The Guild provides awards, endowments, and scholarships to both medical students and biomedical graduate students in the College of Medicine. Although the awards have changed over the decades, our support to acknowledge the best and the brightest students remains steadfast.
Medical Students
The Thomas and Emily Maren Award: In loving memory of former member Emily Sabah-Maren and Dr. Thomas Maren, the Guild honors their enduring spirit of philanthropy toward UF Health and our community by donating $2,000 annually to support the Equal Access Clinic Network in its work to touch lives and provide hope for those in need
Support for Biomedical Students
The Medical Guild Graduate Research Symposium Awards and the Thomas C. Rowe, PhD Advancement to Candidacy Awards sponsored by the UF Medical Guild are now endowed funds at the $200,000 and $75,000 levels respectively. These awards are given annually in April.
2026-27 Reseach Symposium Award Winners
Gold Award Winner:
- Jane His-Bell of BioChemistry and Molecular Biology: “The Structural Characterization of Antibody-Capsid Interactions Guide the Engineering of AAV9 Gene Therapy Vectors” Mentor: Dr. Robert McKenna
Silver Award Winners:
- Christiano Marconi of Cancer Biology,“SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccines Sensitize Tumors to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors” Mentor: Dr. Elias Sayor
- Melissa Munzen of Immunology and Microbiology,“Inhibition of RhoA Prevents Cryptococcus neoformans Capsule Glucuronoxylomannan-Stimulated Brain Endothelial Barrier Disruption” Mentor: Dr. Luis Martinez
- Sophia Eikenberry of Physiology and Cell Biology,”Harnessing the Power of Circadian Biology in Cardiovascular Disease” Mentor: Dr. Michelle Gumz
Bronze Award Winners:
- Logan Bell of Moleculer Genetics and Genomics “The contribution of RNA GGGAGA repeat to Alzheimer’s disease” Mentor: Dr. Lien Nguyen
- Sarah E. Sniffen of Neuroscience,”Neural circuit mechanisms directing emotional responses to odors” Mentor: Dr. Dan Wesson
- Qingchen (Jeremy) Yuan of Pharmacology and Therapeutics,”Clonal hematopoiesis-related loss of Dnmt3a deregulates trained immunity to impede cancer control“ Mentor: Dr. Olga Gurynova
2026 Thomas C. Rowe, PhD Advancement to Candidacy Award Winners
- Kyle Kasparian of Immunology and Microbiology, Mentor: Dr. Jacquelyn Abranches
- Maria Ramirez of Neuroscience, Mentor: Dr. Daniel Wesson
- Jacob Ricci of Phyisiolgy and Cell Biology, Mentor: Dr. Katelyn A. Bruno