Twenty-nine medical students and three residents were inducted into the AOA honor medical society during a March 17 ceremony.
33 Inducted Into UB Chapter of AOA Honor Medical Society
Published March 22, 2016 This content is archived.
story by dirk hoffman
In recognition of their academic excellence and commitment to the profession, 32 medical trainees and one faculty member were inducted into the University at Buffalo’s chapter of the national honor medical society Alpha Omega Alpha.
Lifelong Honor Signals Service to Art of Healing
The 2016 honorees include 29 medical students and three residents.
Election to AOA is a lifelong honor that signifies a commitment to scholarship, leadership, professionalism and service to the art of healing.
In his opening remarks, Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, described the evening’s honorees as “a very select group of medical students who have performed at a superior level,” noting that induction into AOA is the highest honor a medical student can obtain.
Chapter leaders inducted the following during the March 17 ceremony:
Medical Students
Class of 2016
- Kristen Bennett
- Kristopher Clark
- Ross F. Cole
- Joshua Keegan Cox
- Soroush Farnoosh
- Paul McBride
- Jimmy Mullally
- Theresa Elaine Neiderer
- Nathan Olszewski
- Kate Raiti-Palazzolo
- Sarah Elizabeth Riley
- James O’Mara Shea
- Michele E. Smith
- Rachel Katie Stewart
- Ashlee Elizabeth Stutsrim
Class of 2017
- Deirdre Ellen Croke
- Michael J. Danise
- Nikki Dodge
- Elliot James Graziano
- Kyle Francis Grimaldi
- Jin Guo
- Lindsay Kosinski
- Benjamin Robert Martin
- Elizabeth Kristen Marvin
- Patrick Watson Mellors
- Daniel Mueller
- Samuel David Racette
- Jessica Strauss
- Emily Anne Ulrich
Residents
- Andrew Alfi Morcos Fanous, MD, neurosurgery residency
- Shalana Bria LaBayen O’Brien, MD, general surgery residency
- Anna S. Trikhacheva, MD, obstetrics and gynecology residency
Faculty Inductee Outstanding Researcher, Educator
This year's faculty inductee was Mark R. O’Brian, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry.
A researcher and educator, O’Brian studies the coordinated control of nutritional stress responses in bacteria. His research is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
He upholds the biochemistry department’s teaching mission by mentoring trainees from undergraduates to postdoctoral associates. His doctoral student mentees have won recognition and numerous awards for research excellence.
Lecture Highlights UB’s Role in Downtown Resurgence
The distinguished lecturer was William L. Joyce, chair emeritus of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. He presented “The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus — A Powerful Engine in Buffalo’s Resurgence.”
His talk highlighted Buffalo’s resurgence, including UB’s state-of-the-art medical school, scheduled for completion in 2017. Joyce described the new medical school building as the “tie that will bind the integration of education, biomedical research and clinical practice” in downtown Buffalo.
Third-year medical student and AOA initiate Lindsay Kosinski gave a talk on the society’s origins.
Pamela M. Rose, MLS, web services and library promotion coordinator for University Libraries, displayed a copy of the original certificate issued to UB for its Epsilon New York AOA chapter established in 1924, and she spoke on the history of the local chapter.
In addition to Cain, members of the AOA Induction Committee presented certificates to the initiates. Committee members include:
- Anne B. Curtis, MD, Charles and Mary Bauer Professor and chair of medicine, who is a UB Distinguished Professor
- Chester A. Glomski, MD, professor of pathology and anatomical sciences
- Councilor Frank T. Schimpfhauser, PhD, who directs the chapter’s nomination process
Nicholas J. Silvestri, MD, Office of Graduate Medical Education liaison and assistant professor of clinical neurology, was master of ceremonies for the proceedings.