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December 2012 – Congratulations to physiology graduate students Adam Gracz and Tricia Lenhart, 2013 recipients of UNC’s Graduate Education Advancement Board (GEAB) Impact Award

December 2012 – Congratulations to physiology graduate students Adam Gracz and Tricia Lenhart, who will receive UNC’s Graduate Education Advancement Board (GEAB) Impact Award for 2013. The GEAB Impact Award recognizes and encourages graduate students whose research benefits North Carolina communities. Impact Awards are privately funded through generous contributions from the members of the Graduate Education Advancement Board of the Graduate School of UNC Chapel Hill.

Adam’s work on developing novel technologies for studying intestinal stem cells (ISCs) is significant in that these cells play critical roles in cancer and a number of inflammatory bowel diseases, all of which affect patients across North Carolina at increasing rates. Adam is in his fourth year of study in the cell and molecular physiology graduate program and his mentor on this project is Dr. Scott Magness.

Tricia’s research in the lab of Dr. Kathleen Caron focuses on a receptor for estrogen known as G-protein coupled receptor 30 (GPR30) that may play an important role in heart disease, particularly in women. Her work has the potential to identify a novel therapeutic target that would be applicable for gender-tailored treatment of cardiovascular disease. Since heart disease is among the leading causes of death among women in North Carolina, this research offers hope for significant benefit to the citizens of our State. Tricia is pursuing an MD-PhD and is a fourth-year student in the physiology graduate program.

All awardees will be honored for their achievements on April 10, 2013.

Past physiology Impact Award winners:

2012 – Sarah Bortvedt (Lund lab)
Maggie McCormick (Tzima lab)

2011 – Ivana Semova (Rawls lab)

2010 – Kathryn Hamilton (Lund lab)

2008 – Nicole Ramocki (Lund lab)

2005 – Arianne Theiss (Lund lab)