Oncology, cancer genomics research on agenda for UH grad
When Mohamad Halawi left encounter-torn southern Lebanon a few years ago, he had virtually no resources but inexhaustible optimism. Since then, this University of Houston graduate’s unsolvable work and perception would rather paid off the mark with an NIH fellowship, more than a quarter of a million dollars in bursary money and numerous other honors.
Halawi immigrated unequalled to the Synergistic States in 2001 at the age of 17 with solely $1,000 and worked more than 65 hours a week at two jobs while taking a full load of classes. A 2005 UH graduate with a degree in biochemical and biophysical sciences, he was ready to start medical school upon graduating from the university and finishing a espouse summer interning at Harvard Medical School. Notwithstanding, while he longs to embark on the challenges of obtaining a medical degree with a full Jack Kent Cooke (JKC) Foundation Graduate Scholarship he received this summer for medical school, a second tremendous opportunity from the Citizen Institutes of Health (NIH) presented him with an furnish he couldn’t junk - a one-year clubbiness to investigate his favorite subjects of genomics and bioinformatics under the mentorship of Francis Collins, director of the NIH-Public Child Genome Research Begin.
“The NIH fellowship is not lone a culmination of my undergraduate studies, but it is also an possibility to learn cutting-edge technologies and disclose an interdisciplinary prospect to answer challenging questions,” Halawi said. “It will certainly be an asset to my intend of pursuing point work during medical school.”
Halawi, who was a fellow of the UH College of Habitual Sciences and Mathematics, ultimately plans to become a physician-scientist who practices in oncology and studies cancer genomics and bioinformatics. Ted Estess, dean of the UH Honors College, knows Halawi through his numerous extracurricular activities and said that the multifarious honors and scholarships that Halawi has been awarded have on all occasions been well earned by his hard work, self-motivation and ambitious determination.
“We are excited to prepare Mohamad as the in the beginning UH student to receive the JKC Graduate Bursary,” said Margaret Watson, mingle with dean in the Work of Graduate and Professional Studies. “Each university in the United States can nominate two students for this honor. This year more than a thousand students were nominated, and Mohamad was one of the 76 awardees for 2005-2006.”
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, established in 2000, has as its mission to help young people with exceptional promise to reach their engrossed dormant through education. Its scholarships associate and support recipients in fiscal lack who qualify and make evident excellence in academic endeavors and extracurricular activities. In addition to his latest JKC honor, Halawi was awarded a JKC Undergraduate Scholarship during his junior year of college that covered all his educational expenses, from preparation and books to housing.
“Much of the excitement of my roam in the United States started in my junior year,” Halawi said. “I went from more than 65 hours of paid work each week, to 65 hours of volunteer duty. Any more I am able to do things I’ve never dreamed of doing before.”
In to boot to his two JKC scholarships and NIH bloc, Halawi recently was selected as the most choice member from amongst Golden Key International Honor Society’s 350 chapters worldwide to be named the 2005 International Critic Chairperson of the Year. He also was named a fellow as a service to the Merage Foundation in the service of the American Dream, created to identify optimistic immigrants, providing him with a two-year pay that he has earmarked in search attending systematic and medical conferences. Other honors categorize being named a Walter and Adelheid Hohenstein Customer by the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, as well as a Golden Key International Honor Society Graduate Scholar, emerging as one of 12 worldwide victors from a natatorium of hundreds of candidates.
“No one came over and tapped him on the shun,” Estess said. “He rather took the pep, and then he has brought great honor to the university by the compute and quality of the popular awards that he has received. We are very proud of him.”
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 probe centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse check out university in the provinces, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.
About the College of See native Sciences and Mathematics
The UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, with nearly 400 flair members and approximately 4,000 students, offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in the natural sciences, computational sciences and mathematics. Faculty members in the departments of biology and biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, geosciences, mathematics and physics attired in b be committed to internationally recognized collaborative research programs in consortium with UH interdisciplinary check out centers, Texas Medical Center institutions and nationalist laboratories.
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Lisa Merkl
lkmerkl@uh.edu
University of Houston
uh.edu/newsroom
Carrie Jiminez