KGI Celebrates 2021-2022 Accomplishments During Awards and Recognition Ceremonies

In celebration of KGI’s accomplishments during the 2021-2022 academic year, the Henry E. Riggs School of Applied Life Sciences (Riggs School) and School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (SPHS) hosted award receptions and ceremonies on Thursday, May 12, 2022, to honor their students, faculty, staff, and preceptors.

To start the day, the Postbaccalaureate Premedical and Postbaccalaureate Pre-PA Certificate programs hosted a breakfast. Later in the day, the Riggs School and SPHS both hosted ceremonies to honor recipients in numerous award categories across all degree programs. Congratulations to the award winners!

HENRY E. RIGGS SCHOOL OF APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES

STUDENT AWARDS

Highest Academic Performance Award

• Kevin Zhang
• Bettina Marie Pasamba
• Jeremy J. Hall
• Fion Y Hui
• Gisel Del Carmen Lopez
• Tristan Jaeger

Distinguished Service Award

• Crystal Retino

Mission Award

• Kevin Maxkwee

Exemplary Leadership Award

• Cecile Vasquez

TEAM-BASED AWARDS

Business Plan Competition Awards

• Team LunaJoy: Amer Nafez, Lizeth Rivas Ayala, Saraiyah Hatter, Sofía Shimizu Blanco

TMP Excellence in Collaboration Award

• Team Pfizer In-Silico Chromatography Modeling: Innara Basria, Jared Cristobal, Minh Hoang, Jose Mendez, Bea Portez, Alexander Tuason

RESEARCH AWARDS

MS – Technical/Lab Student Research Award

• Yuu Ohno

MS – Clinical & Public Health Research Award

• Brooke Valdez

PhD Student Research Award

• Jonalyn Herce

Faculty Research Award

• Joel West
• Kiana Aran

FACULTY & STAFF AWARDS

Staff of the Year Award

• Leah LaRosa

Faculty Service Award

• Angelika Niemz

Innovation In Teaching Award

• Animesh Ray

Henry E. Riggs Excellence in Teaching Award

• Anastasia Levitin

SCHOOL OF PHARMACY AND HEALTH SCIENCES

FACULTY AND STAFF AWARDS

Excellence in Teaching Awards

• MSGC: Emily Quinn
• MSGDA: Dr. Barbara Bailus
• PharmD – P1: Dr. Stephanie Kourtakis
• PharmD – P2: Dr. Rebecca Tran
• PharmD – P3: Dr. Kanika Bhandari
• PharmD – P4: Dr. Quintin Broussard

SPHS Teacher of the Year Award

• Quintin Broussard

Staff of the Year

• Veronica Clairmont

Excellence in Research Award

• Jeniffer Hernandez
• Talia Puzantian

Excellence in Professional Service Award

• Daniel Kudo

PHARMACY PRECEPTOR AWARDS

Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience (IPPE) Preceptor of the Year

• Gigi Te

Advanced Practice Experience (APPE) Preceptor of the Year

• Marisa Jones

Clinical (APPE) Preceptor of the Year

• Justin Miles

Faculty Preceptor of the Year

• Talia Puzantian

Experiential Site Coordinator of the Year

• Shoulamit Golfeiz

PHARMACY STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS

CVS Health Foundation Scholarships

• CVS Health Foundation Standard Award
  • Harman Kaur
• CVS Health Foundation Spanish Award
  • Melissa Avina

Vietnamese Community Pharmacy Scholarships

• Tina Doan
• Vy Phuong Lee

Indian Pharmacy Association

• Sarbjot Singh

California Korean American Pharmacists Association

• Yejin Jessie Lee
• Lizbeth Duran

PHARMACY STUDENT AWARDS

Student Pharmacist of the Year – P1

• Jason Halfen

Student Pharmacist of the Year – P2

• Joseph De Los Reyes

Student Pharmacist of the Year – P3

• Catherine Ho

Outstanding Club Project Award

• Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPHA)

Exceptional Student Pharmacist of the Year – P1

• Shireen Wissa

Exceptional Student Pharmacist of the Year – P2

• Christina Shum

Exceptional Student Pharmacist of the Year – P3

• Ivy Hang

Exceptional Student Pharmacist of the Year – P4

• Maureen Hadadd

RECOGNITION OF PHARMD LATIN HONOR GRADUATES

Cum Laude

• Maureen Hadadd

Magna Cum Laude

• Sydney Eck
• Nathan Vega

Summa Cum Laude

• Danielle Le
• Joshua Liu
• Diego Salinas

RECOGNITION OF GRADUATING STUDENT LEADERS

Impact Award

• Carolyn Saba

Viatris Award

• Nathan Vega

Pharmacy Year 1 and 2 Leadership

• Michael Blanco, President
• Marc Moore, Vice President
• Alyssa Selve, Secretary
• Maryam Saffari, Treasurer

Pharmacy Year 3 and 4 Leadership

• Narine Karapetyan, President
• Crystal Lo, Vice President
• Bradley Simonian, Secretary
• DJ Jefferson, Treasurer

Genetics Board

• Samantha Apodaca, President
• Jessica Farmer, Vice President
• Jennifer Zeng, Treasurer
• Amy Peckham, Secretary
• Jesus Resendiz, Outreach Chair
• Kayley Krystkowiak, Events Chair
• Kaila Wilson, Social Media Chair

HUMAN GENETICS AND GENETIC COUNSELING STUDENT AWARDS

GCAT Award

• Kyla Holmes

Genetic Counseling Impact Award

• Jason Tate

MSGC Capstone Award

• Janie DeFriez
• Alyssa Schweickert
• Kaila Wilson

HUMAN GENETICS AND GENOMIC DATA ANALYTICS STUDENT AWARDS 

GCAT Award 

• Anna Capria

Exceptional Genomic Data Analytics Student

• Jessica Farmer

MSGDA Capstone Award

• Shoshana Cohen
• Ethan Kirsch

KGI will celebrate its class of 2022 on Saturday, May 14, 2022, at the 21st annual commencement ceremony. The Riggs School ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. PT with SPHS at 2 p.m. PT. Both ceremonies will be live-streamed on YouTube.