The Graduate School recognized five doctoral students and five master’s students as recipients of the 2021 UAB Samuel B. Barker Award for Excellence in Graduate Studies.

“The Barker Award,” named for UAB’s first graduate dean, Dr. Samuel Booth Barker, is given each spring to graduate students who represent the highest level of student achievement in a UAB graduate program. All recipients are expected to receive their degrees within the calendar year.

Valene Garr Barry, MS, PhD in Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions; Graduate Certificate in Mentoring and Leadership, the Graduate School – Spring 2021

Plans after graduation: “I have accepted a position as a postdoctoral research scholar in Dr. Linda Peterson and Susan Racette's labs in the Department of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, and in the WUSTL Transdisciplinary Pre- and Postdoctoral Training Program in Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease. My research objective is to contribute to advancements in the way we understand the role of obesity in women’s health during the perinatal period and to discover novel methods to identify and mitigate cardiometabolic disease risk among women across the lifespan.”

Biggest accomplishment as a graduate student: “By far my biggest accomplishment as a graduate student has been finding and cultivating my passion to mentor and inspire the next generation of researchers. About halfway through my graduate school journey, I began to actively find ways to mentor undergraduate students and more junior graduate students. The joy and fulfillment that I have gleaned, in addition to the friendships and sense of community that I built from mentoring and leadership have made me a better graduate student and will ultimately make me a better researcher, faculty member, and leader in my future positions.”