Louis Sulit ’16

Louis Sulit ’16 loves a challenge. From study abroad to undergraduate research to UNCG’s Leadership Challenge Program, his hard work and dedication paid off. After all, his last name means “worth it” in the Filipino language Tagalog: He graduated from UNCG with a bachelor’s degree in biology and full university honors.

A first generation American born to Filipino parents, Sulit applied to several public universities across the state, but it was the Lloyd International Honors College that set UNCG apart. He’s always excelled academically, so the honors college was the perfect fit.

“It gave me an identity,” he said. “It helped me realize how ambitious I am.”

Sulit spent two semesters working under Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Karen Katula, studying gene expression within human cancer cells. His focus on the field of bioinformatics provided hands-on experience in UNCG’s biology lab with real, impactful research, which won second place in science at the UNCG Undergraduate and Creativity Expo.

Sulit also received a Summerlin Family Scholarship in Biology, awarded to students with strong interests in medical technology/clinical laboratory sciences and/or biomedical areas of biology, and established by the late Janet Marue Summerlin ’48, ’71 MED.

Another ambitious UNCG (then WC) biology graduate, Summerlin also loved challenges. For 32 years, she pioneered the development of the modern hospital laboratory at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, rising from lab technologist to chief medical technologist and administrative director of laboratories. She specialized in blood banks at a time when medical labs were making great strides in identifying and curing disease, and was both a teacher and mentor to those entering the health services field.

Sulit hasn’t finished taking on big challenges. He plans to attend medical school to fulfill his goal of becoming a doctor and is confident that, like all his experiences at UNCG, it will be “worth it.” Janet Marue Summerlin would have surely agreed.