I am writing to thank you for your generous support through the Jonathan & Joshua MemorialGraduate Travel Scholarship. I am very happy and appreciative to receive this scholarship.

I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for the incredible support that you haveprovided to graduate students through this scholarship. Graduate school is tricky to navigate,especially financially, and receiving this support has given me the time and opportunity to focus onmy research and truly excel in it.

The support from thisscholarship is instrumental in advancing our understanding of the various mental health disordersthat burden our communities. This field is of prominent interest to myself.

Receiving an award like this asa Graduate Student allows me to put more time into my workand eases the financial burden that many of us students face.This truly has made a difference in my final year here at Westernand I know your work will continue to benefit many students tocome.

I studied Psychology in Turkey and then started Neuroscience graduate program at WesternUniversity. My research focuses on using ultra-high field MRI to image rodent brains andunderstanding rodent cognition. We are investigating functional brain networks in AlzheimerDisease to find early biomarkers for the prevention and treatment of the disease.

Neil Donison is a senior PhD candidate in Dr. Michael Strong’s Lab at Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, Ontario. Neil’s research investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration associated with traumatic brain injury and other related diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and Alzheimer’s disease.

I am Tom Drysdale, and I am here as the Associate Dean for the Graduate & PostdoctoralStudies for the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western. It is my great honour tobe at the Jonathan and Joshua Annual Golf Tournament to both honour the memory ofJonathan and Joshua, and to thank the participants for their support of mental health research.The funds raised by the Jonathan and Joshua tournament are used to fund scholarships forgraduate student studying mental health as part of their thesis. Two of the students, Neil andEsmin, have come along with me to personally thank Bob and the tournament participants fortheir amazing efforts.

I would like to thank everyone who made today possible. Thank you, Mr. McKinnon and allthe donors, for graciously supporting Western graduate students in our aim to making a difference inthe field of mental health and neurodegenerative research. Words truly cannot express how gratefuland touched I am to have received the Jonathan and Joshua Memorial Graduate Scholarship.

My name is Aya Arrar, I am a fourth year PhD student in the neuroscience department at WesternUniversity. I would first like to say thank you for your support that allows me to work on researchthat I am truly passionate about.

Hello everyone! I am honoured to be a recipient of the Jonathan and Joshua graduate scholarshipand to be able to join you tonight. I would like to start by thanking Bob, his family, and all of you foryour invaluable support. As graduate students it is incredibly motivating to meet individualsinterested in our work.