Recent Graduates

2022

Jennifer Chousal

Email: jdumdie@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution:University of South Dakota (2013), B.S. Biology, Mathematics Graduate Department: BMS Research Interests: Cancer Biology, Endocrinology, Fertility, and Pharmacology Laboratory Rotation: Heidi Cook-Andersen, Mana Parast (Su 14); Duane Stupack (Su 13) Thesis Lab: Heidi Cook-Anderson Current Position: Resident in Clinical Pathology at UCSD  Publications

Robert Kim

Email: r8kim@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: Johns Hopkins University (2012), B.S. Applied Math and Statistics, Biomedical Engineering Graduate Department: Neuroscience Research Interests: Neuroscience Laboratory Rotation: Terry Sejnowski, Sam Pfaff (Su 15); Ed Callaway, Salk (Su 14) Thesis Lab: Terry Sejnowski, Salk

Liam King

Email: lking@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: UC Berkeley (2012), B.S. Chemical Biology Graduate Department: TSRI Research Interests: Immunology/ Infection and Chemistry/ Biochemistry Laboratory Rotation: David Pride, Bill Fenical (Su 14); Elizabeth Winzeler (Su 13) Thesis Lab: Erica Ollmann Saphire Publications

Molly Kwiatkowski

Email: mkwiatkowski@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: Bowdoin College (2011), B.S. Neuroscience Graduate Department: Neuroscience Research Interests: Neuroscience Laboratory Rotation: Mark Tuszynski, Sam Pfaff (Su 15); Nick Spitzer (Su 14) Thesis Lab: Jared Young Publications

Vitor Martins

Email: vfmartins@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: University of Florida (2014), B.S. Biochemistry, Math, Bioinformatics Graduate Department: BMS Research Interests: Cardiovascular, Endocrinology Laboratory Rotation: Marc Montminy, Simon Schenk (Su 15); Fred Levine, Sanford Burnham (Su 14) Thesis Lab: Simon Schenk Current Position: Internship (2022-2023): Internal Medicine. University of Miami Holy Cross Hospital. Residency (2023-2028): Diagnostic Radiology Clinician-Scientist Pathway. UC San Diego Publications

2021

Debha Amatya

Email: damatya@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University (2014), B.S. Bioengineering    Graduate Department: Neuroscience Research Interests: Bioengineering/Neuro-Engineering, Neuroscience Laboratory Rotation: Fred Gage, Jonathan Sebat (Su 15); Terry Sejnowski, Salk (Su 14) Thesis Lab: Fred Gage Current Position: Resident, Neuroscience, UC Los Angeles Publications

Joyce Chen

Email: j2chen@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: UCLA 2008, B.S. Biochemistry Graduate Department: BMS Research Interests: Cancer biology, epigenetics Laboratory Rotation: Clodagh O'Shea (Su 14); Anjana Rao (Su 13); Victor Nizet (Su 12) Thesis Lab: Anjana Rao Current Position: Resident, Internal Medicine, NYP Hosp-Weill Cornell Med Center Publications

Mark Fang

Email: myfang@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: Stanford (2011), B.S. Biology, Mathematical & Computational Sciences Graduate Department: BMS Research Interests: Cancer biology, genomics, and systems biology Laboratory Rotation: Gene Yeo, Chris Glass (Su 13); Bing Ren (Su 12) Thesis Lab: Gene Yeo Current Position: Resident, Pediatrics, UC San Diego Med Center Publications

Anupam Garg

Email: akgarg@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: University of Washington (2013), B.S. Bioengineering Graduate Department: Neuroscience Research Interests: Bioengineering and Neuroscience Laboratory Rotation: Brad Voytek, Ed Callaway (Su 14); Tom Albright, Salk (Su 13) Thesis Lab: Ed Callaway, Salk Current Position: Resident, Ophthalmology, John Hopkins Publications

Eric Geier

Email: egeier@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: Indiana University (2011), B.S. Astronomy, Physics Graduate Department: BMS Research Interests: Cancer biology, genomics, and systems biology Laboratory Rotation: Kim Prisk, Kevin Patrick (Su 13); Kim Prisk, Rick Buxton (Su 12) Thesis Lab: Kim Prisk Current Position: Resident, Psychiatry, UC San Diego Med Center Publications

Email: eyl015@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: UC Berkeley (2010), B.S. Chemical Biology Graduate Department: Neuroscience Research Interests: The physiological basis and clinical applications of functional brain imaging Laboratory Rotation: Shyni Varghese, Karen Christman (Su 13); Jim Brewer (Su 12) Thesis Lab: Rick Buxton Current Position: Resident, Radiation Oncology, UC Los Angeles  Publications

Stosh Ozog

Email: sozog@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: UC Berkeley (2010), B.A./ B.S. Molecular & Cell Biology, Plant Graduate Department: TSRI Research Interests: Epidemiology/ Public Health and Immunology/ Infection Laboratory Rotation: Bruce Torbett (Su 13), Sumit Chanda & Victor Nizet (Su 14) Thesis Lab: Bruce Torbett Current Position: Resident, Pediatrics, U Washington Affil Hospitals Publications

Jason Seidman

Email: jseidman@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: UC Santa Barbara (2010), B.S./M.A. Biochemistry/Molecular Biology Graduate Department: BMS Research Interests: Type 2 diabetes, metabolism, and energy homeostasis Laboratory Rotation: Chris Glass, Reuben Shaw (Su 13); Marc Montminy, Salk (Su 12) Thesis Lab: Chris Glass Current Position: Resident, Dermatology, UC San Diego Publications

Sahil Shah

Email: sas032@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: U. of Maryland (2012), B.S. Cell Biology & Genetics Graduate Department: Neuroscience Research Interests: Type 2 diabetes, metabolism, and energy homeostasis Laboratory Rotation: Hollis Cline, TSRI, Ed Callawy, Salk (Su 13); Al La Spada (Su 12) Thesis Lab: Jeff Goldberg Current Position: Resident, Opthalmology, Stanford Univ Publications

2020

Matt Kolar

Email: mkolar@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: U. of North Carolina (2009), B.S. Chemistry Graduate Department: BMS Research Interests: Chemical biology Laboratory Rotation: Reuben Shaw, Salk, Ben Cravatt, TSRI (Su 13); Jeff Kelly/Luke Wiseman (TSRI, Su 12) Thesis Lab: Alan Saghatelian (Salk) Current Position: Resident, Dermatology, UC San Diego Publications

Spencer Moore

Email: s2moore@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: UCLA (2012), B.S. Neuroscience Graduate Department: BMS Research Interests: Systems neuroscience and neural circuits Laboratory Rotation: Binhai Zheng, Jeff Goldberg (Su 13); Jeff Isaacson (Su 12) Thesis Lab: Alysson Muotri Current Position: Resident, Internal Medicine & Opthalmology, University of Arizona Publications

Angela Ianni

Email: aianni@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Graduate Department: NIH Partners Program (OxCam) Research Interests: The effect of dopamine on the neural coding of reward value in healthy individuals and patients with Schizophrenia. Laboratory Rotation: Karen Berman, NIH; Tim Behrens , Oxford (Su 12) Thesis Lab: Karen Berman, NIH; Tim Behrens, Oxford Current Position: Resident, Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Publications

Jessica Meves

Email: jmeves@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: University of Michigan Graduate Department: Neurosciences Thesis Title: Neuron-intrinsic and extrinsic control of axon sprouting after central nervous system injury Thesis Lab: Binhai Zheng Current Position: Resident, Psychiatry, University of Michigan Publications

Priya Nayak

Email: pmnayak@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: Caltech (2011), B.S. Physics Graduate Department: Bioengineering Research Interests: Stem Cells, Bioinformatics Laboratory Rotation: Shankar Subramaniam (Su 13); John Serences (Su 12); Veerabhadran Ramanathan (Su 11) Thesis Lab: Shankar Subramaniam Current Position: Resident, Primary Care, UC San Diego Publications:

Nicholas Protopsaltis

Email: nprotops@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: Saint Louis University Graduate Department: BMS Thesis Title: Role of Interleukin-22 in Promoting Tumor Angiogenesis  Thesis Lab: Napoleone Ferrara Current Position: Resident, Pathology, University of Cincinnati

2019

David Adamowicz

Email: dadamowi@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution:University of Pennsylvania Graduate Department: Neurosciences Thesis Title: Elucidating the Basis for Memory Impairment in Dementia with Lewy Bodies Thesis Lab: Fred Gage Current Position: Resident, Psychiatry, UC San Diego Publications

Cindy Liu

Email: yhl016@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: Johns Hopkins Graduate Department: Neurosciences Thesis Title: Ultrastructure of Melanopsin-Expressing Retinal Ganglion Cell Circuitry in the Retina and Brain Regions that Mediate Light-Driven Behavior Thesis Lab: Satchin Panda, Salk Current Position: Resident, Internal Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Publications

Geoff Weiner

Email: gweiner@ucsd.edu   Undergraduate Institution: Lake Forrest College (2008), B.A. Math & Biology Graduate Department: Neurosciences Thesis Title: Thesis Lab: Jeff Goldberg Current Position: Resident, Opthalmology, Stanford Publications

2018

Amran Asadi

Email: aasadi@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: University of Florida (2008), B.S., Mechanical Engineering Graduate Department: Bioengineering Thesis Title: Spatio-temporal patterns of active pulmonary vascular control Thesis Lab: Kim Prisk Current Position: Resident, Anesthesiology, Stanford Publications

Greg Goldgof

Email: ggoldgof@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University (2009), B.S. Computer Science and Biological Sciences, M.S. Bioengineering Graduate Department: Biomedical Sciences Thesis Title: Drug Target Discovery Using Designer Drug Sensitive Yeast Thesis Lab: Elizabeth Winzeler Current Position: Resident, Pathology, UCSF Publications

Aran Groves

Email: agroves@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: University of Northern Arizona (2008), B.S., Biology Graduate Department: Neuroscience Thesis Title:Astrocyte activity modulated by sphingosine 1-phosphate signaling in a multiple sclerosis model Thesis Lab: Jerold Chun, TSRI Current Position: Resident, Pediatric Neurology, UCLA Publications

Cynthia Hsu

Email: c6hsu@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: University of Washington (2010), B.S. Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology Graduate Department: Biomedical Sciences Thesis Title:Molecular mechanisms of MAP4K3-mediated autophagy induction Thesis Lab: Al La Spada Current Position: Resident, Internal Medicine, UCSD Publications

Michael Kramer

Email: mkramer@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: Harvard University (2009), B.A. Engineering Graduate Department: Bioinformatics & Systems Biology Thesis Title: Transformation of high-throughput data into hierarchal cellular models enables biological prediction and discovery Thesis Lab: Trey Ideker Current Position: Resident, Internal Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Publications

Espoir Kyubwa

Email: ekyubwa@ucsd.edu Undergraduate Institution: UCSD (2010), B.S/M.S. Bioengineering Graduate Department: Bioengineering Thesis Title: Optogenetic Dissection of Cell Types and Circuits in Mouse Visual Cortex Thesis Lab: Ed Callaway, Salk Current Position: Publications

Leo Lin

Email: l2lin@ucsd.edu  Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University (2003), B.A. Biology Graduate Department: Biomedical Sciences Thesis Title: Exploring Antibiotic and Innate Immune Synergies to Treat Mutli-Drug Resistant Bacterial Infections Thesis Lab: Victor Nizet Current Position: Resident, Pathology, University of Utah Publications

2017

Neal Amin

• Email: neamin@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: Columbia University (2008), B.S., Biochemistry
• Graduate Department: BMS
• Thesis Title: The motor neuron-microRNA (miR-218) regulates a gene network required for nerve-muscle interaction
• Thesis Lab: Sam Pfaff, Salk
• Current Position:  Resident, Department of Psychiatry, Stanford
• Publications

Sagar Bapat

• Email: sbapat@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University (2009), B.S., Chemistry
• Graduate Department: BMS
• Thesis Title: Immunology of Aging and Metabolic Disease
• Thesis Lab: Ye Zheng and Ron Evans, Salk
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Pathology, UCSF
• Publications

Dekker Deacon

• Email: ddeacon@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: Middlebury College (2007), B.A., Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
• Graduate Department: BMS
• Thesis Title: The Multigenic Basis for Human Cardiovascular Disease
• Thesis Lab: Neil Chi
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Dermatology, U. of Utah
• Publications

Rahul Nene

• Email: rnene@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: Brown University (2009), Sc.B., Biology
• Graduate Department: BMS
• Thesis Title: Identification and Characterization of the Cdc73 Transcription Factor as a Suppressor of Genome Instability
• Thesis Lab: Richard Kolodner
• Current Position:  Resident, Department of Emergency Medicine, UCSD
• Publications

Danielle Steed

• Email: dbarrios@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: California State University- Los Angeles (2008), B.S., Biology
• Graduate Department: TSRI
• Research Interests: Natural Products Biosynthesis and Total Synthesis, Enzymology
• Laboratory Rotations: K.C. Nicolaou, TSRI (Su 10); Bill Gerwick (Su 10); Floyd Romesberg, K.C. Nicolaou, TSRI (Su 11)
• Thesis Lab: Floyd Romesberg, TSRI
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Internal Medicine, Emory
• Publications

Tyler Steed

• Email: tsteed@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley (2009), B.A., Molecular and Cell Biology, Neurobiology
• Graduate Department: Neurosciences
• Thesis Title: Quantitative Radiographic Measures in Glioblastoma Imaging Associate With Patient Survival and Tumor Subtype, While Uncovering Genomic Profiles
• Thesis Lab: Clark Chen
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Neurosurgery, Emory
• Publications

Jean Wassenaar

• Email: jew027@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: Johns Hopkins University (2008), B.S.E., Biomedical Engineering
• Graduate Department: Bioengineering
• Research Interests: Biomaterials for Cell/Tissue Engineering and Drug Delivery
• Laboratory Rotations: Karen Christman (Su 10); Inder Verma, Salk (Su 10)
• Thesis Lab: Karen Christman
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Internal Medicine, Vanderbilt
• Publications

Csilla Lippert

• Email: cfelsen@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: California Institute of Technology (2008), B.S., Biology and English
• Graduate Department: BMS
• Research Interests: Cancer Biology, Imaging Technology
• Laboratory Rotations: Judy Varner (Su 09); Stuart Lipton, Sanford-Burnham (Su 09); Roger Tsien (Su 10)
• Thesis Lab: Roger Tsien
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Psychiatry, Stanford
• Publications

Robert Saddawi-Konefka

• Email: rsaddawi@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: University of Southern California (2008), B.A., Neuroscience and Spanish
• Graduate Department: Neurosciences
• Thesis Title: IL-17D Directed Immune Surveillance
• Thesis Lab: Jack Bui
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, UCSD
• Publications

Panid Sharifnia

• Email: psharifn@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley (2008) B.A., Molecular and Cellular Biology; Biochemistry
• Graduate Department: Neurosciences
• Thesis Title: Regulatory elements of cebp-1 mRNA
• Thesis Lab: Yishi Jin
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF
• Publications

2016

Alex Hui

• Email: alhui@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: Johns Hopkins University (2007), B.S. Biomedical Engineering
• Graduate Department: Bioengineering
• Thesis Title: Regulation of Articular Cartilage Proteoglycan-4 Secretion in Aging and Osteoarthritis
• Thesis Lab: Robert Sah
• Current Position: Resident, Orthopedic Surgery, Mt. Sinai
• Publications

Kentson Lam

• Email: k8lam@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley (2005), B.A. Molecular and Cell Biology
• Graduate Department: Biomedical Sciences
• Thesis Title: Characterization of RUNX1 function in hematopoiesis
• Thesis Lab: Dong-Er Zhang
• Current Position:  Resident, Department of Internal Medicine (Investigator Pathway), UCSD
• Publications

Bruno Maranhao

• Email: bmaranha@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Los Angeles (2007), B.S. Electrical Engineering and Neuroscience
• Graduate Department: Bioengineering
• Thesis Title: Efficient Identification of Disease Causative Mutations with Next Generation Sequencing Technologies
• Thesis Lab: Gabe Silva, Terry Sejnowski, Salk
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Anesthesiology, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis
• Publications

Aaron Simon

• Email: aasimon@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: Brown University (2007), B.S. Biophysics
• Graduate Department: Bioengineering
• Thesis Title: Beyond BOLD: Toward the application of quantitative functional magnetic resonance imaging to the study of brain function and physiology
• Thesis Lab: Richard Buxton
• Current Position:  Resident, Department of Radiation Oncology, UCSD
• Publications

Robert Thomas

• Email: rlthomas@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: Santa Clara University (2006), B.S. Chemistry
• Graduate Department: Biomedical Sciences
• Thesis Title: MCL-1 is Essential for Myocardial Homeostasis and Autophagy
• Thesis Lab: Asa Gustafsson
• Current Position:  Resident, Department of Internal Medicine, UCSD
• Publications

Cesar Virgen

• Email: cvirgenl@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: University of Alberta (2006), B.S., Biology
• Graduate Department: TSRI
• Thesis Title:  Interleukin-1 Receptor 1 Activation Inhibits Hepatitis C Virus Infection
• Thesis Lab: Frank Chisari, TSRI
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Dermatology, UC Irvine
• Publications

Dawn Eichenfield

• Email: daz001@ucsd.edu
• Undergraduate Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2008), B.S. Biology
• Graduate Department: Biomedical Sciences
• Thesis Title: Towards and Understanding of Inflammation in Macrophages
• Thesis Lab: Chris Glass
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Dermatology, UCSD
• Publications

2015

Kristen Berendzen

• Undergraduate Institution: Vanderbilt University (2004), B.S. Neuroscience
• Graduate Department: Neuroscience
• Thesis Title:  Systemic regulation of the cellular stress response to proteotoxicity by neuroendocrine signaling
• Thesis Lab:  Andrew Dillin
• Current Position:  Resident, Department of Psychiatry, UCSF
• Publications

Leela Davies

• Undergraduate Institution: Brown University (2005), B.S. Neuroscience
• Graduate Department: Biomedical Sciences
• Thesis Title: Roles of Sialic Acid Diversity in Mammalian Brain Evolution
• Thesis Lab: Ajit Varki
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Internal Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston
• Publications

Mithun Diwakar

• Undergraduate Institution: California Institute of Technology (2006), B.S. Biology
• Graduate Department: Bioengineering
• Thesis Title: Multi-Core Beamformer for Spatio-Temporal MEG Source Activity Reconstruction
• Thesis Lab: Mingxiong Huang
• Current Position:  Resident, Department of Radiology, UCSF
• Publications

Jesse Dixon

• Undergraduate Institution: Princeton University (2006), B.A. Neuroscience
• Graduate Department: Biomedical Sciences
• Thesis Title: Higher Order Chromatin Architecture in Mammalian Genome
• Thesis Lab: Bing Ren
• Current Position: Helmsley-Salk Fellow, Salk Institute
• Publications

Wes Gifford

• Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Los Angeles (2005), B.S. Neuroscience
• Graduate Department: Neuroscience
• Thesis Title: Endogenous Retroviruses Contribute Regulatory Sequences for Early Embryonic Gene Activation
• Thesis Lab: Sam Pfaff, Salk Institute
• Current Position:  Resident, Department of Pediatrics, U. of Washington
• Publications

Matt Gonzales

• Undergraduate Institution: UCSD (2006), B.S. Chemical Engineering
• Graduate Department: Bioengineering
• Thesis Title: Rotor Termination in a Patient-Specific Model of Atrial Fibrillation
• Thesis Lab: Andrew McCulloch
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Internal Medicine, UCLA
• Publications

Val Griffeth

• Undergraduate Institution: Vassar College (2004), B.A. Biochemistry and Mathematics
• Graduate Department: Bioengineering
• Thesis Title: The Physiology Basis of BOLD Functional MRI
• Thesis Lab: Richard Buxton
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health & Science U., Portland
• Publications

Adnan Majid

• Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University (2007), B.S. Symbolic Systems
• Graduate Department: Neuroscience
• Thesis Title: Selective inhibitory control and the basal ganglia
• Thesis Lab:  Adam Aron
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Psychiatry (Research Track), UCLA
• Publications

Liz Murphy

• Undergraduate Institution: University of California, San Diego (2007), B.A. Mathematics
• Graduate Department: Neurosciences
• Thesis Title: Quantitative neuroimaging: applications to normal aging and neurodegenerative disease
• Thesis Lab:  James Brewer
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Neurology, UCSD
• Publications

Tim Tirrell

• Undergraduate Institution: California Institute of Technology (2006), B.S. Chemistry
• Graduate Department: Biomedical Sciences
• Thesis Title: Biomechanical Studies of the Human Musculoskeletal System
• Thesis Lab:  Richard Lieber
• Current Position: Resident, Department of Surgery, UCSD
• Publications