Hugen Student Stories

Meet the Students of Human Genetics

Students in the Department of Human Genetics are making an impact many areas with achievements in academics, research, service, and counseling. Here are a few profiles and some of the latest news about our students.

Human Genetics Student Profiles

HUGEN's Lauren Winter melds genetic counseling and dental genetics

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GC PROGRAM BLOG  -- Genetic counseling student Lauren Winter (HUGEN '20) shares her experiences investigating genetic, environmental, behavioral, and microbial contributions to the disproportionately high rate of dental cavities in children living in Appalachia. She loves the variety found in her job, from solving problems with a multidisciplinary team of researchers to interacting with the mothers and children participating in the study, "I cou... 

Meet Megan Hoenig (HUGEN '19), Dean's Scholar

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“Pitt checked every single box." The Plano, Texas, native and graduate of Texas A&M University with a degree in genetics and biomedical sciences found it all and more at Pitt Public Health. "I chose Pitt Public Health because of the Genetic Counseling Program,” she says. “It’s the second oldest GC program in the country, but is always up to date with the latest in the field."   

Meet Amanda Everman (HUGEN '18), Dean's Scholar

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“I don’t think I chose public health. Public health chose me....The more I learned about genetics, the more I knew it was what I wanted to focus on for my career,” she says. The Philadelphia native and Penn State grad says the short distance from her hometown and in-state tuition are nice bonuses, and she’s enjoying her new city. “I was surprised at how different Pittsburgh is from Philadelphia."  

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Student News

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What is it like to study public health genetics? Pitt Public Health students present during Public Health Genetics Week 2021 

What is it like to study public health genetics? Pitt Public Health students present during Public Health Genetics Week 2021

As part of National Public Health Genetics Week HUGEN's Andrea Durst moderated a panel of four Pitt Public Health students offering their perspectives on what interested them in getting into public health and why they chose to focus on public health genetics. "Public health genetics has the potenti... (05/27/2021)
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Dean's Day 2021 Doctoral Category Winners 

Dean's Day 2021 Doctoral Category Winners

Congratulations to first place winner Alexander Layden (EPI ‘20). Second place was awarded to Alexander Sundermann (EPI '22) and third to Tianyu Zou (HUGEN ‘21).  (04/26/2021)
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Dean's Day 2021 HUGEN departmental award recipients 

Dean's Day 2021 HUGEN departmental award recipients

Megan Czekalski (HUGEN '21) won in the master's category and Tianyu Zou (HUGEN '22) won in the doctoral category.  (04/26/2021)

Liu's research on the genetics of facial shape wins award at major international conference 

Liu's research on the genetics of facial shape wins award at major international conference

Dongjing Liu (HUGEN '20) won the International Genetic Epidemiology Society's first place poster award for his poster titled "Transcriptome-wide association study of human facial shape identifies potential mediating genes", which he presented virtually at the IGES Annual Meeting, July 1 - 4, 2020. ... (11/17/2020)
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Dutta awarded scholarship from U.S. State Department 

Dutta awarded scholarship from U.S. State Department

Congratulations to Justin A. Dutta (IDM '19, HUGEN '23) who was recently awarded a Critical Languages Scholarship from the U.S. Department of State to study Portuguese. With an acceptance rate of less than 10%, the Critical Language Scholarship is one of the country's most competitive scholarships ... (06/01/2020)
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Kathyayini wins ICMI travel award from Society of Mucosal Immunology 

Kathyayini wins ICMI travel award from Society of Mucosal Immunology

Kathyayini Gopalakrishna (HUGEN '20) won a travel award from the Society of Mucosal Immunology to give an oral presentation at the 19th International Congress of Mucosal Immunology 2019, held at Brisbane, Australia. Gopalakrishna was first author on a stoudy that found that maternal IgA protects ag... (12/05/2019)
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Ngo named Joseph F. Mulach Jr. and Louisa A. Mulach Scholar 

Ngo named Joseph F. Mulach Jr. and Louisa A. Mulach Scholar

"This award meant a lot to me in terms of having a bit more financial stability, which has allowed me to focus more n my studies and work," said Marilyn Ngo (HUGEN '20) of being named one of this year's scholars. "Research in this field can go towards helping so many people in new and innovative wa... (11/27/2019)
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Team BlueHack Geneticists wins social media award at IBM BlueHack Competition 2019 

Team BlueHack Geneticists wins social media award at IBM BlueHack Competition 2019

Justin A. Dutta (HUGEN '23), Ellyn Dunbar (HUGEN '23), Vibha Acharya (HUGEN '21), Muaaz Aslam, and Dongjing Liu (HUGEN '21) formed Team BlueHack Geneticists for the IBM BlueHack Competition the weekend of October 26-27 to work on their creative health care question and innovative solution, and they... (11/11/2019)
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Gopalakrishna finds breastmilk antibody protects infants from deadly disease 

Gopalakrishna finds breastmilk antibody protects infants from deadly disease

US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT - Kathyayini Gopalakrishna (HUGEN '20) is first author on a study showing that an antibody in breastmilk is necessary to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis - an often deadly bacterial disease of the intestine - in preterm infants. The findings suggest that the antibody conte... (06/27/2019)
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HUGEN's Lauren Winter melds genetic counseling and dental genetics 

HUGEN's Lauren Winter melds genetic counseling and dental genetics

GC PROGRAM BLOG  -- Genetic counseling student Lauren Winter (HUGEN '20) shares her experiences investigating genetic, environmental, behavioral, and microbial contributions to the disproportionately high rate of dental cavities in children living in Appalachia. She loves the variety found in her j... (06/10/2019)
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