MSTP student training in integrative biology receives Green Award
By Lin Lofley
Xiaoxiao Li, a seventh-year student in UT Southwestern’s Medical Scientist Training Program, recently has been presented with the 2016 Ida M. Green Award, marking the 30th time that a student in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences has been so honored.
An Integrative Biology trainee in the laboratory of Dr. Yihong Wan, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Ms. Li was presented with the award by Dr. Joel Goodman, Professor of Pharmacology, and Chairman of the Graduate School Awards Committee. Also participating were Kathleen M. Gibson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Southwestern Medical Foundation, and Rust Reid, former Trustee and Vice President of The Cecil and Ida Green Foundation.
Ms. Gibson and Mr. Reid presented Ms. Li with a check for $2,000.
A native of Qingdao, China, the honoree earned an undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence College before arriving at UT Southwestern, and she was emphatic about what led her here.
“I wanted to come to UT Southwestern because this is the best M.D./Ph.D. program anywhere,” she said.
Having completed the research component of her education, she is on track to earn her M.D. degree next year.
“I’m very proud of her,” Dr. Wan said. “As a scientist, she is energetic, driven, and successful. I see her doing great things, perhaps even winning a Nobel Prize.”
“I’m working on it,” said Ms. Li, who told of having joined the crew team at Sarah Lawrence, “even though I’m very short and everyone else was very tall, I believe that if someone says ‘No, you can’t do this,’ that just means you need to work harder. I’m very honored and lucky to receive this award.”
In presenting Ms. Li with her monetary award, Ms. Gibson noted that Mr. and Mrs. Green had no children of their own, “so UT Southwestern became like a child to them, and it was important for them to support this place.
“I believe they’d be incredibly proud of Xiaoxiao Li for taking these long and complicated paths that she has, in order to fulfill her dream.”
In addition to her academic work, Ms. Li has served as a mentor for the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program, and has been active in the Women in Science and Medicine Advisory Committee (WISMAC) as well as taking part in medical mission trips with fellow students. She is one of many UT Southwestern students to have earned the Gold Humanism Award.
About the Award
The Ida M. Green Award was established by Southwestern Medical Foundation in honor of Mrs. Green, who died in 1986. Her husband, Cecil Green, who died in 2003, worked at General Electric and later co-founded Texas Instruments. Mrs. Green provided unrestricted gifts to many community organizations, including a major bequest to Southwestern Medical Foundation.
The award acknowledges a female student in the UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences who demonstrates outstanding commitment to the well-being of other students, to research excellence, and to exceptional community service.
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Dr. Goodman holds the Jan and Bob Bullock Distinguished Chair for Science Education.
Dr. Wan is a Virginia Murchison Linthicum Scholar in Medical Research.
