Community and mentorship shone as prominent themes at the Harvard Medical School-Affiliated PhD Programs Hooding Ceremony on May 28 as scholars received their doctoral hoods after many years studying, collaborating, and stretching themselves as they worked to solve some of the world’s most critical biomedical problems.

“Science is a community project,” said student speaker Joel Tan, who earned his PhD in the Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS). “Graduate school has a way of making even the most independent person realize that science is never truly done alone.”

The ceremony celebrated the 168 students who earned their doctorates in the past year in nine HMS-based programs — six of which are co-administered by the HMS Office for Graduate Education PhD Programs — and will now set out to broaden the encyclopedia of human knowledge; discover new avenues for treating disease; and become changemakers in health, science, and policy throughout the world. The degrees are officially awarded by Harvard University’s Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

This year’s graduates have conducted research in fields ranging from biomedical informatics to immunology to stem cell and regenerative biology. They’ve investigated the fundamentals of gene regulation, hearing, vision, smell, pain, sleep, language, spatial navigation, aging and longevity, and gut-brain and neuro-immune connections. They’ve probed the dynamics of bacteria, viruses, and parasites to improve vaccines, combat antibiotic resistance, and prepare for emerging infectious diseases. They’ve worked to better understand and alleviate the burdens of cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune diseases, tuberculosis, HIV, sensory and psychiatric disorders, and other conditions. They’ve advanced the development of AI tools for scientific discovery and disease diagnosis and treatment; gene therapies; nanotechnologies; and brain-machine interfaces.

HMS Dean for Graduate Education and Professor of Neurobiology Rosalind Segal, who led the proceedings in the Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, commented that all manner of scientific research done at Harvard has been, and will continue to be, of great benefit to the world — and that the graduates are part of that tradition.

“Each one of our graduating students has already contributed to our scientific methods, our fund of knowledge, and provided new treatments for diseases, and I know that they will continue to make important discoveries throughout their careers,” she said.

“Each one of our graduating students has already contributed to our scientific methods, our fund of knowledge, and provided new treatments for diseases, and I know that they will continue to make important discoveries throughout their careers,

Tan — who investigated the role of DNA- and RNA-building enzymes in the body’s defense against viruses — shared that sentiment.

“Today, we celebrate,” he said. “But tomorrow, we go back to work. Not just the work of science, but the work of building a society where talented people from everywhere can come together to solve problems that belong to everyone.”

Mentorship is a responsibility

HMS Dean George Q. Daley opened his remarks by reminding the newly minted PhDs that they are each part of a long scholarly lineage and have a responsibility as members of that lineage to determine what kind of mentors and mentees they want to be. He imparted three key mentorship lessons that he learned from his own PhD advisor, Nobel laureate David Baltimore, who died in September 2025.

First, Daley said, mentorship is a lifelong, active, and evolving pursuit.

“Because it is impossible to know the arc of a relationship ahead of time, treat every relationship — with a mentor, mentee, or colleague — as though it could last a lifetime,” he said. “Have reverence for your mentors and carry forward your obligation to mentor others.”

“Because it is impossible to know the arc of a relationship ahead of time, treat every relationship — with a mentor, mentee, or colleague — as though it could last a lifetime,” he said. “Have reverence for your mentors and carry forward your obligation to mentor others.” – George Daley, Dean, Harvard Medical School

Second, mentorship creates independent thinkers who can thrive in a shared intellectual space, he said. Daley described Baltimore’s “tough love” style of mentorship and his willingness to give trainees a “long leash,” fostering independence, creativity, and strategic planning skills.

Third, Daley said, mentorship is a responsibility. He noted that for Baltimore, “the accrual of knowledge was not a zero-sum game. Part of his responsibility, he felt, was not to hoard knowledge, but to share it.”

An education is an open door

Tan spoke about his path to HMS, which started with academic difficulties in high school. After trying to get into several universities in his native Singapore, he decided to look abroad.

“That’s when the University of Toronto took a chance on me,” he said. “And that chance changed my life.”

Tan said that his story can serve as a reminder that although talent is everywhere, opportunity is not.

“There are future scientists sitting in classrooms right now who have been told that they are not good enough to take a class,” he said. “There are people with curiosity, creativity, and discipline who may never get the chance to show what they can do — unless an institution, a mentor, or a community opens the door for them.”

He observed that science and medicine are stronger with the involvement of international students like himself — people with different backgrounds and who have led different kinds of lives — because advancements in research depend on the “collision of ideas, methods, histories, and people.”

“The problems we study do not respect borders,” Tan said. “Pathogens do not care what passport you hold. Cancer does not ask where you were born. Neurodegeneration, developmental disorders, pandemics — these are human problems. They all require human talent.”

A degree is a new chapter

Isaiah Charles Shriner, who earned his doctorate in BBS studying antivirals for flaviviruses (a family of viruses often transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes that can cause dengue fever, Zika virus disease, and West Nile), described feeling “overjoyed and proud.” Like many others, he attributed his success to the unwavering support of his partner, family, and friends.

“Raising a PhD student takes a village,” said Victor Calvillo-Miranda, who earned his doctorate in chemical biology creating a nanobody to study a cell receptor. On particularly hard days, he said, he found solace and support in his family, especially his young daughter.

Many of the graduates remarked that their PhD years comprised a long journey. Some were starting new journeys as they held babies while receiving their doctoral hoods.

“I’m really happy to be here with all of these people who we went on the journey with,” said new doctor of immunology Elena Wu, who studied allergic immunity.

BBS graduates Kanae Sasaki, who developed a new model for studying dry age-related macular degeneration, and Hannah Tam, who investigated mammalian skin regeneration, hadn’t seen each other in six months — Tam recently moved to San Diego to begin a postdoctoral fellowship at Scripps Research — and delighted in reconnecting with each other after the ceremony.

Tam said her advisor, Ya-Chieh Hsu, professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard, skipped a conference to attend the ceremony in support of her.

“I’m feeling grateful that this experience could be so meaningful,” Tam said. “I’m so touched that it means as much to her as it means to me.”

Others said that the ceremony marked a new chapter. “Harvard is just the beginning,” said Dawn Chen, who received her doctorate in systems, synthetic, and quantitative biology developing tools to study gene regulation. “I’m excited for what’s ahead.”

Originally published in Harvard Medical School News