The Graduate School at Hood College

Congratulations to Aislinn Cohen, the 2026 recipient of The Carlo and Valerie Bagni Outstanding Biomedical Science Student Award. We are of you!

Aislinn is a medical illustrator working with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. She was awarded a Regulatory Compliance Scholarship from the Association of Medical Diagnostics Manufacturers and has been accepted into the Medical Illustration graduate program at Augusta University.

Congratulations to Jason Ciemielewski, the 2026 recipient of the Dr. Mary E. Kearney Outstanding Bioinformatics Student Award. We are of you!

Jason is a biomedical researcher and graduate candidate with experience in immunotherapy and bioinformatics. Formerly an Associate Immunologist at a clinical-stage biotech firm, he has led R&D initiatives and developed SomaPower, an award-winning tool for proteomic data analysis. He has co-authored research on rheumatoid arthritis and contributed to immunotherapy studies.

Join us tonight at 5:30pm to learn more about Hood’s graduate programs from faculty, staff, and current students!

Register here: hood.edu/gradevents

Visit and Events The Graduate School provides several opportunities for prospective students to meet with faculty and staff to learn how Hood’s graduate programs prepare students to go further in their lives, in their careers and in their communities.

Congratulations to Rachel Harris, the 2026 recipient of the Biomedical Science Faculty Award. We are of you!

Rachel is a Senior Packaging Engineer at AstraZeneca, where she designs and tests packaging for biologics, including immunotherapies for cancer and respiratory conditions. During her time at Hood College, she conducted independent research on a cat DNA project, presented in the Three Minute Thesis competition, and received the Boyd-Kearney STEM Scholarship. While completing her degree, she earned a promotion to senior engineer and was recognized with an internal award for her contributions to a vaccine launch.

Congratulations to Renee Gulino, the 2026 recipient of the Outstanding Staff Award. We are of you!

Ms. Gulino, you have shown consistent support of our graduate students by helping them navigate the increasingly complex world of financial aid with compassion, clarity, and care. During a time of constant change and uncertainty in higher education funding, Renee has worked tirelessly to ensure students feel informed, supported, and empowered to make confident decisions about their education.

Venkata Krishna Kandalai is the 2026 3MT People’s Choice Award Winner. His presentation highlighted “FHIR Cracker,” a project designed to transform unstructured clinical notes into standardized healthcare data, helping improve care coordination, research and patient outcomes.

Read his story here: https://bit.ly/Venkata-3MTspotlight

3MT Winner Spotlight| Venkata Krishna Kandalai, M.S.'26 "The People's Choice is voted on by the audience, so it is not a panel of judges scoring your methodology, but real people saying your work resonated with them."

Congratulations to Kyler Leither, the 2026 recipient of the Charles E. Tressler Distinguised Teacher Award. We are of you!

A pre-kindergarten teacher at Carrol Manor Elementary School, Dr. Leiter has demonstrated unwavering dedication to his students and the community.

Congratulations to Anita Jose, the 2026 recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award. We are of you!

Students describe Dr. Jose as a mentor who “exemplifies outstanding dedication to graduate education through her unwavering commitment to student success,” noting that she consistently goes above and beyond to support and guide her students.

Christoph Johnson recently completed his M.S. in Health Informatics at Hood College. During his time here at Hood College, he served as a technical lead intern and internship fellow with the MedStar-Georgetown Collaborative Center for Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare Research and Education (Al CoLab).

Read his story here:
https://bit.ly/christoph-johnson

Graduate Alumni Focus | Christoph Johnson, M.S.’26 “Hood College has helped me accomplish exactly what I set out to do: strengthen and complete my technical and professional knowledge base.”

The Graduate School at Hood College was proud to support our military community at Frederick’s Veteran Services Center’s Open House! 🇺🇸

We enjoyed sharing information about Hood College’s graduate programs, military education benefits, and our new Graduate Student Veterans Club with veterans, active-duty service members, and military families.