Who is the GSA?

The Graduate Student Association (GSA) is a student-led organization that aims to foster a sense of community among UT Health San Antonio graduate students and organize events focusing on student life, career guidance, and advocacy. If you’re a graduate student at UT Health, you’re automatically a member of the GSA. So the GSA is you! Get in touch with any of the officers leading the GSA if you would like to participate! Keep an eye out for our emails and event announcements and join us at our events to get to know your fellow grad students and learn about career paths. Follow our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/UTHSAgraduate/ as well to always stay up to date.

What events do you organize?

We are always looking to organize new fun, helpful events for the student body, so if you have ideas and/or would like to help organize something, reach out to us!

• The GSA hosts a monthly Science Trivia night at Oak Hills Tavern, so come out and take a break from lab and studying to hang out with old friends, meet new ones, and show off your trivia skills.
• We also host a recurring guest lecture series where alumni and local representatives from various career paths share their experience in knowledge with grad students. Are you interested in a non-traditional career field but don’t know what it takes to enter it and get your foot in the door? Get in touch with us and we’ll invite a speaker to come and share their experience!
• Once a year in the spring semester, the GSA organizes the Mikiten Graduate Research Symposium. During this day-long event, we organize a variety of workshops, presentations, and poster sessions. Let us know your thoughts on workshop topics you think would be useful!

President – Simon Levy

 After receiving a bachelor of science in Life Sciences and Technologies in his native Switzerland and a year-long industry internship in Israel, Simon moved to Boston to complete a master of science degree with a neuroscience focus. His master’s thesis work focused on Parkinson’s Disease. After two years in Boston, he moved to San Antonio to pursue the Neuroscience discipline of the Integrated Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program at UT Health San Antonio, where he is currently developing a Drosophila model of prion-like tau propagation in of Dr. Bess Frost’s lab.

Vice President – Rob Seaman

Rob received my B.S. in Biology from a small college called Canisius College in his hometown of Buffalo, New York in 2015.  He was very involved in my undergraduate institution having founded a club whose aim was to bridge the gap between undergraduate and graduate school. Additionally, he served on the student senate among many other organizations. He then received his M.S. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University at Buffalo in 2017. Following completion of his master’s degree, he moved to San Antonio to pursue his Ph.D. in Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Physiology and Pharmacology) working for Dr. Gregory Collins studying behavioral pharmacology in the context of addiction.

Secretary – Hannah Elam

Hannah received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Texas in 2012 with the hopes of pursuing a career in the mental health field. She began a master’s program in Mental Health Counseling at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado but quickly realized she was more interested in the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders than the behavioral therapy used to treat them. This ultimately led her to leave the master’s program and, instead, pursue a Ph.D. in Integrated Biomedical Sciences (Neuroscience discipline). She is now in her second year of the program, working in the lab of Dr. Dan Lodge studying the mechanisms that mediate psychiatric disorders, specifically schizophrenia.

Treasurer – Katie Lillis

Katie Lillis is originally from Buffalo Grove, IL. She attended the University of Iowa where she received her B.S. in Human Physiology and B.A. in Psychology in 2018. While she was there, Katie worked in the laboratory of Dr. Ryan LaLumiere where she focused on studying the neurobiology of addiction. She was also involved in Active Minds, an organization focused on mental health for college students. In 2018, she moved to San Antonio to pursue her Ph.D. in Integrated Biomedical Sciences at UT Health San Antonio. Katie is currently in the Neuroscience discipline and works with Dr. Anibal Diogenes. In this lab, she studies the role of innervation in dental infections.

Student Ambassador – Alex McCoy

Alex McCoy is a second year student in the Neuroscience discipline in the Ph.D. in Integrated Biomedical Sciences program. She received a bachelor in science in Behavioral Neuroscience from Western Washington University. She now works with Dr. Alan Frazer and Dr. Flavia Carreno to develop novel therapies for the treatment of major depressive disorder. Her hobbies include playing outside, petting cats, and nagging people to recycle.