A UW-Madison graduate student from Puerto Rico is being treated for serious burns after an attack on New Year?s Day in which five family members died and three were injured when the woman?s uncle allegedly set fire to a room with a blowtorch during a family gathering. Patricia Sanchez Vazquez, 24, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Bacteriology, suffered burns during the attack in Florida, Puerto Rico. Bacteriology department chair Richard Gourse said Thursday that Sanchez Vazquez continues to improve at a Puerto Rico hospital. Her father also is recovering, but Sanchez Vazquez?s mother remains in an induced coma, Gourse said.
Office of Strategic Communication