Van Andel Institute Graduate School 2023 Convocation & Commencement Program

VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE GRADUATE SCHOOL
2023 | CONVOCATION &
COMMENCEMENT PROGRAM

Monday, August 21, 2023
1:30 PM | TOMATIS AUDITORIUM
DOWNLOAD A PRINTABLE PDF OF THE PROGRAM BOOKLET AND NEW STUDENT
BIOSKETCHES AT BIT.LY/VAI2023CONVOCATION.
PROCESSIONAL
WELCOME
Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon), President , Van Andel Institute Graduate School &
Chief Scientific Officer
OPENING OF CEREMONY AND DEAN’S REMARKS
Gerry Coetzee, Ph.D., Interim Dean, Van Andel Institute Graduate School
INTRODUCTION OF INCOMING STUDENTS
INTRODUCTION OF GRADUATES BY MENTORS
Dylan Dues, M.D., Ph.D. — Darren Moore, Ph.D.
Bailey Tibben, Ph.D. — Scott Rothbart, Ph.D.
CONFERRING OF DEGREES
Juan R. Olivarez, Ph.D., Chair, Van Andel Institute Graduate School Board of Directors
PRESENTATION OF HOODS
REFLECTIONS BY GRADUATES
CONTINUING STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
Leena Kariapper, on behalf of the Graduate Student Association
OPENING OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR
RECESSIONAL
Reception to follow in Cook-Hauenstein Hall.
Music for today’s celebration performed by Kopper and Keys.
For general questions, please contact Susanne Miller-Schachinger at
susanne.miller@vai.edu.
INCOMING STUDENTS
Megan Marie Biesinger
Qualia (Lia) Hooker
Paul Kim
Justin Kulchycki
Yakum Benard Mingo
Megan Murto
Mary Olesnavich
Olivia Ols
Tian (Devin) Qiu
Ali Gamal Salaheldin
Lillian Sauline
Joshua Wierenga
Devia Williams
VAN ANDEL EDUCATION INSTITUTE
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
David Van Andel
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Van Andel Institute
James E. Bultman, Ed.D.
Susan Keipper Meell
Juan Olivarez, Ph.D.
Teresa Weatherall Neal, Ed.D. (hon)
VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE GRADUATE SCHOOL
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Juan Olivarez, Ph.D.
Chairman of the Board
Mary O’Riordan, Ph.D., Vice Chair
Maria Cimitile, Ph.D.
James B. Fahner, M.D.
Peggy Farnham, Ph.D.
Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon)
Candace T. Smith-King, M.D.
Thomas Curran, J.D.
Secretary to the Board
Katie Helder
Treasurer to the Board
VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE GRADUATE
SCHOOL FACULTY
Marie Adams, M.S.
Stephen B. Baylin, M.D.
Sarah Bodbyl, Ph.D.
Lena Brundin, M.D., Ph.D.
Nick Burton, Ph.D.
Hong-Yuan Chu, Ph.D.
Gerry Coetzee, Ph.D.
Juan Du, Ph.D.
Yvonne Fondufe-Mittendorf, Ph.D.
Stephanie Grainger, Ph.D.
Carrie R. Graveel, Ph.D.
Brian Haab, Ph.D.
Michael Henderson, Ph.D.
Galen Hostetter, M.D.
Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon)
Russell Jones, Ph.D.
Connie Krawczyk, Ph.D.
Peter W. Laird, Ph.D.
Heidi Lempradl, Ph.D.
Huilin Li, Ph.D.
Evan Lien, Ph.D.
Wei Lü, Ph.D.
Darren Moore, Ph.D.
Sara Nowinski, Ph.D.
Gerd Pfeifer, Ph.D.
J. Andrew Pospisilik, Ph.D.
Scott Rothbart, Ph.D.
Laurent Roybon, Ph.D.
Hui Shen, Ph.D.
Xiaobing Shi, Ph.D.
Matthew R. Steensma, M.D.
Piroska Szabó, Ph.D.
Tim Triche, Jr., Ph.D.
Hong Wen, Ph.D.
Bart O. Williams, Ph.D.
Mary Winn, Ph.D.
Evan Worden, Ph.D.
Tao Yang, Ph.D.
Qiang Zhu, Ph.D.

New Graduate Student Bios
Megan Marie Biesinger received her M.S. in Biomedical Sciences
from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and her B.S. in
Genetics, Genomics, and Biotechnology with a minor in Chemistry
from Brigham Young University. In addition to schooling, Megan
worked at Nelson Laboratories and the University of Kentucky
and researched at the University of Canberra in Australia. Megan
loves cell culture, spatial transcriptomics, and making genetic
connections. She wants to one day direct her own lab researching
epigenetics related to autoimmune diseases and travel the world
teaching children science.
Qualia (Lia) Hooker is from New York. She received her B.S.
in Psychology with a concentration in Neuroscience from
Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in Integrative Biology
with a concentration in Cancer Biology from Hofstra University. For
her master’s thesis, she profiled the transcriptomic changes that
occurred with silencing lncRNA H19 in glioblastoma multiforme.
Since 2019, she has worked as a research technician in a cancer
dormancy lab at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The focus
of her work has been developing models of therapy induced
senescence, assessing genetic alterations in cells that escaped
senescence, and identifying molecules with senolytic potential.
Yakum Benard Mingo is from Bamenda, Cameroon. He holds a
B.S. in Microbiology from the Catholic University of Cameroon and
an M.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Hasselt University, Belgium.
Yakum worked at Biomedical Research Institute (BIOMED), Belgium,
to unravel the potential role that B cells play in spinal cord injury.
Recently, he completed his master’s thesis on an Erasmus+ grant
at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, where he
investigated the therapeutic potential of a gut metabolite called
urolithin A following viral infections of the brain. In the future,
Yakum hopes to understand how neurodegenerative diseases
such as Parkinson’s disease develop and to find disease-modifying
mechanisms that can be exploited for therapeutic purposes.
Megan Murto was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. She received
a B.S. in Biomedical Laboratory Science concentrating in Medical
Microbiology at Michigan State University. Here she studied
Mycobacterium tuberculosis metabolic pathways to determine targets
for future antibiotics. After graduation, Megan did a post-bac at
the University of Pittsburgh researching protein degradation and
structural biology. She hopes to continue the study of different
metabolic pathways and to continue expanding upon her
knowledge of structural biology.
Paul Kim earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Kyungpook
National University in South Korea, followed by a research scientist
position in 2018 in the Department of Pharmacology at the
University of Minnesota. He studied the regulation of persistent
breast cancer cells under endocrine therapy and devised strategies
for preventing cancer recurrence. He is interested in epigenetic
control in fundamental cellular processes and their dysregulation in
cancer and other diseases.
Justin Kulchycki received both his B.S. and M.S. in Biology from
Oakland University. He studied mammalian cardiovascular genetics
and his master’s thesis research involved locating a non-coding
genetic region responsible for cell-type-specific expression of the
B4galnt2 gene in mice. While completing his thesis, Justin also
worked as a research intern at Beaumont Hospital, where he aided
in developing methods for reducing amyloid and tau build-up in
a murine model of Alzheimer’s disease. Following his master’s
thesis research, Justin accepted a research assistant position at
Henry Ford Hospital, where he studied renal physiology. In January
2021, Justin joined VAI as a technician working on mechanisms of
epigenetic therapies in cancer.
Mary Olesnavich grew up in Bloomfield, Michigan, and graduated
from Swarthmore College with a B.A. in Biology in 2018. After
graduation she worked as a laboratory technician in a translational
cancer research lab at the University of Michigan, where she used
bench skills and bioinformatics on a project investigating CAR-T cell
related toxicities. For graduate school, she is interested in utilizing
interdisciplinary approaches to integrate quantitative analysis
with traditional molecular biology methods in the study of cancer
immunology or neurodegenerative disorders.
Olivia Ols is from Ohio. She is a Hillsdale College graduate with
a B.S. who majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry. Olivia
has partnered with Case Western Reserve University, Kent State
University, and Hillsdale College to complete multiple environmental
and molecular research projects. At Hillsdale College, she
developed methods for CRISPR/Cas9 using the fruit fly Drosophila
melanogaster. Her summers have been spent working with the
Leonard Gelfand STEM Center and Case Western Reserve University
to provide STEAM experiences and education for K–12 students in
the Greater Cleveland area. Last summer, she was an RA/TA for the
Hillsdale summer science camp. Olivia hopes to pursue research
in regenerative medicine with a focus on directing and maintaining
stem cells to encourage tissue growth.

New Graduate Student Bios
Tian (Devin) Qiu is from Hangzhou, China. He obtained his Bachelor
of Agriculture from Zhejiang University and an M.S. in Biomedical
Informatics from Washington University in St. Louis. He then
worked as a research technician at Washington University before
joining Van Andel Institute Graduate School. He is interested in
understanding the impact of genetic and epigenetic variation on
complex diseases.
Ali Gamal Salaheldin is from Egypt, where he completed a B.S.
in Molecular and Cell Biology at the Zewail City of Science and
Technology. He has scientific experience in genetics and molecular
biology. He has worked at the Center for Genomics at Zewail City
as a junior researcher for two years. His thesis project involved
studying the role of actin-binding protein in rescuing yeast mutant
cells under stress. He is interested in studying cancer and learning
more about the central dogma in detail.
Lillian Sauline grew up in Comstock Park, Michigan. She attended
Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan to obtain her B.S. in
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Before graduating with her
undergraduate degree, Lillian participated in the VAI Summer
Internship Program, studying neurodegenerative science. She
continued her work as an intern until the completion of her B.S.
Transitioning into a laboratory technician, she remained in the
Department of Neurodegenerative Science, studying Parkinson’s
disease. As a graduate student, she will focus on building a thesis
that will allow her to incorporate aspects of pharmacology into
her research.
Joshua Wierenga is from Grand Rapids, Michigan and has a B.S.
from Aquinas College in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
with a minor in Math. Josh has had a wide variety of research
experiences, including the elliptical geometry of Icosahedral
viruses, characterizing streptococcus infection of keratinocytes,
and biochemistry of epigenetic proteins. Josh is currently
interested in ideas such as how maternal environment impacts
offspring development and how epigenetic regulators impact cell
differentiation.
Devia Williams is originally from Portland, Jamaica. She received her
B.S. in Biology from Benedict College in 2023. Her past research
experiences include a summer research internship at Van Andel
Institute in 2022 and a summer research internship at Benedict
College in 2021.
History of Van Andel Institute Graduate School
Van Andel Institute began with a vision to improve human health through
biomedical research and science education. Van Andel Institute Graduate School
plays a key role in this mission, combining rigorous coursework, extensive
laboratory experience and the mentorship of VAI’s expert faculty to develop the
biomedical research leaders of the future.
The Graduate School was founded in 2005, with a charter to grant doctoral and
master’s degrees, through the leadership of Dr. Gordon Van Harn as the Director
of Van Andel Institute for Education. Dr. Steven J. Triezenberg became the founding
Dean in 2006, bringing a vision of creativity and innovation for biomedical graduate
education. The school earned accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission
in 2013 and is gaining a national reputation for its program design, curricular
approach, and student support.
From the first cohort of three pioneering students in 2007, the Graduate School
has grown to a student body of 53 scholars from 14 different countries. Including
today’s graduates, 42 students have earned Ph.D. degrees and four have earned
master’s degrees. Graduate School alumni are now taking leadership positions
in academia, research, and industry, carrying forward VAI’s values of curiosity,
collaboration, and urgency to improve the health and enhance the lives of current
and future generations.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge that the success of the Graduate School arises from:
• The vision and generosity of Van Andel Institute Founders Jay and Betty
Van Andel
• The stalwart support of David Van Andel, Chairman and CEO of
Van Andel Institute
• Encouraging guidance from Van Andel Education Institute Board of Trustees
• Creative direction and diligent oversight by past and current members of the
Van Andel Institute Graduate School Board of Directors
• Instrumental leadership of Founding Dean, Dr. Steven J. Triezenberg, in
establishing and developing our accredited Ph.D. program
• Committed leadership of Van Andel Institute Graduate School President
Dr. Peter A. Jones, Interim Dean Dr. Gerry Coetzee, and Interim Assistant Dean
Dr. Carrie Graveel, along with dedicated and excellent work by Graduate School
staff members: Associate Dean Dr. Sarah Bodbyl, Director of Assessment and
Professional Development Taylor Boyd, Director of Enrollment and Records
Christy Mayo, Director of Student Support Services Alli Roman, and administrative
team members Taijah Claybrook, Michelle Love and Susanne Miller-Schachinger

Van Andel Institute Graduate School
develops biomedical research leaders
through an intense, problem-focused
Ph.D. degree in molecular and cellular
biology. By combining rigorous,
problem-based coursework with
extensive experience in laboratories
led by the Institute’s expert faculty, the
Graduate School prepares students
for productive careers in biomedical
research and beyond. The Graduate
School thrives within the state-of-the-art
facilities of Van Andel Institute, with
access to extensive core technology
support and the resources of
collaborators in Grand Rapids, Michigan
and around the country.