UCSF Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs

Cap-turing the moments 🎓

The Class of 2026 graced the stage at Herbst Theatre as 237 graduates marked a milestone years in the making.

This year’s commencement ceremony was GEPA’s largest yet, bringing together more than 700 family members, friends, mentors, and supporters to celebrate this incredible achievement. The Class of 2026 represented eight master’s and 15 PhD degree programs, and included SRTP alumni, first-generation graduates, and so many inspiring stories of perseverance, leadership, and community.

Congratulations, Class of 2026! ✨

Congratulations to Elizabeth Chung on being named a 2026 Hertz Fellow!

“Being a Hertz Fellow is an immense honor to me”, said Chung about receiving this honor. “I’m particularly excited for the opportunities to engage with the other Hertz Fellows through multidisciplinary research, which I hope can synergize to lead to even greater technologies and therapies than would be possible otherwise. I’m also enthusiastic to learn from the experiences and expertise of all the other Hertz fellows in the community.”

The Hertz Fellowship, awarded annually by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, is one of the nation’s most prestigious graduate fellowships, supporting exceptional students who demonstrate the potential to drive transformative innovation.

A round of applause for these Schmidt Fellows! 👏

Cuyler Luck and Marilyn Steyert - both in the Biomedical Sciences PhD program - and Elena Turkalj, PhD, a recent graduate of the Developmental and Stem Cell Biology program, are among just 32 early career scientists from around the world in the ninth cohort of fellows named by Schmidt Sciences.

All three scholars were nominated by the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs, based not only on their records of achievement and potential for future leadership in science, but also their desire to pivot to a new research discipline in their postdoctoral training, in accordance with the Schmidt Science Fellows’ goal of supporting ambitious interdisciplinary thinking and research.

Read more about each student on our website. Link in bio!

Meet the 2026 Grad Slam finalists! 🎙️

The annual research communications contest returns Tuesday, April 7 as part of UCSF’s celebration of National Graduate Student Appreciation Week, where these 10 finalists will share their research stories in three minutes or less using language accessible to a live and virtual audience.

Best of luck, everyone! 👏

Congratulations to Ayush Midha on being named a 2026 Harold M Weintraub Graduate Student Award winner!

As a 2026 Weintraub Awardee, he is one of just 12 students selected from a nationwide pool of nominees.

“I’m so grateful for the community of exceptional academic workers in the Jain Lab and UCSF, especially the other grad student researchers, postdocs, and staff researchers who have taught me how to do western blots, critically evaluate the literature, and think about metabolism. When I started here, I knew UCSF would be full of brilliant scientists, but I’ve been consistently impressed by the solidarity exhibited by my colleagues, in and out of the lab. I’m honored to bring this spirit to the Weintraub symposium.”