KGI Celebrates 2020-2021 Accomplishments During Virtual Awards Ceremonies

In celebration of KGI’s accomplishments during the 2020-21 academic year, the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Henry E. Riggs School of Applied Life Sciences hosted virtual award ceremonies late last week to honor their students, faculty, preceptors, and staff.

Congratulations to the award winners and all of our students who have earned degrees and certificates in 2021!

HENRY E. RIGGS SCHOOL OF APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES

STUDENT AWARDS

Highest Academic Performance Award

• Elizabeth Iantosca
• Nicole McKee
• Marie Starksen
• Taylor Carlson
• Timothy Chai
• Kaitlin Wilson
• Melissa Joyce Valerio
• Mary Camille Ybanez
• Sabeh Rahmen
• Angelo Beltran

Distinguished Service Award

• Stephanie Lee

Mission Award

• Shahil Patel

Exemplary Leadership Award

• Erik Wehse

TEAM-BASED AWARDS

Business Plan Competition Awards

• Team Synova: Joseph Pecoraro, Adi Thiyagarajan, Jonathan Woo

TMP Excellence in Collaboration Award

• Team Soil Carbon: Nia-Renee Cooper, Safia Hassan, Isabella Maramica, Kai Silkwood, Tristan Yang

FACULTY & STAFF AWARDS

Staff Of The Year Award

• Veronica Clairmont

Student Advocate Award

• Jane Rosenthal

FACULTY AWARDS

Service Award

• Saurav Datta

Innovation In Teaching Award

• Angelika Niemz

Henry E. Riggs Excellence In Teaching Award

• Steve Casper

SCHOOL OF PHARMACY AND HEALTH SCIENCES

STUDENT AWARDS

CVS Health Foundation Standard Award

• Trevor Quach – current P4 student

CVS Health Foundation Spanish Award

• Melissa Avina – current P1 student

Albertson’s Scholarships

• Lisa Huang – current P2 student

Walgreens Diversity and Inclusion Excellence Award

• Jemal Hussein – current P2 student

Walgreens Multilingual Scholarship

• Joanna Cruz- current P1 student

Student Pharmacist of the Year Award

• P1 – Calib Hale
• P2 – Ivy Hang
• P3 – Carolyn Saba

Outstanding Club Project Award

• C.A.R.E Club (Homies Care Project)

Exceptional Pharmacist Student of the Year

• P1 – Melissa Avina
• P2 – Tina Doan
• P3 – Sydney Eck
• P4- Ali Hasan

Impact Award

• Chidozie Olumba

Viatris Award

• Salar Sheykhsoltan

GCAT Award for the Human Genetics and Genetics Counseling Program

• Sam Apodaca

Genetic Counseling Impact Award

• Nicole Choy

MSGC Thesis Award

• Josephine Gao
• Kayla Lam-Little

GCAT Award for the Human Genetics and Genomic Data Analytics Program

• Jessica Farmer

SPHS Exceptional Genomic Data Analytics Student

• Betty Mathias

Capstone Project Award

• Jacqueline Williams

STAFF AND FACULTY AWARDS

Excellence in Teaching

• MSGC: Melissa Randall
• MSGDA: Barbara Fortini
• PharmD Class of 2024: Julie Truong
• PharmD Class of 2023: Srikanth Kolluru 
• PharmD Class of 2022: Quintin Broussard 
• PharmD Class of 2021: Jeany Jun and Stephanie Kourtakis

Teacher of the Year

• Julie Truong

Staff of the Year

• Jason Hartfield

Excellence in Research

• Alex Zambon

Excellence in Professional Service

• Tania Stewart

PRECEPTOR AWARDS

Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) Preceptor of the Year

• Parmis Khatibi

Advanced Practice Experience (APPE) Preceptor of the Year

• Mei Tang

Faculty Preceptor of the Year 

• Stephanie Kourtakis

Experiential Education Coordinator of the Year

• Hemi Jung