A glimpse into the Program in Human Biology at Stanford University | | | |
Director's Message
Dear Human Biology Alumni, Students, and Friends,
It is hard to believe how quickly this year has flown by. The 2025-26 academic year was filled with so much energy, excitement, and celebration. It has been a rewarding first year leading the program, and I look forward to seeing what the next year has in store for our community. I hope you enjoy reading this edition of HumBio Highlights, where you get a glimpse into some of the achievements we celebrated since our last edition and a sneak peek into upcoming events.
Wishing you all a lovely summer!
Warm Regards,
Will Talbot
Bing Director of the Program in Human Biology
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A huge congratulations to Dr. Annette Salmeen, who was named a recipient of the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award, one of the university’s highest honors. This award recognizes distinctive contributions to undergraduate education and the quality of student life.
Dr. Salmeen is the Core Course Director and plays a central role in the program's complex six-course core sequence–from supporting curriculum development to advising 8 course associates to managing teaching staff to teaching in the Core herself.
Over her 14 years with the program, she has been instrumental in the education of more than 2,000 Human Biology majors. As one student put it, “Dr. Salmeen IS Human Biology, she IS the major, period.”
| | | Congratulations to the Class of 2026 | | | | |
"That's the beauty of it. As a hub for interdisciplinary studies, HumBio is a unique experience for every student. [...] Every day, I am amazed at the diversity of paths and interests represented by my peers.
Whether we are exploring disease through a neurobiological lens, leveraging music as medicine, or innovating public health efforts, I have no doubt that each and every one of us will go on to do something that matters."
Giuliana Martinez Albuja
2026 Human Biology Diploma Ceremony
Student Speaker
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"Human Biology was never meant to stay in one lane. In classes you move from the cellular level to the societal level, from neuroscience to public policy, from human performance to global health. And over time, you start to see something change.
What once looked like a small problem… isn’t actually small at all. It’s a system. Layers of biology, policy, environment, all interacting at once. And you begin to realize, you can’t solve a problem unless you understand the bigger picture it lives inside."
Avanti Ramraj
2026 Human Biology Diploma Ceremony
Student Speaker
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This year, Human Biology awarded honors degrees to 18 students. These students entered the honors program as juniors and have worked closely with faculty on individual research projects that culminated more than a year later in an honors thesis. On May 15, students presented their research findings at the annual Gelles Senior Symposium.
Of those who completed honors, two were recognized with the Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, a university-wide award given to the top 10% of honors theses completed each year. One student received the Oral Communication Program's Award for Excellence in Honors Thesis Presentation, an award for their talent in oral, written, and visual presentation skills. And one student was awarded the Barbara and Sandy Dornbusch Award for Excellence in Research in Human Biology Relating to Families and Children.
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Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 2 Variants within Africans/African American Genetic Ancestry Reduce Acetaldehyde Metabolism
by Maya Goldsberry
🏅 Recipient of the Oral Communication Program Award for Excellence in Honors Thesis Presentation
An investigation into whether aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) gene variants in African/African American populations alter the body's ability to break down acetaldehyde, a byproduct of alcohol. Using computational structural modeling, the study also investigates whether the activator compounds of these variants can improve enzyme function and related inflammatory signaling.
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Hijacking the BRD-NUT Oncoprotein to Activate Cell Death by Blocking DNA Damage Repair
by Kelly Wang
🏅 Recipient of the Barbara & Sandy Dornbusch Award for Excellence in Research in Human Biology Relating to Families & Children
A study developing a targeted treatment strategy for NUT carcinoma, an aggressive squamous cancer, by using chemically-induced proximity (CIP) to "rewire" the BRD4-NUT fusion oncogene and disrupt DNA repair at damage sites and activate pathways of programmed cell death. Findings hold the promise of a future treatment for this incurable cancer.
| | You can view the full list of honors research presenters and read their abstracts from the 2026 Gelles Senior Symposium on our website. | | |
The Senior Synthesis pathway allows students to combine their personal and academic interests into an intellectually stimulating and creative project. For example, students have produced podcasts and documentaries, written short stories, creative essays and children's books, compiled multimedia anthologies, and developed curricular resources for community partners.
This year, 16 students completed a synthesis project on a variety of topics they care deeply about. On May 15, these students shared their projects with the HumBio and greater Stanford community at the annual Gelles Senior Symposium. Below is a subset of the wonderful projects our students completed this past year.
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A Picture In a Thousand Worlds:
A Cross-Cultural Lens to Childhood Picture Comprehension
by Dena Kumsa
This synthesis project extends from the student's summer research on cross-cultural picture comprehension in early childhood. Building on assessment findings with 3–5-year-olds at Bing Nursery School and in Kisumu, Kenya, the project consists of research-ready learning materials that test how image format shapes understanding. The student adapted the Kisumu pre-primary curriculum into two brief science picture-book series—on water sanitation and immune health—each produced in three formats: photographs, cartoons, and black-and-white line drawings. Additional longer coloring-book versions were also developed with narrative and interactive activities to support deeper engagement.
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Biting Back: On Food, Society, and the Environment
by Izzy Preble
Biting Back is a zine-style anthology about the cravings, contradictions, and complicities that make food one of the most contested spaces in American life. It follows the food system as it frays and becomes mythologized—tracking how uncertainty fuels simplistic narratives. Essays move through disease ecology (H5N1 and industrial fragility), bipartisan nostalgia for pastoral life, and the land-use math that makes “organic, free-range” fantasies hard to scale. At its center is a cultural essay on the body as a site of self-optimization, linking wellness culture, tradwife aesthetics, MAHA rhetoric, and beauty marketing to longer histories of women’s bodies as political terrain. Personal illness stories anchor the research.
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Origins: Equipping Adoptive Families with the Tools to Access and Understand Their Child’s Family Medical History
by Joelle Warden
Origins is a toolkit designed to guide adoptive families in assembling their child’s biological family medical history. This toolkit includes five blog articles, an eBook format, and a webinar that guides families through topics including how to advocate for their adopted child in medical settings, accessing documents and records, considering screening methods like genetic testing, and how their child's mental health can be influenced by the biological and social background of their biological parents. This project is being developed in partnership with The Cradle, a non-profit child welfare and adoption agency based in Illinois.
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Connecting Families to Resources -
A Community Hub Development at All Five Preschool
by Daphne Yu
A comprehensive digital resource hub for All Five, a preschool located within the Ravenswood School District, that champions equitable access to education through supporting families from various socioeconomic backgrounds. This project included accessing resources, conducting a digital survey, and developing the resource hub. The platform consolidates existing resources and expanded offerings to include local resources for housing, grocery, and legal resources. By centralizing resources, the support for a diverse group of children and families at All Five will continue to be enhanced.
| | You can view the full list of synthesis presenters and read their project descriptions from the 2026 Gelles Senior Symposium on our website. | | | | |
"You cannot change human behavior without the consent of those who are behaving. You cannot make an impact in vast social systems without buy-in at every level. And you cannot, and should not have to, be an island unto yourself. You will need allies, family, and friends. You will thrive if you have a community. You have started to build that here. [...] I hope you feel genuine pride for one another and what you have accomplished together. In the years ahead, you will lean into this team. Cultivate your community. Show the world that you are stronger together - and invite them to join you in your cause."
Dr. Victoria Parikh
2026 Human Biology Diploma Ceremony Faculty Farewell Speaker
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Reconnect with HumBio and explore research with real-world impact! Enjoy lunch and networking, then hear our inaugural HumBio faculty keynote from Dr. Lisa Goldman Rosas, “Advancing Food is Medicine Research with Patients, Partners, and Policy Makers,” followed by Q&A. Afterward, engage with nearly forty of our HB-REX student researchers during two poster sessions, where you can discover fresh findings and spark conversations, mentorships, and collaborations. We hope to see you there!
Date: Friday, August 14, 2026
Time: 12:00–3:30 PM
Location: Fisher Conference Center, Stanford Alumni Center
If you are planning to attend, please fill out the brief RSVP form below. Thank you in advance and we hope to see you there!
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Stanford Reunion Homecoming is just around the corner! Reconnect with the many alumni, faculty, students, and staff who make up the incredible HumBio community. We are so excited to welcome alumni back to campus to reconnect and reminisce with our special CWOQ and Open House events.
Food Sense: A Conversation with Dr. Christopher Gardner, Dr. Anna Grummon, Dr. Rachele Pojednic (CWOQ in collaboration with SAA)
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Date: Friday, October 16, 2026
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Time: 3:15–4:15 PM
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Location: To be announced
Reunion Open House
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Date: Friday, October 16, 2026
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Time: 4:30–6:00 PM
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Location: Building 20 (HumBio building) in the Main Quad)
If you are planning to attend one or both of these events, please fill out the brief RSVP form below. Thank you in advance, and we hope to see you there!
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