Watch the UCSF Graduate Division's 2025 Candidacy Ceremony here!
UCSF Graduate Division 2025 Candidacy Ceremony
Mission Bay Conference Center | UCSF Mission Bay Campus
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 | 3 p.m. PT
At the UCSF Graduate Division's inaugural Candidacy Ceremony on February 25, we celebrated PhD students who advanced to candidacy in the past year in order to mark this significant milepost in their academic journey.
Tag @ucsfgraddiv on Instagram.
Event Details
Welcome
Nicquet Blake, PhD
Dean, Graduate Division
Vice Provost, Student Academic Affairs
Candidacy Speaker
Janet K. Shim, PhD, MPP
Professor of Sociology
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF
Coating of PhD Candidates
PhD candidates were coated by program:
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Miranda Cabanski-Dunning
- Jimin Lee
- Jodi Lee
- Macey Slota
Bioengineering
- Erin Argentieri
- Nadja Michelle Maldonado Luna
- Devin Schoen
- Julio A. Rivera de Jesús
- Esther Sim
- Serena Tang
Biological and Medical Informatics
- Ashir A. Borah
- Claire Dubin
- Thomas Mazumder
Biomedical Sciences
- Jaela Smith Caston
- Ivan Chavez
- Stephanie Huard
- Amrik S. Kang
- Gabriella Kimmerly
- Minna Kristin Iavorova Apostolova
- Jing-Yi Chung
- McKenzie Emma Daanen
- Zachary Stensland
- Vickie Bowcut
- Riana Hunter
- Madison Lotstein
- Serena Huei-An Lu
- Sophia Nelson
- Vinh Khang Nguyen
- Isabel Shen
Biophysics
- Isiac Orr
- Jonathan Borowsky
- Alexander Long
- Angelika Arada
- Henry Scott
Chemistry and Chemical Biology
- Stephanie Ouchida
- Colton Michael Sanders
Developmental and Stem Cell Biology
- Ricardo Isaac Espinosa Lima
- Adriana Guajardo
- Christopher He
- Vasileios Papakis
- Elysse Phillips
- Minqi Zhou
Epidemiology and Translational Science
- Elisabeth Gebreegziabher
- Hyelee Kim
- Maia Jade Scarpetta
- Tanvi Srivastava
Global Health Sciences
- Melissa Marie Emilie Carvalho
- Ashley Mitchell
History of Health Sciences
- Geremy Demetrius Lowe
Neuroscience
- Olive Tambou Nzoutchoum
- David Shostak
- Andoni I. Asencor
- Ilayda Alkislar
- Vincent Duong
- Yang-Sun Hwang
- Nilla Sivakumar
- Mingkang Zhou
Nursing
- Julianne Ballard
- Sandra Jo Domeracki
- Merideth D. Lewis
- Celestine Yayra Ofori-Parku
Oral and Craniofacial Sciences
- Andrés Betancourt-Torres
- Jasmine Garcia
- Karin Shamardani
Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics
- Sophia Miliotis
- Carlota Pereda Serras
- Sham Rampersaud
- Sydney Williams
Sociology
- Abou Ibrahim-Biangoro
- Kylie Elizabeth Sloan
- Keridwyn M. Spiller
PhD Creed
Recitation of the PhD creed by PhD candidates.
I, _______, have joined a distinguished community of scholars at the University of California, San Francisco, united in pursuit of new knowledge and advancing scientific discovery. As a graduate student at UCSF, I embrace my responsibility to contribute to the ethical, all-encompassing, and innovative spirit that defines this health institution.
I declare the following:
Commitment to Discovery: In pursuit of new knowledge, I dedicate my intellect, curiosity, and perseverance to the advancement of knowledge, embracing the rigor and resilience required to complete the scholarly work I begin.
Integrity in Science and Scholarship: I vow to conduct my research with honesty, transparency, and ethical responsibility, never to allow external pressures to compromise the integrity of my work.
Impact for the Greater Good: I recognize that my research discoveries have the power to transform lives. I will rely on my individual mental effort to pursue knowledge and create knowledge for the greater good, but never to the detriment of colleagues, supervisors, research subjects or the international community of scholars of which I am now a member.
By pronouncing this Candidate’s Creed, I affirm my accountability to these principles and my unwavering commitment to the ethical, rigorous, and collaborative professional conduct set by the policies of the University of California.
I vow to uphold the university’s mission of driving innovation for the benefit of humanity.
Closing Remarks
Nicquet Blake, PhD
Reception
Light refreshments
