Looking Back at Emory’s
Most-Read Stories of the Year
Looking Back at Emory’s Most-Read Stories of the Year
Throughout 2025, the Emory community found countless ways to fulfill the university's mission “to create, preserve, teach and apply knowledge in the service of humanity.”
As the year winds down, take a look back at the most-read student, research and campus stories of 2025 from the Emory News Center, with more headlines if you want to delve deeper.
2025 began on a reflective note for Emory, as the community joined the world in honoring the legacy of President Jimmy Carter.
The 39th president, who passed away Dec. 29, 2024, at age 100, served as Emory University Distinguished Professor for more than 40 years, often saying that he would like to be remembered “as a champion of human rights, as a president who kept our country at peace and as having been a distinguished professor at Emory University.” Faculty, staff, students and alumni gathered Jan. 9 to watch Carter’s televised memorial service, and then gathered again Feb. 10 for an Emory service to honor Carter’s impact on the university.
That spirit of connection and collaboration continued throughout 2025.
The Emory community came together to welcome new leaders — including those who were already familiar faces. Justice Leah Ward Sears, an Emory law alumna and member of the Board of Trustees since 2010, took the helm as interim Emory University president as Gregory L. Fenves completed his term as president and became the university’s sixth chancellor. Joon Lee, who has served as Emory Healthcare CEO since 2023, assumed the expanded, integrated roles of executive vice president for health affairs of Emory University and vice chair of the Emory Healthcare Board of Directors in July. Badia Ahad, who had served as dean of Oxford College since 2023, became Emory University’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs in November.
We also welcomed students in the Class of 2029 and 284 new faculty members for the start of the new academic year.
We cheered with Emory Athletics as four teams — men’s swimming and diving, women’s swimming and diving, men’s golf and men’s outdoor track and field — won University Athletic Association championships and as the women’s golf team won the NCAA Division III championship. For the first time, Emory won the Learfield Directors’ Cup, claiming the title of Division III’s most successful athletics program.
Throughout the year, we marked milestones including Commencement, Match Day for medical students, the opening of the renovated Cox Hall Market, the Winship 5K for cancer research, and Homecoming and Family Weekend, as well as the successful conclusion of the 2O36 campaign, the most impactful fundraising effort in Emory history, reshaping the trajectory of the university and its academic health system for generations to come.
The heart of Emory is the people who come here to learn, teach, work, help and heal. As 2025 draws to a close, we look back at stories showcasing how they put the university’s mission into action.
2025 RANKINGS
U.S. News names Emory among top national universities
Emory’s graduate, professional schools ranked among best in nation by U.S. News
Emory recognized as a top producer of student Fulbright winners
Emory ranks among top NIH funding recipients
Three Emory hospitals ranked best in Georgia and Atlanta by U.S. News
Emory Healthcare named one of ‘America’s Best Large Employers’ by Forbes
2025 got off to an unusually snowy start at Emory, with snow days twice in two weeks.
2025 got off to an unusually snowy start at Emory, with snow days twice in two weeks.
The most-read story of the year is the announcement that Emory will be tuition-free for undergraduate students whose families earn $200,000 or less.
The transformative scholarship, Emory Advantage Plus, represents a significant expansion of the university’s financial aid program and continues Emory’s longstanding commitment to support talented students by making a preeminent education more attainable.
All new and returning domestic undergraduate students who meet the income requirements and are eligible for need-based aid will be considered for Emory Advantage Plus next fall. Emory will also continue to meet 100% of demonstrated need for all domestic undergraduate students.
“Offering free tuition to every student whose family income is $200,000 or less is about leadership,” Interim President Leah Ward Sears said when she announced the program. “We want great students to come here without regard to the cost. And we will do everything in our power to give them a great education without the burden of crushing debt.”
View a message from Interim Emory University President Leah Ward Sears announcing Emory Advantage Plus.
The original Emory Advantage program started in 2007 to serve students from families with lower incomes. Emory expanded the program in fall 2022 by eliminating need-based loans as part of undergraduate students’ financial aid packages and replacing them with institutional grants and scholarships.
“Emory Advantage Plus is more than just an expansion of a financial aid plan — it’s an expansion of opportunity, of dreams, and what’s possible at Emory,” Sears says. “Together we are opening doors wider than ever before so that brilliant, deserving students can call Emory and Georgia their home. The future has never looked brighter, and this is only just the beginning.”
Emory Advantage represents just part of the university’s efforts to support students. Emory currently provides about $438.7 million each year for institutional grant and scholarship aid for undergraduate, graduate and professional students.
Emory funds this crucial support for students through the endowment and the continued generosity of alumni, donors and other sponsors.
More Inspiring Student Stories
In addition to Emory Advantage Plus, stories focused on how students flourish at Emory resonated with readers across the university and beyond. Get to know just a few of the students who inspired us this year.
The U.S population is older today than it has ever been, so it’s not surprising Emory’s most-read research story of 2025 went viral.
“Psilocybin delays aging, extends lifespan, new Emory study suggests” focused on a compound identified by Emory researchers that actively delays aging in cells and organisms.
The study in Nature Partner Journals’ Aging demonstrates that psilocin, a byproduct of consuming psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, extended the cellular lifespan of human skin and lung cells by more than 50%.
In parallel, researchers also conducted the first long-term in vivo study evaluating the systemic effects of psilocybin in aged mice of 19 months, or the equivalent of 60–65 human years. Results indicated that the mice that received an initial low dose of psilocybin of 5 mg/kg, followed by a monthly high dose of 15 mg/kg for 10 months, had a 30% increase in survival compared to mice who hadn’t received any. These mice also displayed healthier physical features, such as improved fur quality, fewer white hairs and hair regrowth.
While traditionally researched for its mental health benefits, this study suggests that psilocybin impacts multiple hallmarks of aging by reducing oxidative stress, improving DNA repair responses and preserving telomere length. Telomeres are the structured ends of a chromosome, protecting it from damage that could lead to the formation of age-related diseases, such as cancer, neurodegeneration or cardiovascular disease. These foundational processes influence human aging and the onset of these chronic diseases.
“Most cells in the body express serotonin receptors, and this study opens a new frontier for how psilocybin could influence systemic aging processes, particularly when administered later in life,” says Louise Hecker, senior author on the study, and former associate professor at Emory, where the research was initiated and funded.
While much of what researchers know about psilocybin relates to the brain, few studies have examined its systemic impacts. Many people associate psilocybin with the hallucinogenic impacts, but the majority of the cells in the body express serotonin receptors.
“Our study opens new questions about what long-term treatments can do. Additionally, even when the intervention is initiated late in life in mice, it still leads to improved survival, which is clinically relevant in healthy aging,” adds Hecker, currently an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine.
“This study provides strong preclinical evidence that psilocybin may contribute to healthier aging — not just a longer lifespan, but a better quality of life in later years,” says Ali John Zarrabi, director of psychedelic research at Emory’s Department of Psychiatry and co-investigator of the study.
“As a palliative care physician-scientist, one of my biggest concerns is prolonging life at the cost of dignity and function. But these mice weren’t just surviving longer — they experienced better aging.”
More Groundbreaking Research and Scholarship
Research pointing the way toward a possible HIV cure. A play that became a cultural phenomenon and earned seven Tony Award nominations. Using AI to discover new natural laws in physics, and also to bring crucial health information to underserved communities. Check out more of the most-read research stories of 2025, as Emory faculty advanced knowledge across the sciences and the humanities.
Commencement is Emory’s biggest student event, bringing together thousands of excited graduates and their proud families and friends — and it is also this year’s most-read campus milestone story.
The 180th Commencement honored the achievements of the Class of 2025 across each of Emory’s nine schools and featured a keynote address from Grammy-winning performer and philanthropist Usher Raymond IV, who received an honorary degree.
Due to the forecast of possible severe weather, the university-wide Commencement ceremony was moved indoors to the Woodruff P.E. Center and combined with the diploma ceremony for Emory College of Arts and Sciences students earning bachelor of arts degrees. The event was also livestreamed.
But no amount of rain could dampen the immense sense of accomplishment and pride amongst those in attendance. Students hugged, posed for photos and shed tears as they looked back fondly on their Emory experiences, and looked forward to their bright futures.
See highlights from Emory's 180th Commencement.
During his address, Usher encouraged graduates to think beyond what is printed on the degrees they earned.
“It’s not the degree that gives the power. It’s you,” he said. “You create the value behind that degree. It is your ambition, your integrity, your hustle, your heart. It’s how you choose to show up when no one is watching.”
Usher also encouraged graduates to follow their passions and be inclined to explore uncharted territory in pursuit of those passions.
“Don’t be afraid to wander into space that you don’t understand, as long as you are bringing passion with you. Be willing to stretch, be a little unrealistic, be a little delusional even in your pursuit of happiness and fulfillment,” he said. “And at the same time, be patient. Be respectful of the process, because life is filled with challenges, and they will either make you or break you. But that’s a choice — and that choice is yours.”
With the official conferral of degrees en masse, Emory welcomed 5,527 new graduates across the university’s nine schools into a dynamic alumni community of more than 176,000 around the world. These new graduates earned a total of 5,629 degrees and hailed from 53 U.S. states and territories, along with 71 other nations.
More Emory Milestones in 2025
Stories commemorating university milestones drew thousands of readers in 2025. In addition to Commencement, the Emory community came together to celebrate new undergraduate classes, Match Day for medical students, Homecoming and more.
To learn more about Emory, please visit:
Emory News Center
Emory University
Built with Shorthand