Earth & Space
The 2026 Science Division Distinguished Alumni Award recipients
Gregory Reyes (Kresge ’76, biology), Larry de Ghetaldi (Merrill ’76, biology and chemistry), and Nicholas Suntzeff (Ph.D. ’80, astronomy) are recognized for careers of exceptional distinction in biomedical research, healthcare policy, and observational cosmology.
Key takeaways
- Gregory Reyes built a 30-plus-year career in biotechnology and pharmaceutical research, helping pioneer viral detection methods and contributing to treatments for hepatitis C and HIV. Reyes will receive the Distinguished Undergraduate Alumni Award.
- Larry de Ghetaldi served as a family physician in Santa Cruz for decades and became a nationally recognized advocate for reforming Medicare’s geographic payment system to improve reimbursement equity for California physicians. De Ghetaldi will receive the Distinguished Undergraduate Alumni Award posthumously.
- Nicholas Suntzeff co-founded the supernova research teams whose work on Type Ia supernovae led to the discovery of the accelerating universe, contributing to the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics. Suntzeff will receive the Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award.
The UC Santa Cruz Science Division is proud to announce the recipients of the 2026 Science Division Distinguished Alumni Awards. The awards are presented annually, recognizing both graduate and undergraduate alumni from the division who have achieved extraordinary accomplishments in diverse fields.
This year’s distinguished alumni—Gregory Reyes, Larry de Ghetaldi, and Nicholas Suntzeff—were chosen from among dozens of nominations for their transformative careers spanning biomedical research, family medicine, healthcare policy, and cosmology.
Reyes has built a 30-plus-year career in biotechnology and pharmaceutical research, helping pioneer viral detection methods and contributing to treatments for hepatitis C and HIV. De Ghetaldi (who passed away in August 2025) served as a family physician in Santa Cruz for decades and became a nationally recognized advocate for reforming Medicare’s geographic payment system to improve reimbursement equity for California physicians. And Suntzeff co-founded the supernova research teams whose work on Type Ia supernovae led to the discovery of the accelerating universe—contributing to the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
“The Science Division is proud to honor three alumni whose careers represent the very best of UC Santa Cruz’s commitments to groundbreaking research and profoundly impactful public service,” said Dean of Science Bryan Gaensler. “Gregory Reyes, Larry de Ghetaldi, and Nicholas Suntzeff have made lasting contributions to medicine, healthcare equity, and our fundamental understanding of the universe. I look forward to celebrating their extraordinary legacies.”
The awardees will be honored at a private ceremony at the Cowell Ranch Hay Barn on May 28.
Introducing the 2026 awardees
Distinguished Undergraduate Alumni Award
Gregory Reyes (Kresge ’76, biology)
Greg Reyes, M.D., was born in Fresno in 1953 to Filipino and Mexican-American parents, and attended UC Santa Cruz, where he discovered his passion for biology. A first-generation college student, he graduated summa cum laude in 1976 and went on to earn M.D. and Ph.D. degrees through the Medical Scientist Training Program at Johns Hopkins University. His research focused on viral biology, including herpes simplex virus. After clinical training and a cancer research fellowship at Stanford University, Dr. Reyes built a distinguished 30-plus-year career in biotechnology and pharmaceutical research. He helped pioneer methods for detecting viral genomes, co-discovered and characterized the hepatitis E virus, and contributed to development of the hepatitis C drug Victrelis. He also advanced early HIV therapies targeting CCR5. Dr. Reyes has authored nearly 100 publications and holds 50 patents. He serves as vice chair of the UC Santa Cruz Foundation, and consults for biotech start-ups in San Diego.
Distinguished Undergraduate Alumni Award (posthumous)
Larry de Ghetaldi (Merrill ’76, biology and chemistry)
Larry de Ghetaldi, M.D. (1955–2025) was a California family physician, healthcare executive, and nationally influential Medicare policy expert based in Santa Cruz. Born in San Francisco in 1955, he grew up in Daly City, attended Serramonte High School, and developed an early love of soccer. He studied biology and chemistry at UC Santa Cruz. After medical training at Wayne State and the University of Southern California, and a residency at Stanford, he returned to Santa Cruz in 1984 as a family physician. He went on to lead Sutter Health’s Santa Cruz division and the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Nationally, he was known for helping reform Medicare’s geographic payment system, improving reimbursement equity for California physicians. Dr. de Ghetaldi died on Aug. 10, 2025, at age 69.
Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award
Nicholas Suntzeff (Ph.D. ’80, astronomy)
Nick Suntzeff is an astronomer known for foundational contributions to observational cosmology and for the discovery of the accelerating universe. After earning his B.S. in mathematics from Stanford and his Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from UC Santa Cruz in 1980, he went on to co-found the Calán/Tololo Supernova Survey and the High-Z Supernova Search Team, whose work on Type Ia supernovae led to the discovery of cosmic acceleration and contributed to the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Professor Suntzeff’s collaborators. His research helped establish precise methods for measuring cosmic distances and the Hubble constant. A leader in the field, he has held roles at Carnegie Observatories, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, and is a Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M University. He also served as a Jefferson Science Fellow in the Office of Human Rights at the United States Department of State as a Humanitarian Affairs Officer. He has received numerous honors, including the Gruber Cosmology Prize and the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.