Photo: Hallie Leo
Medical student Christopher Zaro, PhD candidate Clevanne Julce, MPH, and advanced practice nursing student Jennifer Konjoian, RN, are excited to represent their respective schools at UMass Chan Medical School’s 52nd Commencement on Sunday, June 1.
“I have a robustly courageous, kind and incredibly funny class, and to be chosen to speak at such a special occasion with classmates, friends and family is such an honor,” said Zaro, a soon-to-be psychiatry resident at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital who is representing the T.H. Chan School of Medicine. “I hope to talk about how courage will serve us in our careers when we’re making decisions that are bigger than ourselves.”
Zaro, who was a clinical research assistant at Boston Children’s Hospital prior to enrolling at UMass Chan, has been a board member for Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic, Inc., for two years.
“A lot of my interest is in adolescent suicide prevention and what can we do to mitigate adolescent access to firearms,” said Zaro, who will be pursuing a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship following residency. “It’s important to do right by your patients and communities by preventing as much violence as possible.”
While Zaro grew up in San Marino, California, the other student speakers hail from Massachusetts. After earning a bachelor’s degree in public health from UMass Amherst, Konjoian enrolled in the Graduate Entry Pathway to Doctor of Nursing Practice Program to earn her RN licensure and her advanced degree.
“I appreciate all that UMass Chan has done for me, professionally and personally, and I’ve learned so much from my cohort, faculty and staff. This place is pretty special,” said Konjoian, a DNP student from Andover in the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Track at the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing.
Konjoian learned she’d be class speaker while returning from a night shift on the neurology and neurosurgery floor at UMass Memorial Medical Center’s university campus, where she was working as a registered nurse; she recently accepted a nurse practitioner position in neurointerventional radiology, also on the university campus. After graduation, she’s looking forward to creating patient plans as a nurse practitioner and eventually teaching. She has taught in UMass Chan’s Nursing Skills Lab and served as a teacher’s associate in advanced pharmacology.
“I love the high-paced energy of acute and critical care medicine, critical thinking and my patients. They teach me more than anything,” Konjoian said.
Julce, a Boston local who is graduating from the Population Health Sciences PhD program in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, has been mentored by Nancy Byatt, DO, MS’15, MBA, professor of psychiatry, obstetrics & gynecology, and population & quantitative health sciences.
“It means a lot to stand alongside trailblazing scholars and upcoming researchers and celebrate our achievements,” said Julce. “We all come from unique circumstances and we’re more than just our research. My goal in my commencement remarks is to foster hope and to bear witness to all the wonderful things we’ve done so far.”
Julce’s research looks at preconception mental health care, aiming to provide mental health resources before pregnancy. She plans to continue working with Dr. Byatt as a postdoc.
