Inaugural Joseph C. Kolars Award Recipients Announced
The Center for Global Health Equity is proud to announce the recipients of the inaugural Joseph C. Kolars Award for Mentorship and Leadership in Global Health, presented at the center's annual community gathering on the Ann Arbor campus on Oct. 21, 2025. Named in honor of Joseph C. Kolars, MD, the center's founding director and an internationally recognized leader in medical education, this award celebrates students who exemplify the values he has championed throughout his career in the field of global health through generous mentorship, inclusive leadership and a commitment to collaboration.
Alumni Recipient: Graham Beck, MD, MBA
Graham Beck is a first-year resident in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care at the University of California, San Francisco. He earned his MD and MBA from the University of Michigan, where he distinguished himself through his dedication to healthcare quality and global health equity.
During medical school, Beck's interest in how health organizations can improve patient outcomes shaped his involvement in interdisciplinary projects across campus. As director of quality and safety at the University of Michigan Student Run Free Clinic, he explored how organizational structure and mission shape healthcare quality and patient safety. Through the William Davidson Institute and Ross School of Business, he worked with Professor Paul Clyde to help Aravind Eye Care System leadership identify sustainable funding models. Through the center's summer internship program, he worked with mentor Rama Mwenesi-Musalia, PhD, in the Department of Learning Health Sciences to develop a learning health systems approach for studying safety checklist implementation with a surgical nonprofit in rural Kenya.
Current Graduate Student Recipient: Muhannad Alkaddour
Muhannad Alkaddour is a PhD candidate in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, where he works with Hugo Gonzalez Villasanti, PhD in the People-Centered Autonomy Lab. He received his master's in mechatronics engineering and bachelor's in mechanical engineering and mathematics from the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Muhannad's research integrates dynamical systems, control theory and robotics to advance human-centered engineering. He uses analytical and computational tools to understand human decision-making and design systems that tackle challenges in control, sustainability and human-machine collaboration while respecting human autonomy.
Through his graduate research internship at the center, Muhannad brought these engineering principles into interdisciplinary contexts, developing simulation-based approaches that connect engineering, public health and community systems to advance health equity.
The Center for Global Health Equity congratulates Graham and Muhannad on this well-deserved recognition and looks forward to their continued contributions to advancing global health equity globally.
About the Joseph C. Kolars Award
The Joseph C. Kolars Award for Mentorship and Leadership in Global Health honors students who demonstrate leadership with humility, strong commitment to mentorship and peer support, active contribution to learning communities and clear alignment with the center's mission to advance global health equity through partnership, integrity and innovation.
Kolars has drawn on his deep expertise as a gastroenterologist, education leader and global health practitioner to offer mentorship that is both supportive and challenging, consistently bringing out the best in students, trainees and faculty. He recently stepped down as the inaugural Leslie D. Yamada and Tachi Yamada M.D. Director of the University of Michigan’s Center for Global Health Equity, where he continues to serve as senior adviser. His distinguished career has focused on medical education and capacity building in low-income countries for over 40 years, including establishing one of China's first Western-based healthcare systems and the University of Michigan's Joint Institute for Translational and Clinical Research with Peking University Health Science Center.