The 11-student inaugural class of the St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Science received their Masters degrees in a ceremony Friday.
Marlo Thomas, the daughter of St. Jude Children’sResearch Hospital founder Danny Thomas, delivered the commencement address.
Since arriving in 2017, the students have beenworking towards Ph.D. degrees in bioscience fields through a curriculum thatincludes close working relationships with St. Jude clinical and researchfaculty members.
Earning the master of science degrees arethe next step towards their ultimate goal.
Alex hughes graduate
“They’ve been super receptive to getting ourfeedback, so it’s been nice to really establish what we want the program tolook like and then going forth it’s going to be tough leaving a place like St.Jude, but we have to get out there and set the precedent as to what thisinstitution can do in forms of making graduate students. So, I’m excited to seewhat these next steps look like in Memphis and beyond,” said Alex Hughes, graduateof the program.
St. Jude says it started the program totrain students with skills that can directly impact the hospital aftergraduation.