David W. Niesel, PhD
Vice President and Dean
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
J. Palmer Saunders Professor
GSBS Dean’s Report – Faculty Senate
December 8, 2014

Dr. Joan Nichols, Professor, Internal Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and
Associate Dean for Student Affairs in the GSBS, has been named the holder of the J. Palmer
Saunders Professorship effective September 1, 2014, in recognition of her contributions to
graduate education. She has also been named as a GSBS representative to the UTMB
Development Board.

The GSBS attended the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority
Students (ABRCMS) held in San Antonio, Texas on November 12-15. This national meeting is
organized by Clifford Houston, PhD Professor, M&I and hosts more than 2000 undergraduate
students from under-represented backgrounds, who are interested in advanced training in
biomedical science. The conference provides them an opportunity to present their research
at posters or platform talks. This year all UTMB PREP students attended the conference.

Postdoctoral scientist, Alexandre Esadze, PhD was awarded a Kempner Postdoctoral
Fellowship. He is working with Dr. Junji Iwahara, PhD investigating rapid gene activation by
stress inducible transcription factor Egr-1.

Julie Gerson, a student in the Neuroscience graduate program, was recently featured
in an NPR story about her research topic – tau – specifically toxic tau. Ms. Gerson was
interviewed in the context of her research presentation at the Society for Neuroscience
meeting held in Washington DC. She also received a competitive fellowship from the Sealy
Center for Vaccine Development.

The GSBS Scholarship and Awards luncheon was held on Friday November 21st.
Faculty, students and their families, postdoctoral fellows, and friends of the GSBS numbered
191. Overall, 76 students were recognized and $155,550 was awarded. Scholarship awards
were distributed to trainees from 14 different programs or training tracks. Also, 21 donors
representing the scholarship and award endowment funds attended the luncheon and
participated in the event.

At the GSBS Scholarship and Awards luncheon, five faculty members also received
awards for excellence in teaching, as selected by students in the different graduate
programs and the Basic Biomedical Science Curriculum. The Graduate Student Advocacy
Award presented by the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) went to Jose Barral, MD, PhD
Associate Professor in the Neuroscience Graduate program and Assistant Dean for Academic
Affairs in the GSBS.