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SUNY Upstate students receive 2006 Chancellor's Awards for Student Excellence

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - SUNY Upstate Medical University students Jason Freedman and Adam Tripp have been named winners of 2006 Chancellor's Awards for Student Excellence. The award is presented annually to students who earn a grade point average of 3.78 or higher and who make significant contributions to their campus or local community.

Freedman and Tripp were among 270 students from 62 State University of New York (SUNY) campuses to receive the award that consists of a certificate and a medallion that is traditionally worn at commencement.

"Recipients of this year's awards have excelled academically and, in many cases, far exceeded even their own expectations in their pursuit of higher education and community involvement," said SUNY Chancellor John Ryan. "I commend the campus presidents and their faculty and staff for discovering and enhancing student excellence throughout the year."

Freedman and Tripp hold many shared interests and pursuits. Both have received numerous honors and awards for scholarship, leadership and volunteerism and have combined their interest in the arts with medicine.

Freedman is president of the Gamma Chapter of the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA), the only national honor medical society in the world. Tripp received a Best Research Poster award from AOA in 2005. Both students have received Student Citizen Awards from the Syracuse Medical Alumni Foundation of Upstate Medical University for their volunteer work with campus organizations. Freedman received the Grant Hobika, M.D., Scholarship for the Creative Arts and Medicine in 2004 for his use of photography and the written word to break down racial barriers to obtain quality care for a patient and her family. Tripp's graphite pencil sketch was selected to hang in the Everson Museum of Art by jurists of SUNY Upstate's On My Own Time art show.

Freedman will receive his medical degree May 21 from SUNY Upstate's College of Medicine and will begin a residency in pediatrics at Columbia Presbyterian/New York Hospital in Manhattan. He is the recipient of the Leonard Marmor Scholarship in Pediatrics (2005), the Jean Bertram Burke Underhill Scholarship for Academic Achievement (2005), the Samuel Gersten Scholarship for Academic Excellence (2004), the National Pathology Honor Society and the Gustav P. Milkey Merit Scholarship (2003). He served as a student representative to SUNY Upstate's Educational Policies Committee and as a mentor and tutor to underclassmen. He was selected by his peers for membership in the Gold Humanism Honor Society, an organization that honors senior medical students, residents, role-model physician-teachers and others recognized for "demonstrated excellence in clinical care, leadership, compassion and dedication to service." Freedman is the son of Mitchell and Amy Freedman of Bayside, N.Y.

Tripp will graduate from SUNY Upstate May 21 with a combined medical and doctor of philosophy degree. Following his graduation, he will begin a fellowship in psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

Tripp is president, past secretary and treasurer of SUNY Upstate's Graduate Student Council and past-president of SUNY Upstate's Campus Activities Governing Board. He has served as a student representative for several SUNY Upstate committees, including the selection committees for the Honorary Degree Commendation, the President's Awards for Faculty Service and for Professional Service, and the Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence. He was a member of the steering committee for The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accreditation review. LCME is an activity of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association. He is the recipient of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Student Activities Leadership Award, is the co-author of several articles that have appeared in the Journal of Virology, and has presented numerous oral and poster presentations. A resident of the City of Syracuse, he and his wife, Susannah, a medical student at SUNY Upstate, are the parents of 10-month old daughter, Moira. Tripp is the son of Michael Tripp of Watertown.

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