In an inspiring ceremony, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) celebrated new graduates and award winners at its annual Academic Convocation and Commencement, held on May 13.
Before an excited crowd of graduates, the faculty who mentored them, and many family members and friends who supported their journey, the highest number of awards and fellowships to date were presented, recognizing promising trainees, distinguished scientists, and doctors from MSK and beyond.
This included three new honors: the Tow Foundation Award, which recognizes students who are pursuing research in the field of cancer engineering; the Dr. Joan Eliasoph Graduate Student Research Fellowship; and the Dr. Joan Eliasoph Postdoc Research Fellowship.
In 2026, 15 students earned their doctoral degrees in cancer biology from the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSK). In addition, two practicing MSK doctors received Master of Science degrees in clinical and translational cancer research from GSK. The event also honored 39 students graduating from the Weill Cornell Medicine Graduate School of Medical Sciences this year who conducted their thesis work in MSK labs.
This year’s honorary degree recipient and commencement speaker was Nobel laureate Phillip Sharp, PhD, an Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a member of MIT’s Department of Biology and its Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. He was recognized for his contributions to the fundamental understanding of gene expression as well as his leadership in the establishment of the biotechnology industry.
Paying tribute to Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., founder of GSK
At the beginning of the 47th annual ceremony, MSK President and CEO Selwyn M. Vickers, MD, FACS, spoke about Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., the Founding Chair of GSK, who passed away in December 2025.
“Over nearly four decades of service as a trustee on the MSK boards, Lou helped shape our long-term vision, demonstrating how sustained leadership and philanthropy can advance science, educate future leaders, and bring an institution closer to its goals of ending cancer for life,” Dr. Vickers said. “Lou took great pride in the school and its students, was sensitive to their needs and willing to step up to help provide opportunities. Today, [GSK] continues to embody his conviction that scientific excellence is strengthened by a deep commitment to the people behind it.”
‘Never before have science and technology been so promising to reduce the burden of disease’
Before giving his address to the graduates, Dr. Sharp was presented with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Biomedical Science.
Dr. Sharp began his talk by congratulating the graduates. “Your accomplishments have required long hours, late evenings in the laboratory, followed by a moment or two of elation and a diploma,” he said. “Your training in education and innovation is more important now for society than it has ever been before. Never before have science and technology been so promising to reduce the burden of disease.”
Dr. Sharp shared his own journey with the graduates, which began on a small farm in Kentucky and ultimately led to a Nobel prize and recognition as one of the founders in the field of biotechnology.
He ended by advising the graduates to pay attention to their curiosity, to trust their judgment when unexpected opportunities are presented, and to be optimistic and strive to make a difference in other people’s lives.
’We ask questions nobody else has thought to ask’
GSK Dean Michael Overholtzer, PhD, told the graduates, “You’ve pushed the boundaries of knowledge in so many ways.”
Every year, GSK graduates select one of their peers to give a speech at commencement. This year, the student speaker was Juliana Delgado, PhD, who conducted her thesis work in the lab of Andrew Koff, PhD.
Dr. Delgado candidly described the uncertainty in obtaining a PhD, saying, “We signed up for a journey into the unknown with no guarantee of success, no clear timeline, and absolutely no exit strategy.”
She added, “At its core, what we do is not just technical, but it is deeply human. We are seekers of knowledge. We ask questions that nobody else has thought to ask. We ask questions that might not even have answers, but we do it anyway. When experiments fail and when doubt creeps in, that is courage. Every single one of us graduating today has at some point questioned whether we could keep going, and every single one of us did.”
After Dr. Delgado’s speech, each of the graduates’ advisors shared memories and congratulations in a video.
This year’s 15 graduates from the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences have contributed crucial insights to fundamental questions in basic biology and oncology. Learn more about their accomplishments and their research projects.
Celebrating noteworthy accomplishments
Scientific awards were presented by several MSK scientific leaders:
- Dean Overholtzer
- Jason Lewis, PhD, Deputy Director of the Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI) in the Office of Science Education and Training
- Ross Levine, MD, MSK’s Chief Scientific Officer
Jeffrey Drebin, MD, PhD, MSK’s Chief Physician Executive, presented clinical awards to several recipients. In awarding the Willet F. Whitmore Award for Clinical Excellence to Gregory Riely, MD, PhD, Dr. Drebin said, “Dr. Riely is widely regarded as the most trusted clinical voice in thoracic oncology at MSK,” Dr. Drebin said. “He’s the physician most often recommended when colleagues seek care for their own family members and friends — a powerful testament to his clinical judgment, compassion, and humanity.”
Dr. Drebin also praised Nai-Kong Cheung, MD, PhD, the winner of the Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize, saying, “He has had a profound impact on the lives of young patients with neuroblastomas as well as their families.”
Other recipients of awards and fellowships
- Zhenkun Cao, a graduate student in the lab of Ruslan Soldatov, PhD; Victoria Miller-Browne, a graduate student in the lab of Xiaolin Zhao, PhD; and Kaila Nishikawa, a graduate student in the lab of Yael David, PhD, received the Dorris J. Hutchison Graduate Fellowship.
- Sofia Dimitriadoy, an MD-PhD student in the lab of Andrea Schietinger, PhD, and Michael Xiao, an MD-PhD student in the labs of Michael Kharas, PhD, in SKI and Kivanc Birsoy, PhD, at Rockefeller University, received Barbara and Stephen Friedman Graduate Fellowships.
- Elizabeth Benitez, an MD-PhD student in the lab of Karuna Ganesh, MD, PhD, received the Bruce Charles Forbes Graduate Fellowship.
- Jiahui (Hazel) Zhao, a graduate student in the lab of Danwei Huangfu, PhD, received the General Atlantic Fellowship Award.
- Ruobing Cui, a graduate student in the lab of Craig Thompson, MD; Ruiyang (Michelle) Guo, a graduate student in the labs of Heeseon An, PhD, and Morgan Huse, PhD; and Monika Komza, a graduate student in the lab of Lydia Finley, PhD, received Marie-Josée Kravis WISE Fellowships.
- Saloni Hombalkar, a graduate student in Dr. Overholtzer’s lab, and Clark Thomson, a graduate student in the lab of Adrienne Boire, MD, PhD, received Dr. Joan Eliasoph Graduate Student Research Fellowships.
- Subha Baniya, a graduate student in the lab of David Scheinberg, MD, PhD, and Yixuan (Skye) Zhao, a graduate student in the lab of Kayvan Keshari, PhD, received Tow Foundation Awards.
- Marton Kovacs, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of John Maciejowski, PhD, and Joshua Peter, PhD, a research fellow in the lab of Chris Lima, PhD, received Dr. Joan Eliasoph Postdoc Research Fellowships.
- Sahil Batra, PhD, a fellow in the lab of Dirk Remus, PhD; Almudena Chaves-Pérez, PhD, a fellow in the lab of Scott Lowe, PhD; Sneha Mitra, PhD, a fellow in the lab of Christina Leslie, PhD; and Marc Williams, PhD, a fellow in the lab of Sohrab Shah, PhD, received Postdoctoral Research Awards.
- Seungjae Lee, PhD, a research scholar in the lab of Eric Lai, PhD, received the Tri-Institutional Breakout Prize for Junior Investigators.
- Karuna Ganesh, MD, PhD, an Associate Member in the Molecular Pharmacology Program in SKI and a gastrointestinal medical oncologist, and Tuomas Tammela, MD, PhD, an Associate Member in the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program in SKI, received Louise and Allston Boyer Young Investigator Awards for Basic Research.
- Aaron Mitchell, MD, MPH, an Assistant Attending Physician on the Genitourinary Oncology Service, received the Louise and Allston Boyer Young Investigator Award for Clinical Research.
- Dr. Riely, an Attending Physician in thoracic medical oncology, Vice Chair of Clinical Research, and President-Elect of the MSK Medical Staff, received the Willet F. Whitmore Award for Clinical Excellence.
- Dr. Cheung, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at MSK Kids, who also holds the Enid A. Haupt Chair, received the Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize.
2026 award recipients from outside MSK
- Dr. Sharp of MIT received the Memorial Sloan Kettering Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Biomedical Science.
- Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at the Yale University School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, received the Katharine Berkan Judd Award.
- Hugues de Thé, MD, PhD, an attending physician at St. Louis Hospital in Paris and a professor of molecular oncology at the Collège de France, received the C. Chester Stock Award Lectureship.
