Established in 2004 with a landmark gift from Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., Vice Chair of the MSK Boards of Overseers and Managers, the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSK) admitted its first class in the summer of 2006. The school offers the next generation of biomedical scientists an intensive PhD program that trains them to investigate and attack cancer through the twin lenses of basic research and real-life clinical challenges.
GSK faculty are nationally recognized scientists working at the forefront of biomedical research, and the curriculum takes advantage of the unique integration of the basic science and clinical arms of Memorial Sloan Kettering. An intensive lab-work model, along with the opportunity to observe firsthand how research findings are applied, ensures that GSK graduates are well positioned to close the gap between basic and clinical research.
In 2020, GSK launched a new Master of Science in Clinical and Translational Cancer Research (CTCR), which trains physician scholars at MSK to become independent clinical investigators who bridge the gap between basic and clinical cancer research. Through a mix of coursework and mentored research, the CTCR program offers MSK clinicians a mechanism to keep pace with the rapid rate of technological and conceptual advances in cancer biology.
The 2026 MSK Academic Convocation and GSK Commencement will take place on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at Est.
2026 Honorary Degree and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Biomedical Research
Phillip A. Sharp is an Institute Professor emeritus at MIT and member of the Department of Biology and the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. His research interests have centered on the molecular biology of gene expression relevant to cancer and the mechanisms of RNA splicing. His work in 1977 provided the first indications of “discontinuous genes” in mammalian cells. This discovery fundamentally changed scientists’ understanding of gene structure and earned him the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. A native of Kentucky, Dr. Sharp earned a B.A. degree from Union College, Barbourville, KY, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Dr. Sharp was a co-founder of Biogen (1978) and served as chair of its Scientific Advisory Board and member of the Board of Directors. He co-founded Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (2002) and serves on its Scientific Advisory Board.
Past GSK Honorary Doctorate of Science Recipients
- 2025: Carolyn Bertozzi, PhD
- 2024: Elaine Fuchs, PhD
- 2023: Craig B. Thompson, MD
- 2022: Dr. Levi Garraway
- 2021: Dr. Joan Steitz
- 2020: Dr. James P. Allison
- 2019: Dr. Kenneth J. Marians
- 2018: Dr. Cori Bargmann
- 2017: Dr. Robert Langer
- 2016: Dr. Joan S. Brugge
- 2015: Dr. Robert A. Weinberg
- 2014: Dr. Thomas J. Kelly
- 2013: Dr. Paul A. Marks
- 2012: Mr. Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., and Dr. Harold E. Varmus
Mariano Alejandro Aufiero
Determinants of Myeloid Cell-Mediated Antifungal Immunity
Mentor: Tobias M. Hohl, MD, PhD
Marimar Benitez de la Vega
An Atlas of Molecular Alterations During CDK4/6 Inhibitor-Induced Geroconversion in ER+ Breast Cancer and Sarcoma
Mentor: Andrew Koff, PhD
Celeste Dang
Investigating the Role of Transcription Factor 19 in Innate and Adaptive Immunity
Mentor: Joseph C. Sun, PhD
Juliana I. Delgado
A Multi-Omics Study of Molecular Determinants and Pathway Diversity Underlying Therapy-Induced Senescence in Cancer
Mentor: Andrew Koff, PhD
Mohammed Tarek Islam
Stem Cell Models for Characterizing Cis-Regulatory Evolution During Embryonic Development
Mentor: Thomas S. Vierbuchen, PhD
Margaret Caroline Kennedy
Investigating Transcriptional Dysregulation in Disease through Genetic Engineering and Therapeutic Inhibition
Mentor: Scott W. Lowe, PhD
Won Jun Kim
Mis-Splicing-Derived Neoantigens and Cognate TCRs in Splicing Factor Mutant Leukemias
Mentor: Omar Abdel-Wahab, MD
Tiffany Rebecca Merlinsky
Cysteine Availability Limits CD8+ T Cell Priming in Severe COVID-19
Mentor: Santosha Vardhana, MD, PhD
Brianna Naizir
Defining the Role of TOX in CD4 T Cell Fate Commitment and Effector Function
Mentor: Andrea Schietinger, PhD
Ella Mikhailovna-Melnik Nguyen
The RNA Exosome in Cell Cycle Progression
Mentor: Christopher D. Lima, PhD
Ana Maria Sanchez
Distinct Contributions of Duf89 and Siw14 to Phosphate Homeostasis and Inositol Pyrophosphate Dynamics in Fission Yeast
Mentor: Stewart Shuman, MD, PhD
Jenna M. Snyder
Diverse Leptomeningeal Fibroblasts Support Cancer Cell Growth
Mentor: Adrienne A. Boire, MD, PhD
Anran Tang
Scaling CRISPR Screens to Map Large-Scale Genetic Interactions
Mentor: Thomas Norman, PhD
Abigail Xie
Determinants of Cellular TCA Cycle Dependency
Mentor: Lydia Finley, PhD
Zhi Zheng
Structural and Molecular Mechanisms of Spo11-Catalyzed Double-Strand Break Formation in Meiotic Recombination
Mentor: Scott Keeney, PhD
Bill H. Diplas, MD, PhD
Comprehensive Phenotypic Mapping of ALT Regulation Expands the Landscape of Targetable Suppressors
Mentors: Agnel Sfeir, PhD; Nadeem Riaz, MD, MSc
Elizabeth Anne Coffee, MD
A Hyperpolarized MRI Probe to Guide Treatment in Glioma
Mentors: Kayvan R. Keshari, PhD; Ingo K. Mellinghoff, MD, FACP
Recognition of the Doctoral Dissertation Research
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Zita Aretz
Improving the TCR Without Changing the TCR
Mentor: David A. Scheinberg, MD, PhD -
Ann Kabuki Baako
Modeling Tissue-Resident Macrophage Development From Mouse Pluripotent Stem Cells
Mentors: Thomas S. Vierbuchen, PhD and Justin Perry, PhD -
Ron Seung Hyun Baik
Development and Application of a Random Mutagenesis System to Map the Functional Landscape of Mitochondrial DNA Mutations
Mentor: Agnel Sfeir, PhD -
Ersilia Barin
Rapid Degradation of Ribosomal Proteins Determines the Role of R-proteins After Ribosome Biogenesis
Mentor: Heeseon An, PhD -
Lauren Marie Bednor
Identification and Genetic Characterization of Mediators of Inositol Pyrophosphate Toxicosis in Fission Yeast
Mentor: Stewart Shuman, MD, PhD -
Kalina Todorova Belcheva
A Pax5-Anchored Transcription Factor Network Coordinates Bcl11a and Foxo1 to Maintain B Cell Identity
Mentor: Jayanta Chaudhuri, PhD -
Winston Yun-Han Chang
Regulation of Epithelial Regeneration After Bone Marrow Transplantation and Enteric Infection
Mentor: Alan M. Hanash, MD, PhD -
Wanyi Chen
Trastuzumab Deruxtecan (T-DXd) Resistance via Decrease of HER2 Expression and Binding
Mentor: Sarat Chandarlapaty, MD, PhD -
Quinlan Cullen
[13C]-Fructose as A Glycolytic and Fructolytic Imaging Probe For Hyperpolarized Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Mentor: Kayvan R. Keshari, PhD -
Alessandro Evangelisti
Signaling Pathways Regulating Human Oligodendrocyte Lineage Specification from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells
Mentor: Lorenz Studer, MD -
Beibei Fang
Neuro-Immune Regulation of Tissue Inflammation and Pathophysiology
Mentor: Alexander Rudensky, PhD -
Annalisa Victoria Ferrotta
Determinants of Response to PI3K/MTOR Blockade in Glioblastoma
Mentor: Ingo K. Mellinghoff, MD, FACP -
Logan M. Fisher
Uncovering Dendritic Cell Heterogeneity and Function
Mentor: Chrysothemis Brown, MD, PhD -
Paolo Stefano Giovanelli Murgueitio
A Novel Mechanism of T cell Mediated Control of Colonic Inflammation
Mentor: Alexander Rudensky, PhD -
Tran Hoang
Development of Antibody-Based Theranostic Agents for Delta-Like Ligand 3-Expressing Neuroendocrine Neoplasms
Mentor: Jason S. Lewis, PhD -
Ting-Wei Hsu
Regulation of Tumor Progression through Spatial Programs of Extracellular DNA Clearance and TLR9-Mediated Cancer Cell Senescence
Mentor: Ming Li, PhD -
Arianna Richelle Izawa-Ishiguro
Leveraging Radiotherapy to Enhance Therapeutic Vulnerabilities in Glioblastoma
Mentors: Ingo K. Mellinghoff, MD, FACP and Daniel A. Heller, PhD -
Benjamin Avram Kaminow
Structure-based Graph Machine Learning Methods for Protein-ligand Binding Affinity Predictionc
Mentor: John Chodera, PhD -
Zoe Kehs
The Study of Gamma-Secretase Homologs and Modulatory Proteins for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
Mentor: Yueming Li, PhD -
Divya Koyyalagunta
Inferring Routes, Phenotypic Trajectories, and Clinical Biomarkers of Metastasis
Mentor: Quaid Morris, PhD -
Jiacheng Liu
Characterization of the Cytoplasmic RNA Exosome and its Interactions with Factors Involved in Antiviral Defense
Mentor: Christopher D. Lima, PhD -
Olga Lyudovyk
A Structure Is Worth a Thousand Sequences: Predicting T Cell Specificity from Sequence and Structure
Mentors: Quaid Morris, PhD and Benjamin Greenbaum, PhD -
Laura A. Menocal
Differentiation State Dynamics of Memory CD8 T cells in Tumors
Mentor: Andrea Schietinger, PhD -
Kathleen A. M. Mills
Epithelial-Immune Cell Crosstalk Orchestrates Pulmonary Immunity to Aspergillus fumigatus
Mentor: Tobias M. Hohl, MD, PhD -
Andrew Minotti
High-Throughput Approaches for Advancing hPSC-Based Models of Neurodegeneration
Mentor: Lorenz Studer, MD -
Olatunji Oni
Modeling Technical Confounders and Gene Perturbation Effects in Single-Cell Transcriptomics
Mentor: Thomas Norman, PhD -
Payal Patel
Characterizing the Role of MAPK Pathway Alterations in ER+ Breast Cancer
Mentor: Sarat Chandarlapaty, MD, PhD -
Alexander Matthew Payne
Maximizing Structural Insights with Minimal Data: Lessons from Computer-Aided Drug Design and Membrane Protein Activation
Mentor: John Chodera, PhD -
Samantha Brooke Regan
Megabase-scale Loss of Heterozygosity Provoked by CRISPR-Cas9 DNA Double-strand Breaks
Mentor: Maria Jasin, PhD -
Lucas Repeta
Activities and Architectures of the RNA Exosome-Associated Helicase Complex MTREC
Mentor: Christopher D. Lima, PhD -
Jonathan Rub
Uncovering Species-Agnostic, Defining Cell States of Solid Tumors
Mentor: Tuomas Tammela, MD, PhD -
Stephen Eduard Borja Ruiz
Leveraging Lipid Metabolism to Iron Out Mechanisms in Ferroptosis Resistant Cancers
Mentor: Daniel A. Heller, PhD -
Avital Shira Shulman
Loss of KNTC1 Triggers a 53BP1 and USP28 Dependent Cell Cycle Arrest Without Prolonged Mitotic Delays
Mentor: Meng-Fu Bryan Tsou, PhD -
Yeeun Son
The Mechanism of Choline and Ethanolamine Transport by FLVCR1
Mentor: Richard Hite, PhD -
Long Yat Tam
Language Modeling of Protein-RNA Interactions and RNA Structures
Mentor: Quaid Morris, PhD -
Xinran Tang
Modeling Sensitivity to Antibody Drug Conjugates in Urothelial Cancer Using Patient-Derived Models
Mentor: David B. Solit, MD -
Wilfred Wong
Statistical Methods for Chromosome Conformation Capture Assays
Mentor: Christina Leslie, PhD -
Yang Xiao
Unraveling Protein Glycation Pathways Utilizing Integrated Chemical Biology Tools
Mentor: Yael David, PhD -
Marjan Zeb Zaman
Stem and Memory Programming in Engineered Immune Cells
Mentor: Katharine C. Hsu, MD, PhD
2026 Award Winners
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Dorris J. Hutchison Graduate Fellowship
- Awarded to TBA
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Barbara and Stephen Friedman Graduate Fellowship
- Awarded to TBA
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Bruce Charles Forbes Fellowship
- Awarded to TBA
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General Atlantic Fellowship
- Awarded to TBA
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Marie-Josée Kravis Women in Science Endeavor Graduate Fellowship
- Awarded to TBA
-
Tow Foundation Graduate Student Fellowship
- Awarded to TBA
-
Dr. Joan Eliasoph Graduate Student Research Fellowship
- Awarded to Saloni Hombalkar and Clark Thomson
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Dr. Joan Eliasoph Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
- Awarded to Marton T. Kovacs, PhD and Joshua Peter
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Postdoctoral Research Awards
- Recognizes outstanding accomplishments and promise by research fellows or research associates who have been at MSK for at least one year and have published a significant research paper as first author
- Awarded to TBA
-
Tri-Institutional Breakout Prize for Junior Investigators
- Established by leaders from The Rockefeller University, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to recognize exceptional current postdoctoral trainees at each of the three institutions who have made significant research contributions
- Awarded to TBA
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Louise and Allston Boyer Young Investigator Award for Basic
- Honors researchers at the Associate level or below who have demonstrated great promise and accomplishment in laboratory investigations
- Awarded to Karuna Ganesh, MD, PhD and Tuomas Tammela, MD, PhD
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Katharine Berkan Judd Award
- Recognizes an individual who has made great advancements in the understanding of cancer through basic discovery
- Awarded to Akiko Iwasaki, PhD
- The Judd Lecture will occur on TBA
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Louise and Allston Boyer Young Investigator Award for Clinical Research
- Honors physicians at the Associate level or below who have demonstrated great promise and accomplishment in clinical investigations
- Awarded to Aaron Mitchell, MD
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Willet F. Whitmore Award for Clinical
- Honors a clinician whose talent, dedication, and compassion reflect the standards set by Willet F. Whitmore during his more than 46 years of service at Memorial Sloan Kettering
- Awarded to Greg Riely MD, PhD
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C. Chester Stock Award
- Given annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to the advancement of cancer therapy
- Awarded to Hugues de Thé, MD, PhD
- The Stock Award Lecture will occur on Wednesday, May 13, at 9:00 a.m. in Z-105. Please join us!
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The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering Prize
- Recognizes individuals who have made significant or groundbreaking contributions to pediatric oncology, highlighting the long-standing and future-facing partnerships between The Society and MSK and affirming the global leadership of MSK in the field of pediatric oncology
- Awarded to Nai-Kong V. Cheung, MD, PhD
- Please join us for Pediatric Grand Rounds on TBC.