DBS Students Receive Student Affairs Honors and Awards
Christopher Ortega Saavedra is a first‑generation student and Marine Corps veteran graduating with a degree in biology. He founded the Pre‑Health Student Alliance and the Pre‑Pharmacy Student Association, where he helped secure an Early Assurance Program partnership with the UNC Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Saavedra is a member of Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Inc., and has conducted research on SNARE proteins and uncharacterized ORF genes as an honors undergraduate researcher in the Chi Lab.
Megan Mitchem is graduating in December with a Ph.D. in biological sciences. She has served as an industry liaison and trainee for the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Science and organized the 2025 Biomedical Sciences Symposium. Mitchem has been treasurer of the Charlotte Parent organization, president of the Society for Advancement of Hispanics, Chicanos and Native Americans in Science and is a first author in the Journal of Biological Chemistry as a graduate student in the Truman lab.