Tulane 34 for 2026 includes three from the School of Medicine
The Tulane 34 Awards celebrate 34 extraordinary students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, service, and academic excellence throughout their time at Tulane. Three of the students recognized this year graduated with degrees from Tulane University School of Medicine.
Pari Mihir Dhruva graduated from the Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program with a PhD in Biomedical Sciences. Her dissertation focused on fungal immunology and understanding how certain cells orchestrate host defense during infection. Dhruva founded a seminar series, Bridging the Gap: Biomedical Science to Business, to increase awareness of career paths beyond academia. She also served as vice president of student affairs for the Biomedical Sciences Student Association, served as a teaching fellow, and supported business development efforts at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center. Dhruva plans to continue her work in pulmonary immunology as a postdoctoral researcher with the future goal of moving into the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry.
Justin W. Magrath earned his MD and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Tulane School of Medicine. Magrath published seven first-author papers on Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor, contributing to research on the rare disease. He was the only student in the nation to serve on the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. Magrath will continue his training in the Boston Children’s Combined Residency Program at Harvard, where he’ll pursue a residency in pediatrics.
Eli Henry Tsakiris graduated with an MD from Tulane School of Medicine. Tsakiris served as president of the Medical Student Government and vice president of the Student Clinic Council. As part of that work, Tsakiris helped organize JAMbalaya, a fundraising event that paid for more than 1,500 public transit passes to help unhoused patients travel to medical appointments. Tsakiris has also been involved in cardiovascular research and presented his work at national conferences. Tsakiris will begin an internal medicine residency at the University of California San Francisco/UCSF Department of Medicine.
Read more about the Tulane 34 honorees.
