Navigating BRCA Testing: Previvor Decision-Making and Healthcare System Support in the US, UK, and Greece
Ruixu Wang
Healthcare Inequality in China: An Urban-Rural and Eastern-Western Comparative Analysis
Yuxin Wang
Relational Insensitivity in AI-Assisted Pediatric Mental Health Screening
Andes Wong*
Decisive Decision Making: Determining the Influences of Identity and Personal Experiences on the Decision-Making Process of Institutional Review Board Members
Jeremy Chin Fei Wong
Medicine’s Sacrosanctity and the Governance of Clinical AI: Patient Interests, AI Risk, and Long-Horizon Responsibility
Jonathan Yasin
Practices of Informed Consent in Surgery and Anesthesia in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Perspectives of Relational Autonomy
Ruiming Zhang
Parents, AI and Adolescent Development: Ethical Gaps and a Survey Design
David Zheng
Deep Brain Stimulation, Authenticity, and Autonomy: a Dual-Basis Approach to Memory
Changes in Alzheimer’s Disease
Siqi Zhou
Bridging the Gap: Ethical Analysis of Barriers to Breast Cancer Genetic Testing for African American Women
* Note: All degree requirements have been completed. Final degree conferral is pending verification of completion of bachelor's degree or equivalent
Congratulations, Class of 2026!
