News from the School of Graduate Studies
Sophia Marathonitis
Vice President of Public Relations, School of Graduate Studies SGA
LSU School of Medicine graduate students have had an array of accomplishments in recent months. On Friday, November 5, 2021, the School of Graduate Studies held the 35th Annual LSUHSC - New Orleans Graduate Research Day via Zoom as well as recorded talks. Presentations can be found here: https://graduatestudies.lsuhsc.edu/researchday/2021/Default.aspx.
The event also served as a remembrance of Dr. Joseph M. Moerschbaecher, III. Dr. Leslie Birke unveiled her wonderful portrait of him and Dr. Peter Winsauer, Dr. Katelyn Gurley, and Hannah Kramer spoke beautiful words in his honor. Dr. Angela Amedee concluded the remembrance with the announcement that Graduate Research Day has officially been renamed “the Dr. Joseph M. Moerschbaecher, III Graduate Research Day.”
Next, the Graduate Research Day winners were announced by Dr. Ham Farris. The winners of the recorded talks were Caleb Ardizzone (MIP), Phaethon Philbrook (Genetics), Jared Sheehan (MIP), Taylor Templeton (Physiology), and Anna Whitehead (Physiology). The winner of the live talks was Dianne Wellems (MIP).
The final award, the Jack Hines, III Memorial Award, was given to Dr. Don Mercante in recognition of his service to the School of Graduate Studies.
This event could not have happened without the Research Day committee (Drs. Farris,
Siggins, Bennett, Cork, Desai, Mandal, Yu, Zea, and Don White & Brianna Bourgeois),
the Awards Ceremony committee (Drs. Winsauer and Aiyar and Don White, Brianna Bourgeois,
Hannah Kramer, Jacob Elnaggar, and Sophia Marathonitis), Garden representatives, Tom
Finicle with AV, and Facilities. It was a beautiful afternoon in the Raised Root Garden
with sunshine, brats, pretzels, and drinks.
The School of Graduate Studies has established a Graduate Research Day Fund in honor
of Dr. Moerschbaecher. If anyone would like to donate, please click here: https://give.lsuhealthfoundation.org/GSResearchDay.
Other recent accomplishments of graduate students include:
Taylor Templeton in the Department of Physiology received the Levitzky Outstanding Teaching Award for her well-regarded teaching this previous academic year. Jessi Cucinello-Ragland, also in the Department of Physiology, received a travel award to attend the Alcohol and Immunology Research Interest Group meeting in Chicago, where they gave the presentation titled “Alcohol Amplifies Neuroinflammatory IL-6 Pathway Signaling in the Prefrontal Cortex.” Both students have also been selected as recipients of the 2021 Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) on behalf of the Society for Neuroscience. This award recognizes students for their scientific merit and excellence in research.
MD/PhD student Eden Gallegos in the Department of Physiology was the first-place winner in the freshman/sophomore category of the Medical School Research Symposium. With this recognition, she received a travel award to attend a scientific conference. The presentations from this symposium are available to view here: https://www.medschool.lsuhsc.edu/genetics/2021_medical_student_research_virtual_poster_symposium.aspx.
Whitney Walkowski in the Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy returned from Panama this summer, where she conducted research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Jonquil Poret in the Department of Physiology successfully completed her Preliminary Exam in October and is onto the next phase of her training.
Muhammad Farooq (Cell Biology & Anatomy), Taylor Templeton (Physiology), Jessi Cucinello-Ragland (Physiology), and PREP 
students Samira Mohammed and Heather Soileau represented the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Center of Excellence, the PREP program, and
ENDURE program at Xavier University's Recovery Day 2021.
The School of Graduate Studies SGA held their first Tea Talks this fall, a play on TED Talks, where a student leads a short discussion of their choice. The first Tea Talk was on “Disabilities in Graduate School: Disparities on the Path to Higher Education,” led by Taylor Templeton (Physiology).