Outstanding Epidemiology Doctoral Student Award: Paddington Mundagowa

Paddington Mundagowa's academic excellence, sustained research productivity, demonstrated leadership, and exceptional promise for future scholarly impact exemplify the very best of the Epidemiology & Biostatistics department. He maintained an outstanding academic record throughout his PhD program while leading and contributing to impactful research including eleven peer-reviewed publications and multiple presentations at scientific conferences. His service activities including being an Academic Editor for a scientific journal, coordinating departmental journal club activities, serving on a search committee, and mentoring students in the MCH LEAP program. In recognition of his scholarly promise, Paddington received the Arnold Fellowship and was selected for the Grace Jordan McFadden Professors Program.

Outstanding Epidemiology Masters Student Award: William Capell

William "Will" Capell is a Preventive Medicine resident who graduated with a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology in Spring 2026. He is an exceptional student who consistently demonstrates intellectual rigor, professionalism, and a deep commitment to public health practice. For his Integrated Learning Experience, Will examined prenatal care pathways and pregnancy-related Medicaid expenditures in South Carolina with a focus on rural-urban differences. He presented the work at a national conference and developed a manuscript for publication. Will is an outstanding communicator and he integrates evidence, critical thinking, and practical relevance in a manner that reflects both academic excellence and readiness for professional practice. Will's training in preventive medicine further strengthens his perspective and positions him to make meaningful contributions to the field.  He represents the very best of our program and embodies the qualities we seek in future leaders in epidemiology, including a strong work ethic, humility, and empathy.

Biostatistics Doctoral Achievement Award: Yuanzhen Yue

 Yuanzhen Yue is a fourth-year PhD student. He was awarded the SPARC Graduate Research Grant for his dissertation from the Office of the Vice President of Research.  The first paper out of his dissertation, "Variable Selection in Functional Linear Cox Model" has been published in the Biometrics journal, a premier journal in the discipline. He was also a co-author on the applied paper "Daily physical activity patterns enhance mortality prediction in NHANES 2011-2014: A comparative study across classical, machine learning, and deep learning models using accelerometer data", which was recently accepted in the Journal for the Measurement of Physical Behavior. He has been an active part of the RDCD core, at the Center for Clinical & Translational Research, and contributed in terms of creating consulting reports, educational videos on sample size calculation, and data visualization pipelines for Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) data. He also actively serves the broader scientific community by performing peer review for academic journals.