Members of our McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics Community have recently achieved noteworthy accomplishments. We want to recognize and applaud their endeavors.

• Congratulations to our PhD and DHI students who successfully defended their dissertations or translational projects in recent weeks. We want to congratulate these students who will each earn their degrees in May.
  • Julia Pulliam defended her translational project on March 3.
  • Andrea Molineu defended her translational project on March 16.
  • Alicia Beebe defended her translational project on March 17.
  • Yumeng Yang defended her dissertation on March 18.
  • Mary Stanfill defended her translational project on March 20.
  • Evan Yu defended his dissertation on March 25.
  • Rastko Stojsin defended his dissertation on March 26.
    • Photos below are from Julia, Andrea, and Mary’s (l-r) defenses.

• Professor W. Jim Zheng, PhD and his colleagues at Weill Medical College of Cornell University were recently awarded a new grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, part of NIH. The UTHealth Houston Budget for the project is $1,709,602.
• Assistant Professor Pora Kim, PhD, along with her colleagues at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), was awarded a new grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in late February.
• Degui Zhi, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine, was awarded a National Institute on Aging grant earlier this month.
• Dual MD/MS Keshav Srivaths will be graduating from McWilliams and McGovern Medical School in May. On March 20 during Match Day, he matched in Neurology at WashU in St. Louis/Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

  

We invite all current and incoming McWilliams students to attend Registration Exploration on Wednesday, April 1 from 4 to 5:30 PM (CT) via Zoom.

McWilliams Faculty and the Office of Academic Affairs will help students learn more about the courses offered for Summer 2026. Instructors and Teaching Assistants will participate during the virtual event to answer questions about course curriculum, the syllabus, learning objectives and more. Academic Advisors will also be available to answer questions about degree plans for all programs.

Registration is not required, and we hope to see you there. Click here for the Zoom link and join the event.

We want to thank all the students that attended our Professional Development Week 2026 events. We also want to thank faculty and staff that helped with facilitating sessions and organizing the events.

To further enhance this event for the future, we need student feedback! If you participated in any events, please click this link and complete the post-event survey. Note that students that did not attend any activities last week should not respond to the survey.

For students who took part in the professional photo session on Thursday, your images will be emailed to you directly. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email the Office of Academic Affairs at [email protected].

The last day to withdraw from a McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics course for spring 2026 is Friday, March 27. Note that after that date, students can no longer be issued a W grade for this semester. All Withdrawal forms must be completed and submitted by 5 PM CT on March 27. The required form is available online via PDF and DocuSign.

As a reminder, utilizing DocuSign for your degree plan and/or Withdrawal form is the fastest way to get the document signed. Please email [email protected] if you have any questions.

There are several events taking place at UTHealth Houston, within the TMC, or throughout the state in the coming weeks. We encourage our community to attend or participate in any events of interest.

Texas Health Information Technology (HIT) Day at the Texas State Capitol: Monday, March 30

The 18th Annual Texas HIT Day at the State Capitol in Austin will take place on Monday, March 30. The goal is to meet with Senators and Representatives to share that HIT professionals are a resource to them for all legislative healthcare.

Click here to register: https://houston.himss.org/events/texas-health-information-technology-hit-day-texas-state-capitol

Donuts with Dean Zhang: Tuesday, April 7 from 8:30 to 9:30 AM

To celebrate Graduate Student Appreciation week, we invite students to join Dean Jiajie Zhang, PhD for "Donuts with the Dean" in our building (near the main staircase on the 6th floor). Stop by before class to get a donut and chat with Dean Zhang!

UTHealth Houston Giving Day: 24 Hours on Tuesday, April 7

UTHealth Houston Giving Day on Tuesday, April 7! We encourage the McWilliams Community to participate during this special 24-hour event, where friends of the university unite to support initiatives that help UTHealth Houston’s future health professionals achieve their dreams and improve health in our communities. For more information, visit the Giving Day website at https://givingday.uth.edu/.

Join HIMSS for the first-ever CNIO Informatics Panel, a premier conversation bringing together visionary Houston Chief Nursing Informatics Officers (CNIOs) who are shaping the future of nursing, technology, and patient-centered care. It will be moderated by Alumnae Regina Wysocki, MS ’16.

Click here to register for the event.

McGovern Award Lecture Series 30 Year Anniversary on Wednesday, April 8 from 11 AM to 1 PM

Registration is now open for Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research’s 30^th Anniversary McGovern Lecture event. This event will be hosted in the Reuel A. Stallones (RAS) Building Auditorium (E-101).

Visit this link to register: https://go.uth.edu/McGovernLecture2026

15th Annual Student InterCouncil Crawfish Boil: Friday, April 10 from 4:30 to 7 PM

This annual event (hosted at the Cooley Center Courtyard, 1941 East Road) will include crawfish, shrimp, hot dogs, vegetarian options, and beverages at no cost. In addition, students will receive giveaways upon entry and throughout the event. Enjoy music, playing games, and meeting fellow students and SIC representatives! UTHealth Houston students may each invite one guest.

• Professor James Langabeer, PhD, Associate Professor Tiffany Champagne-Langabeer, PhD and Assistant Professor Andrea Yatsco, PhD recently published new findings in the Journal of Addiction Medicine. The research highlights the community-based opioid treatment program Honor’s HEROES and indicates that the program may significantly improve treatment retention and quality of life for people with opioid use disorder. Click here to read the news story for more information.

Visit our website for a full list of research seminar dates and access to recordings for past seminars.