MD/PhD students get ready for first year of graduate coursework

Penn State College of Medicine MD/PhD students beginning their graduate coursework in the 2019-2020 academic year include, from left, Kris Manto, Maryknoll Palisoc, Hannah Bennett, Natella Maglakelidze and Vlad Khristov. Not pictured are first-year graduate students Morris Aguilar and Nadia DiNunno, who are completing their graduate work in labs at University Park.

Penn State College of Medicine’s annual Graduate Student Oath Ceremony on Aug. 23, 2019, included a celebration of the first year of PhD coursework for several students in the MD/PhD Medical Scientist Training Program.

At the ceremony, incoming master’s and doctoral graduate students from a variety of programs recite the College’s Graduate Student Oath and receive their first white laboratory coats.

Students in the MD/PhD program complete generally four years of graduate study as well as the required four years of medical school. They begin their studies by completing the first two years of medical school, then work in their PhD laboratory for approximately four years before finishing the last two years of their MD program.

The MD/PhD students beginning their G1, or first graduate year, are:

• Kris Manto (Biomedical Sciences PhD, John Elfar Lab)
• Maryknoll Palisoc (Biomedical Sciences PhD, Edward Gunther Lab)
• Hannah Bennett (Neuroscience PhD, Yongsoo Kim Lab)
• Natella Maglakelidze (Biomedical Sciences PhD, Ryan Hobbs Lab)
• Vlad Khristov (Biomedical Sciences PhD, James Connor Lab)
• Morris Aguilar (Bioinformatics and Genetics PhD, Molly Hall Lab at University Park)
• Nadia DiNunno (Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Biosciences PhD, Susan Hafenstein Lab at University Park)

Read more about the Graduate Student Oath Ceremony and see photos here.

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