The Guy Stevenson Award for Excellence in Graduate Studies

The Guy Stevenson Award for Excellence in Graduate Studies honors a former dean of the Graduate School and is presented to an outstanding doctoral degree recipient who has demonstrated excellence in both scholarship and leadership within the discipline and has made significant contributions to teaching and/or service. Idoia Meaza Isusi is the recipient of this year’s Stevenson award and, as such, serves as the Graduate School’s outstanding student, carries our banner for the Hooding and Commencement ceremonies, and delivers the student speech for the Hooding ceremony.

Idoia Meaza Isusi earned a BS in Biology and an MS in Marine Environment and Resources from the University of Basque Country before coming to the University of Louisville in 2019 and joining the lab of Dr. John Pierce Wise, Sr.  She has earned both her master’s and doctoral degree from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at U of L, where she also was awarded the K.C. Huang Outstanding Graduate Student Award, the highest honor given by the department. Her research has focused on environmental carcinogens and has already resulted in 18 peer-reviewed publications; she collaborates with other faculty and graduate students and has served as a mentor to numerous high school, undergraduate and graduate students in the lab and department. 

Idoia believes that “being part of the scientific community means giving back, advocating for diversity and empowering those who need a voice.” She has served as the president of the Parmaology and Toxicology Graduate Student Organization, and she has served as a representative to the Graduate Student Council, to the Graduate Program Recruitment, Admissions, and Student Success Council, and as the sole graduate student representative on the University’s Commission on the Status of Women.  She also served as the GSC Travel Director, which is a position on the executive board of the GSC. Drawing upon her academic expertise, she also served on the Campus Climate Committee and the Academic Technology Committee with faculty and staff from across campus. 

Idoia has served her discipline through her active membership in the Society for Toxicology, where she was the representative for the Ohio Valley SOT Chapter and organized a very successful summer virtual conference for trainees for the Ohio Valley SOT chapter. For her service and leadership in this group, she was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Student Leadership Award.

Her nominator praises her exceptional research and suggests that her service is “off-the-charts exceptional.”  “The fact that she dedicated such an exceptional effort to service and teaching, while maintaining such a significantly high level of academic and research excellence is amazing, particularly given the time commitment involved.”   Idoia plans to transition to a postdoctoral position after earning her doctoral degree to study liver carcinogenesis.