2017 UG Commencement Program

24 J ames F arquhar A ward Sujay R. Kamisetty , a biology major with minors in behavioral neuroscience and computer information systems, is from Tampa, Florida. While a student, Kamisetty helped Don Rosenblum, Ph.D., dean of the Farquhar Honors College, establish the Honors Student Advisory Board and served as its president. He is a member of the Alpha Chi Honor Society and served as treasurer of the TriBeta Biological Honor Society from 2015 to 2016. Kamisetty attended summer school at Harvard University in 2014, where he took a course in Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and a course in Tissue Engineering in Clinical Application. Kamisetty describes the experience as life changing, recognizing how research done in labs can impact the lives of thousands of individuals. He also said it helped solidify his desire to pursue medicine. The following summer, he interned at Harvard Medical School on an HIV Viral Entry project under Aarti Raja, Ph.D. In 2015, Kamisetty did a Study Abroad semester at King’s College London, where he studied biophysics, drugs and diseases, genetic cloning and expression, and chemistry in cells. He describes the experience as a great way of immersing oneself into different cultures, meeting new people, and working with experts in their fields. Kamisetty served as the fund-raising chair from 2014 to 2015 and president from 2015 to 2017 for MEDLIFE, an organization with a mission to help families achieve freedom from the constraints of poverty by empowering them to live healthier lives. During his service to MEDLIFE, he led three week-long medical outreach clinics in Ecuador and Peru. The MEDLIFE organization received recognition for the Most Improved Organization of the Year and Best Service Event of the Year for the 2015–2016 academic year. Kamisetty also served as the community service and philanthropy chair from 2013 to 2017, and assisted in raising more than $15,000 over two years through a Miss Black Diamond fund-raiser conducted by his fraternity. The donations from this event benefited the Broward Partnership for the Homeless. Kamisetty also served as a camp counselor for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. During this experience, he realized how to treat children as children rather than the disease afflicting them by creating a normal camping environment. In 2016, Kamisetty cofounded with friends from high school, and serves as chief financial officer for, Vurfy, Inc., a tech startup company. They designed an app that creates an online marketplace for universities. He also enjoys working on cars, scuba diving, music production, piano, film editing, and photography. Kamisetty plans to travel this summer before starting medical school.