Aug. 11, 2022– An event six years in the making, Ryan Hildebrandt, Ph.D. ’22, walked across the stage at UF’s Stephen C. O’Connell Center Friday, Aug. 5, cheered on by his family after earning his doctoral degree.

Hildebrandt, who researched localized RNA for his dissertation under the guidance of associate professor Eric Wang, Ph.D., said it felt great to finally graduate after beginning his studies in the College of Medicine’s Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences in 2016.

“I set out some goals for myself that I wanted to accomplish during the program, like getting first-author credit on a paper,” Hildebrandt said. “I’ve met a lot of great people through the biomedical sciences program. I think one of its strengths, and one thing that UF is really good at in general, is fostering this collaborative environment. I worked with a lot of collaborators from around the country performing this research and that helped generate new ideas for solving problems.”

A total of 24 doctoral candidates and 106 master’s candidates at the College of Medicine celebrated graduation this summer. Each semester, the students and their families are invited to a brunch reception where the graduates are recognized by their mentors during commencement weekend.

Thomas Rowe, Ph.D., associate dean for graduate education, congratulated the graduates on their hard work and accomplishments over the past several years.

“Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else but thinking differently about it,” he said. “That is what has happened with our graduates. Since they’ve joined our programs, our students have absorbed a lot of information and conducted research. Along the way, they developed their own unique ways of thinking and they shared that with the rest of us.”

Wang, Hildebrandt’s mentor, shared a few words about the mentee he saw grow professionally as a member of his lab. Following graduation, Hildebrandt rejoined Wang’s lab as a postdoctoral associate to continue his research.

“Ryan has this patience of going through his experiments and excelling at the work that’s required,” Wang said. “His work has really grown and formed the basis for large-scale investigations, which was so rare. I want to thank you for choosing our lab to be a part of. We’re excited about your future.”

Sandy Brumaire, M.S. ’22, who earned a Master of Medical Sciences degree with a concentration in medical physiology and pharmacology, said she plans to use the knowledge she acquired through her master’s program to apply to medical school next year.

“I feel like this program found me,” Brumaire said. “I saw this as an opportunity to learn more about anatomy and how prescriptions interact with people. I learned a lot about how prescriptions can help improve people’s quality of life, and I plan to use that knowledge to join the health care field.”