Celebrating the Past, Shaping the Future: Baylor’s 2025 Alumni Reunion
From May 1 to 3, 2025, over 198 Baylor College of Medicine alumni, leadership and guests gathered in person for a weekend full of celebration and community at the 2025 Alumni Reunion. For three days, Baylor celebrated its alumni—specifically the milestone classes ending in ’0s and ’5s—at Hotel ZaZa – Houston Museum District.
“Each Reunion renews my admiration and amazement for our alumni,” said Annie Torres, senior director of alumni affairs at Baylor College of Medicine. “Baylor’s alumni are its greatest success, and to know that such talented, dedicated individuals are helping their communities every day is wonderful. We are honored that they are taking the time to attend Reunion, and we are so excited to create an engaging, rewarding experience for them.
As in past years, Reunion began with a pleasant Welcome Reception on Thursday evening to greet returning alumni and their guests.
Reunion’s programming slate kicked off on Friday morning with Baylor President, CEO and Executive Dean Paul Klotman, M.D., delivering his State of the College address. Dr. Klotman shared a general overview of the current state of the College, from Baylor’s rankings to its Texas-wide network of health sciences affiliate programs in public schools to updates on the construction of the Lillie and Roy Cullen Tower. He was later joined by Jennifer Christner, M.D., Senior Dean of the School of Medicine and School of Health Professions. Dr. Christner interviewed Dr. Klotman about how The Cullen Tower will be optimized not only for state-of-the-art health sciences technology but also for cutting-edge advancements in education itself.
The address was followed by a session on cutting-edge cancer treatments titled “Next-Gen Immunotherapy: Transforming Treatment for T-Cell Cancers,” presented by Maksim Mamonkin, Ph.D. ’13, Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology & Immunology and the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor, and Sarah Hein, Ph.D. ’16, founding CEO of March Biosciences. They presented Dr. Mamonkin’s efforts to develop affordable, off-the-shelf cell therapies to address rare and hard-to-treat T-cell cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. His team’s early clinical trials show promising results, offering new hope for patients, with a larger trial planned for 2025.
The Keynote Luncheon, a Reunion highlight every year, was particularly anticipated this year due to its focus on Baylor’s contributions to space medicine and human spaceflight. The select panel of experts was comprised of Dorit Donoviel, Ph.D., David Hilmers, M.D. ’95, Res. ’99, E.E., MPH, MSEE, and Christoper Haas, M.D., Res. ‘17, MPH. Dr. Donoviel moderated the discussion, which ranged from a fascinating discussion of Dr. Hilmers’ time as an astronaut and Dr. Haas’ experience as a flight surgeon for NASA’s Artemis II mission to our evolving understanding of the space environment’s impact on the human body and how that affects health on earth.
“The reason space is so interesting is because it’s the most amazing environment where we can study human biology and advance medical understanding of disease processes,” said Dr. Donoviel.
Thursday’s programming also featured the always-popular Student Poster Session, which featured an outstanding selection of student research projects, and a campus tour for Reunion attendees.
Reunion concluded on Saturday morning with breakfast and engaging conversation with Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon), FASTMH, FAAP. Dr. Hotez spoke about the driving factors behind the rise in emerging tropical pathogens across the globe and how Baylor is addressing this concerning trend. He also lauded the College for how it has impacted him professionally.
“I left Yale, Cornell and Mass-General Hospital to come to Texas to up my game for science and medicine,” said Dr. Hotez. “That’s a story that not enough people know about. They don’t know how special [Baylor] really is. I can do things at the Texas Medical Center and Baylor that I simply couldn’t do anywhere else. It’s because of the people we have here.”
Several 2025 Alumni Reunion attendees, along with other Baylor supporters, helped raise over $126,000 to date for scholarships for Baylor students. Baylor is grateful to everyone who generously contributed to this vital initiative. If you would like to support Baylor students, give now here.
To check out photos and video recordings of the 2025 Alumni Reunion, click here.
