Stories

A team of Texas horned lizard conservationists reached a major milestone this month with the successful release of the 1,000th captive-born reptile. Working to restore their decimated numbers, the Fort Worth Zoo partnered with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and TCU on reintroduction methodologies.

Jessica Boyce ’20 graduated from TCU with a biology major and minors in Spanish and anthropology. Boyce is from Charlotte, North Carolina, and came to TCU on the pre-health track. After graduating last year, she used her EMT license to volunteer with an organization in Mexico during her gap year before entering physician’s assistant school this May.

Ally Lunich and Sawyer Diaz, two pre-health students, have been working to create volunteer opportunities for their peers during the pandemic. Lunich and Diaz recently put together a list of more than 40 charitable and non-profit organizations, both locally and nationally, to provide virtual volunteering opportunities to pre-health students.

Lisa Nash ’87 graduated from TCU with a degree in biology. Originally from Brock, Texas, a small town just west of Fort Worth, she grew up hearing about TCU. Since she was a small child, Nash always knew she wanted to be a doctor. The reputation of the pre-health program and the offer of a full scholarship made Nash choose to pursue her education at TCU. Nash developed a virtual family medicine preceptorship (FMP) for TCU students.

Carolina Granthon ’12 (MS ’15) graduated with bachelor’s degrees in biology and chemistry and a minor in French. Originally from Peru, Granthon took a year off to pursue an internship in the Peruvian rainforest before returning to TCU and receiving her master’s degree in biology in 2015. During her internship in Peru, Granthon learned to capture tropical birds in nets (mist-netting) and find their nests, as well as monitor nesting macaws.

Barrington Hwang ’14, a Dallas native, graduated from TCU as a triple major with degrees in chemistry, economics and biology. He also received a Fulbright grant for a yearlong position in Taiwan as an English Teaching Assistantship post-graduation.

Julie Krzykwa ‘17 (MS) is the first student to earn a Ph.D. in biology from TCU after successfully defending her dissertation in April.

Dr. Britni Williams ‘12 (biology) is currently working as an emergency medicine resident. When news of COVID-19 originally broke, Williams recognized the importance of activities that people should do daily, including washing hands, covering sneezes, and getting a flu shot.