MCW Armand J. Quick Award for Outstanding Senior Medical Students in Biochemistry

About Dr. Armand J. Quick
The Quick Award

About Dr. Armand J. Quick

Armand J. Quick, MD, PhD, was an internationally recognized physician scientist who contributed substantially to our knowledge about basic mechanisms of blood clotting and techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of hemorrhagic disorders. He is famous for developing a widely used blood clotting assay now known as the Quick Prothrombin Test. Dr. Quick was chair of the MCW Biochemistry Department from 1944 to 1964, during which he continued his research related to blood clotting disorders.

The Quick Award

The Quick Tests Book Cover The Armand J. Quick Award was established by the MCW Biochemistry Department to honor outstanding graduating MD and MD/PhD students at the Medical College of Wisconsin, who have outstanding accomplishments in their course work as well as a biomedically-related research project during medical school to test a hypothesis using biochemical and molecular/cellular approaches and has a continuing interest for biomedical research along their career path. As a tribute to Dr. Quick, these students are encouraged to maintain an ongoing interest in being involved with biochemical/biomedical research in their future careers.

Award recipients are recognized at graduation, and at a special yearly reception given by the Biochemistry Department. Awardees are placed on the Armand J. Quick Award plaque, which is kept in the Biochemistry Department at MCW. They also receive a copy of the Quick Tests book for their personal library, a certificate of achievement and an honorarium of $500 at the Senior Dinner.

The Quick Award application process generally begins in mid-January. If you would like to apply for this award at that time, please contact Michele Jones in the Biochemistry office at mljones@mcw.edu. You'll need to submit the following application information for review by the Armand J. Quick Committee of the Biochemistry Department:

• A current curriculum vitae

• A one-page synopsis of your past research accomplishments and your future plans

• A letter of recommendation (LOR) from your research advisor(s) (The advisor will need to submit the LOR directly to the award committee via the e-mail address below. Any LOR sent by the student will not be accepted.)

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Armand J. Quick Award Current Recipients

Mohamed Khalil, MD, PhD

Mohamed (Moe) grew up in Chicago, where his early experiences instilled in him a strong work ethic and a deep commitment to service. After high school, he began a successful career as a car salesman, refining his skills in communication, leadership, and problem solving. Despite this success, he felt compelled to pursue a path that would allow him to make a more meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of others. This ambition led him to higher education, where he quickly distinguished himself academically and intellectually. As an undergraduate at Illinois State University, he joined a basic science research laboratory, where he demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing C. elegans as a model to recapitulate the molecular and neuronal features of Angelman Syndrome. This formative experience ignited his passion for translational research and solidified his commitment to bridging scientific discovery with clinical innovation. He graduated with a degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology, a minor in Chemistry, and earned honors distinction for his senior thesis. He subsequently matriculated into the Medical Scientist Training Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin in 2019.

During his graduate training, Moe conducted cutting edge research in the laboratories of Dr. Subramaniam Malarkannan and Dr. Scott Terhune, where he leveraged cytomegalovirus as a model system to investigate a specialized subset of natural killer (NK) cells known as Memory NK cells. His dissertation work defined key transcriptional and phenotypic features of these cells and led to the development of a novel cost-effective ex vivo platform to induce their formation, an advancement with significant implications for next generation immunotherapies. His work was supported by a competitive NIH CTSI TL1 fellowship and recognized through multiple national awards, as well as several publications in high impact peer reviewed journals.

Following graduation, Moe will pursue a postdoctoral fellowship at the Blood Research Institute, where he will continue advancing his work on harnessing the therapeutic potential of Memory NK cells. He will then pursue residency training in otolaryngology with the long-term goal of becoming an academic surgeon scientist. He aspires to care for patients with aggressive head and neck cancers while leading innovative efforts to develop adoptive NK cell-based immunotherapies that improve survival and quality of life.

2001-Present Recipients

2026 - Mohamed Khalil, MD, PhD
2025 - Hayley Powers, MD, PhD, Kelsey Nolden, MD, PhD, and Simon Blaine-Sauer, MD
2024 - Linda Berg Luecke, MD, PhD
2023 - Acacia Dishman, MD, PhD and Logan Massman, MD
2022 - Casey Vickstrom, MD, PhD and Michael Nordness, MD, PhD
2021 - Andrew Kleist, MD, PhD and Jamie Schnuck, MD, and Michael Olp, MD, PhD
2020 – Daniel Keesler, MD and James Miller, MD, PhD
2019 – Steven M. Blinka, MD, PhD and Nicholas P. Gannon, MD
2018 – Erin M. Kropp, MD, PhD and Zachary R. Shaheen, MD, PhD
2017 – Brennan Decker, MD, PhD and Anna K. Park, MD
2016 – Tarin Bigley, MD, PhD and Jacob M. Wilson, MD
2015 – Erica Schmitt, MD, PhD and Ben Biesterveld, MD
2014 – Tyce Kearl MD, PhD and Wasakorn Kittipongdaja, MD
2013 – Krista Asp, MD
2012 – Jamie R. Privratsky, MD, PhD and Kevin M. Riggle, MD
2011 – Lance M. Relland, MD, PhD and Cheryl J. Maenpaa, MD
2010 – Jonathan M. Skarie, MD, PhD and Corbin D. Sullivan, MD
2009 – Brandon T. Larsen, MD, PhD and Christopher R. Henry, MD
2008 – Andrea B. French, MD
2007 – Sakkapol Ongwijitwat, MD, PhD and Joseph P. Roche, MD
2006 – Sachin Patel, MD, PhD and Michael D. Roseblum, MD, PhD
2005 – Timothy J. Nelson, MD, PhD
2004 – Matthew J. Riese, MD, PhD and Brooke A. King, MD
2003 – Brent L. Fogel, MD, PhD and Andrew E. Trochlell, MD
2002 – Jason A. Jarzembowski, MD, PhD
2001 – Jonathan M. Bock, MD and Anand Krishnan Ganesan, MD, PhD

1982-2000 Recipients

2000 – Stacey A. Strege-Sjoberg, MD, PhD and Robert E. Sonnenburg, MD
1999 – David Potter, MD, PhD
1998 – Heather A. Stanko, MD
1997 – Richard J. Gumina, MD, PhD
1996 – Cathleen M. McCabe, MD
1995 – Grace Levy-Clarke, MD
1994 – Paul W. Hruz, MD, PhD
1993 – Gerald P. Loushin, MD
1992 – David K. Gaffney, MD, PhD
1991 – James P. Thomas, MD, PhD
1990 – John Caton, MD
1989 – Bert G. Tardieu, MD
1988 – Barry J. Roseman, MD
1987 – James P. Witter, MD, PhD
1986 – DuWayne Willett, MD
1985 – Jon R. Resar, MD
1984 – Mark L. Kadden, MD
1983 – Mark I. Freedman, MD
1982 – Carol Anne Popp, MD, PhD