Dr. Richard Maraia, chief of the Section on Molecular and Cell Biology, Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, will deliver the address at the 43rd Kingsborough Community College commencement exercises.
Dr. Maraia, who is an alumnus of KCC, will also receive the President’s Medal. The commencement ceremony will be held June 13 at 11 a.m., in the Kingsborough graduation tent, 2001 Oriental Boulevard in the Manhattan Beach section of Brooklyn.
Dr. Maraia, a Brooklyn native, attended three New York City high school before dropping out of Samuel J. Tilden High School after three years. Bored and discontent, he left New York City for the upstate countryside where he remained for a few years before returning and getting his high school diploma from Erasmus Hall High School.
Dr. Maraia then enrolled at KCC where he met his wife, Karen, and received an Associate’s Degree. A course in Anatomy and Physiology, taught by Dr. Teddy Markus at KCC, was a turning point for Dr. Maraia. It became crystal clear that this is where his interest lies. Following graduation from KCC, he attended Columbia University and Cornell University Medical College.
After completing pediatrics residency training at the New York Hospital, he joined the Intramural Research Program (IRP) of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). During this time, Dr. Maraia was appointed Clinical Research Fellow, became a board-certified pediatrician and began subspecialty training in medical genetics.
In 1990, Dr. Maraia joined a newly forming laboratory at NICHD as a new investigator. He was awarded tenure in 1998.
Dr. Maraia remains in the Intramural Research Program of the NICHD where he is a senior investigator and chief of the Section on Molecular and Cell Biology, directing a team of 10 researchers. He also serves as a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service.
“I am very pleased that Dr. Maraia will return to his alma mater to deliver our commencement address this year,” said Dr. Regina Peruggi, president, KCC. “He is a powerful example for our graduates and students of the success that can be achieved with a KCC degree and a determination to excel.”
The class of 2008 valedictorian is Michael Blackman, 43. He came to the United States from the village of Claxton Bay, on the island of Trinidad, in 1994, at the age of 29. He will receive an A.S. in Business Administration and is graduating with a 4.00 grade point average (GPA).
Blackman is an honor student, a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, and was employed with State Farm Insurance for the past 11 years before moving to Charlotte, North Carolina.
Following graduation, Mr. Blackman plans to pursue his Bachelors and Masters degrees in business administration at the Charlotte Campus of the University of North Carolina.
