Throughout each quarter, we collect various accomplishments—from awards and appearances to publications and presentations and more—from Pritzker students to highlight and promote their outstanding work to the rest of the community.
Submit your own achievements for our next quarterly round up of student accomplishments through this page.
If you have an upcoming event, such as a media appearance or panel discussion, submit the information in advance so we might be able to help promote your participation in the event. You can also submit your peers' accomplishments, though we will seek their permission before publishing or promoting them.
Fall 2025 Student Accomplishments:
Jameel Alausa, M3, presented his research “Diversity and Equity in Kidney Health: Research and Cases Presentation: Association of ESRD Quality Incentive Program Dialysis Facility Quality with Racial Disparities in Transplant Wait-Listing” as an oral presentation at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week in November. He was mentored on the project by Milda Saunders, MD.
Rachel Alexander, M4, was appointed to the board of Physicians for Reproductive Health, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing reproductive freedom and health equity via direct advocacy as well as training clinicians to engage in policy, education, and community-facing work. In this role, she will support the organization’s efforts to expand and protect access to reproductive health care, including abortion care.
The M2 volleyball team Beta Blockers won the University of Chicago graduate student intramural championship. The team was led by captain Alp Koksal and included Daniel Correa Bucio, Caleb Diaz, Nikita Dulin, Daniel Fu, Ximena Garibay, Sam Lee, Robert Luca, Sofia Mazuera, Edgard Mercado Arzuaga, Manuel Patino, Lauren Sun, and Beryl Zhou.
Molly Boll, M2, presented a poster on her research “You have to work with me: a thematic analysis of patient experiences in breast cancer treatment decision-making” at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, the largest national conference on breast cancer. The project originated in the Pritzker Summer Research Program under the mentorship of Austin Wesevich, MD, MPH, MS.
Felix Fernandez-Penny, M3, published a first-author paper titled “Ability to adjust head position in a 3D‐printed flexible nasolaryngoscopy model improves fidelity and trainee experience” in Laryngoscope Investigative Otolaryngology. Read the paper here. He also received a $10,000 grant from the University of Washington Department of Otolaryngology for his research examining cognitive function in sinonasal disease. Lastly, Felix presented a poster on his research titled “An Evidence-Based Calculator for Predicting Symptom Improvement in Chronic Rhinosinusitis” at the American Rhinologic Society 71st Annual Meeting in October in Indianapolis.
Robert Luca, M2, received the Age-Related Macular Degeneration Foundation's Young Investigator Leadership Award and, separately, received an Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) travel grant.
Brooke Olson, M3, had a poster on her research “Protocol for Management of Vaginal Prolapse in a Premature Infant: A Case Report” accepted for presentation at the World Congress Pediatric Gynecology 2026 Annual Meeting (April 2026).
Chuka Onuh, M2, published an op-ed co-authored with Julia Rosebush, DO titled “Vaccine disinformation can scar young Chicagoans, particularly South Side children” in the Chicago Sun Times. Read the op-ed here.
Manuel Patiño, M2, was selected for an Abstract Achievement Award after presenting his research “Applying the bedside SaO2/FiO2 ratio to adolescents with acute chest syndrome to triage ICU transfer” as a poster at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in December in Orlando. The project originated in the Pritzker Summer Research Program under the mentorship of Austin Wesevich, MD, MPH, MS.
Dayna Pham, M2, received a 2025 Bruin Excellence in Civic Engagement Award from UCLA, recognizing her health justice advocacy work, including as a volunteer with the National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF). She was recently a guest speaker of the NPF PsoundBytes podcast discussing her experiences, perspective, and advice. Listen to the episode here. Dayna also discussed her experience living with psoriasis and resources on the Dermatology Interest Group Association’s Psoriasis Awareness Month podcast (listen here) and served as a patient panelist on a Autoimmune Association Webinar titled “Autoimmune Health: Whole Person Care & Patient Empowerment” (watch here). She further discussed her experience and advocacy in a New Beauty Magazine article titled “From Coachella to Clear Skin: My Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Journey” (read here) and in an interview with HealthCentral (read here).
Summer Reyes, M2, presented her research “School Stock Inhalers Reach Children Most Affected by Asthma” as a poster at the annual Illinois Minority Health Conference in October. She was mentored on the project by Anna Volerman, MD. Summer also helped plan and execute a workshop titled “Pediatric Pathway Incubator: Sparking Bold Ideas to Grow the Field” at the Association of Pediatric Program Directors' annual Pediatric Medical Education Conference in St. Louis in September, in collaboration with H. Barrett Fromme, MD and Nicola Orlov, MD.
Sydney Reyes, M3, helped plan and execute an enhanced learning session workshop titled “Meeting in the Middle: Faculty and Trainee Models of Professional Identity Formation (PIF) in Medical Education” at the Annual Association of Pediatric Program Directors (AAPD) Pediatric Medical Education Conference in St. Louis in September, in collaboration with Nicola Orlov, MD.
Alex Rosencrance, M4, published a first-author paper titled “Barriers to Adolescent Pre-exposure prophylaxis and Sexual Health Care in Pediatric Versus Family Medicine Providers” in AIDS Patient Care and STDS. Read the full paper here.
Aman Saiju, M1, had a manuscript on his research using the RealRisks decision support tool, which inform patients about their risk of developing breast cancer, accepted for publication in JAMIA Open. The research began during his MPH studies at Columbia University.
Sahil Sethi, M2, published two first-author papers, one titled “Effect of Immobilization Type on the Management of Humeral Shaft Fractures” in Injury (read the paper here) and the other “SCOPE-MRI: Bankart lesion detection as a case study in data curation and deep learning for challenging diagnoses” in Nature Partner Journal (NPJ) Artificial Intelligence (read the paper here). He was mentored on the Injury paper by Anthony Christiano, MD and Jason Strelzow, MD, and on the NPJ paper—a result of Pritzker Summer Research Program and Scholarship and Discovery projects—by Lewis Shi, MD and Nicholas Maassen, MD. Sahil also had abstracts accepted for publication at the Mid-America Orthopaedic Association Annual Meeting (April 2026) and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting (March 2026), resulting from his work with Drs. Shi and Maassen.
Rishi Sharma, M2, presented his research “A Novel Deep Learning Model for Automated Classification of Thymic Epithelial Tumors” as an oral presentation at the North American Conference for Lung Cancer in December. The project originated in the Pritzker Summer Research Program under the mentorship of Marina Garassino, MD.
Gabrielle Sudilovsky, M3, published a paper titled “Analysis of racial differences in HER2 status and molecular subtype in grade 3 endometroid endometrial carcinoma” in Gynecologic Oncology Reports (read the paper here) and another titled “Race and neighborhood disadvantage in patients with stage I-III endometrioid endometrial carcinoma treated at a tertiary referral center” published in Gynecologic Oncology (read the paper here). Both projects grew out of her Pritzker Summer Research Program work under the mentorship of Sarah Ackroyd, MD.
Jonas Talandis, M4, competed as a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. The episode will air nationally on Jan. 28, 2026.
Michael Wakeman, M2, published a first-author paper titled “Perceptions of User-Generated Content as a Source of Health Messages in Smoking Cessation Mobile Interventions: Focus Group Study” in JMIR Human Factors. Read the full paper here. He also published a paper titled “Acceptability of a carbon monoxide monitoring feature of a smoking cessation mobile application: a virtual focus group study” published in BMJ Public Health. Read the full paper here. Both projects originated in his gap year research at the NIH.