School of Medicine recognizes students, residents, faculty and staff with annual awards

The UC Davis School of Medicine recently recognized more than 100 students, residents, faculty, and a staff member for their exceptional contributions to the medical school as part of its 2025 annual awards.

The student awards were announced during the School of Medicine’s 54rd annual commencement ceremony where 119 graduates earned their Doctor of Medicine degrees.

2025 Student Awards

School of Medicine Medal
Katherine Liu

Golden Goblet Award
Natalie E. Pearlman

Loren D. Carlson Endowed Scholarship Research Award
Soroush Ershadifar

Eli Benjamini Endowed Fund for Biological Sciences
Matthew S. Lara

O.M.E. Medical Student Scholarship Award
Oliver A. Guevarra

Rena & Gabriel Smilkstein Humanitarian Award
Natalie E. Pearlman 
Rebekah C. Smith

J.T. Simon Lie, M.D. Memorial Scholarship Award
Miriam Hakobyan

Merck Manual Awards
Rachel T. Chan 
Gregory D. Disse 
Julia L. Persky 
Anna Sadovnikova

David M. Igdaloff, M.D. & Michael A. Igdaloff Memorial Scholarship Award
Lien T. Nguyen

Edward J. Hurley, M.D. Scholarship Award
Madelyn R. Larson

Healing Arts Award
Shania D. Bennett

Helen McConnell Palthe Fellowship Award
Elizabeth Cady Smith

James Franklin McManus Scholarship Award
Shreya Kumar

The Johnson Family Scholarship Award
Navpreet K. Gill

Mansoor Ally Memorial Scholarship Award
Carlo Juarez Fuentes

Department Awards

Outstanding Medical Student in Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine
Cody L. Walters

Outstanding Medical Student in Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
Carly A. Robinson

Outstanding Medical Student in Cardiovascular Medicine
Lina (Yimeng) Du

Outstanding Medical Student in Dermatology
Kristiana M. Jordan

Outstanding Medical Student in Emergency Medicine
Anna M. Wiese

Family & Community Medicine Award in Excellence
Kelsi D. Camacho

Ernest M. Gold Award for Excellence in Internal Medicine
Oliver A. Guevarra 
Miriam Hakobyan
Erika Richter

Outstanding Medical Student in Neurology
Quinn S. Fujii

Outstanding Medical Student in Ophthalmology & Vision Science
Arina Nisanova

Outstanding Medical Student in Orthopaedic Surgery
Elias H. Jbeily 
Micaela R. White

Award for Excellence in Otolaryngology
Oscar S. Velazquez-Castro

Robert E. Stowell, M.D., Ph.D. Award for Excellence in Pathology
Alejandro Alvarez

Crystie Halsted Award for Excellence in Pediatrics
Javier A. Aguyao

Outstanding Medical Student in Neonatology
Brian D. Sharon 
Nithya Sivakumar

Outstanding Medical Student in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Lily A. Justine

Outstanding Medical Student in Psychiatry
Jeffrey Duong Elizabeth Cady Smith

Russell A. McFall, M.D. Excellence in Radiology
Lyanne D. Lu

Outstanding Medical Student in Surgery
Julia L. Persky

Outstanding Medical Student in Urology
Serena H. Ly

ACE-PC Outstanding Medical Student Award
Alaa’I E. Alshabrawy

REACH Outstanding Medical Student Award
Maria P. Munguia Ochoa

Rural PRIME Outstanding Medical Student Award
Kelsi D. Camacho

TEACH-MS Outstanding Medical Student Award
Andy S. Kelly

The Doctoring Award
Alexander F. Baltodano
Kelsi D. Camacho 
Brandon J. Drws 
Elizabeth W. Helmke

American Medical Women’s Association Glasgow-Rubin Citation for Academic Achievement
Rachel T. Chan 
Navpreet K. Gill 
Miriam Hakobyan 
Katherine Liu 
Lyanne D. Lu 
Shreya Kumar 
Elizabeth W. Helmke 
Anna Sadovnikova 
Willow Limbach 
Anna M. Wiese 
Alice Moylan 
Quinn S. Fujii

Gold Humanism Honor Society Class of 2025

Hanna Z. Abuhay
Eleanor K. Adams
Javier A. Aguayo
Sivot Assatormasikhkah 
Rhodalene C. Benjamin-Addy 
Shania D. Bennett 
Ryotaro Fukuda 
Oliver A. Guevarra 
Manuela Herrera 
JT Huynh 
Andy S. Kelly 
Serena H. Ly 
Noreen Mansuri 
Aye Chan Moe 
Chelsea R. Nash 
Carly A. Robinson 
Julio A. Ramirez Siliezar 
Nithya Sivakumar 
Elizabeth Cady Smith

Outstanding Teaching Awards Resident Medical Staff

Emergency Medicine
Peter Reim

Family Medicine
Spandana Madhava

Internal Medicine
Ayman Teeman Ullah

Obstetrics & Gynecology
Kayla Meadows

Pediatrics
Tiffany Ju

Psychiatry
Francis Tongpalad

Surgery
Sarah Mahdavi

Staff Award

Golden Bladder Award
Woubejig Shiferaw

Faculty Awards

John Tupper, M.D. Prize for Excellence in Teaching
Erik O. Fernandez y Garcia

Hibbard Williams Award for Extraordinary Achievement
Ramsey D. Badawi

Early-Stage Educator Award (New in 2025)
Minna M.C. Wieck

Emerging Leader Award (New in 2025)
Sergey Stavisky

School of Medicine Research Award
David Dillon (Early Career Award)
Manuel F. Navedo-Morales (Established Career Award)
Joan Oettinger Memorial Award (for outstanding lung or cancer research)
Laura Fejerman

I-EXPLORE Achievement Award Recipients
Maya Evans 
Eric Signoff 
Lucy Shi
Katerina Christiansen

Kaiser Foundation Hospitals Award for Excellence in Teaching
Basic Sciences Faculty
Heike Wulff

Clinical Sciences (Full-Time Faculty)
Alexis Toney

Clinical Sciences (Volunteer Faculty)
Jan Murray Garcia

Outstanding Instructor Awards from the Class of 2025

Basic Sciences Faculty
Heike Wulff

Clinical Sciences (Full-Time Faculty)
Shubha Ananthakrishnan

Clinical Sciences (Volunteer Faculty)
Jun Yang (Kaiser Modesto)