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Students in Medical School

MD I Students

Erin Coonahan


  • Email: ecoonaha@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: Tufts University 
  • Graduate Department: NIH Partners Program (OxCam)
  • Thesis Title: An aptamer-based sensor for the detection of antimalarial drugs
  • Thesis Lab: Dr. Carole Long (NIAD, NIH), Professor Maarten DeVos (Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Oxford University), Professor Joel Tarning (Mahidol Oxford Research Unit)

Mary Kaye Duff



  • Email: mduff@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: Columbia University
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Neuroscience, Immunology/ Infection, Endocrinology/ Metabolism,  Pharmacology/ Drug Discovery
  • Laboratory Rotation: 
  • Thesis Lab: Axel Nimmerjahn, Salk (Su 19, July 22)

Althea Hansel



  • Email: ahansel@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: Harvey Mudd College
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Pharmacology/Drug Discovery, Chemistry/Biochemistry, and Cancer Biology
  • Laboratory Rotation: Rommie Amaro (Su 19; July 1)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Chase Morgan



  • Email: c1morgan@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: Columbia University 
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Biochemistry
  • Laboratory Rotation: Liz Villa (Su 19; July 15)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Celina Nguyen



  • Email: ctn004@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: University of Arizona
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Bioinformatics, Chemistry/ Biochemistry, Immunology/ Infection
  • Laboratory Rotation: Bing Ren (Su 19; July 8)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Jack Olmstead



  • Email: jolmstead@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: Baylor University 
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Neurosciences and Bioengineering
  • Laboratory Rotation: Sung Han (Su 19; July 7)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Diana Smith



  • Email: d9smith@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: Harvard University
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Neuroscience and Epidemiology/Public Health
  • Laboratory Rotation: MJ Meloy (Su 19; July 22)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Victoria Smith



  • Email: vismith@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: Drexel University
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Chemistry/Biochemistry and Pharmacology/Drug Discovery
  • Laboratory Rotation: Rommie Amaro (Su 19; July 1)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Alta Steward



  • Email: amsteward@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: University of Washington
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Bioengineering, Bioinformatics , Epidemiology/Public Health, Neuroscience
  • Laboratory Rotation: Paula Desplats (Su 19; July 15)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Alexandra Stream



  • Email: astream@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: UCLA
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Immunology/Infection, Microbiome, and Cancer Biology
  • Laboratory Rotation: Bruce Torbett (Su 19; July 8)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Ilya Verzhbinsky



  • Email: iverzhbinsky@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: UCLA
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Bioengineering, Bioinformatics, Cardiovascular Research and Neuroscience
  • Laboratory Rotation: Terrence Sejnowski (Su 19; July 8)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A


MD II

Kelsey Baron
  • Email: krbaron@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: University of California, San Diego (2017), B.S. Neuroscience
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Chemistry/Biochemistry, Neuroscience, Pharma/Drug Discovery
  • Laboratory Rotation: Luke Wiseman 7/15-8/9, Jeff Kelly 6/17-7/12 (Su 19); Jonathan Lin (Su 18; 7/23)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Alec Calac
  • Email: acalac@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: University of Arizona (2016), B.S. Molecular and Cellular Biology, Neuroscience, and Cognitive Science  
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Neuroscience, Bioinformatics, Epidemiology
  • Laboratory Rotation: Gretchen Bandoli (Su 19); Eran Mukamel (Su 18, June 4th)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

James Deng
  • Email: jdeng@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2017), B.S. Chemistry   
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Cancer Biology, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Pharma/Drug Discovery
  • Laboratory Rotation: Nicola Allen, Li Ye Scripps 7/29-8/23 (Su 19); Bing Ren (Su 18, July 16)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Iris Garcia-Pak
  • Email: igarciap@ucsd.edu 
  • Undergraduate Institution: Brown University (2015), B.S. Biomedical Engineering
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Stem Cell Research, Cardiovascular Research, Bio-E
  • Laboratory Rotation: Rich Daneman; Olivier George (Su 19); Kristin Baldwin (Su 18; 7/18)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Alon Gelber
  • Email: agelber@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: University of Massachusetts (2016), B.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mathematics
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Neuroscience, Bioinformatics
  • Laboratory Rotation: Tanya Sharpee (Su 19); Gert Cauwenberghs (Su 18; 6/27)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Ryan Hsu
  • Email: rhhsu@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley (2017), B.S. Microbial Biology
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Immunology/Infection, Bioinformatics, Bioengineering
  • Laboratory Rotation: Rachel Dutton; Trey Ideker (Su 19); Rob Knight (Su 18, 7/23-8/24)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Saumya Jani
  • Email: sjani@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: Cal State Fullerton (2017), B.S. Biological Science    
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Immunology/Infection, Pharma/Drug Discovery, Stem Cell Research
  • Laboratory Rotation: Bruce Torbett 7/22-8-23; Cressida Madigan 6/17-7/12 (Su 19); Matt Daugherty (Su 18; 7/23-8/24)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Maria Klingler
  • Email: mklingler@ucsd.edu
  • Undergraduate Institution: University of Michigan (2013), B.S. Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience     
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Biology, Anthropology, Public Health
  • Laboratory Rotation: Molly Fox, UCLA (Su 19); Amy Non (Su 18, July 23)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A

Joyce Tran 
  • Email: jot013@ucsd.edu 
  • Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Los Angeles (2016), B.S. Biochemistry
  • Graduate Department: N/A
  • Research Interests: Neuroscience, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Epidemiology/Public Health 
  • Laboratory Rotation: Susan Ackerman and Jerold Chun (Su 19); Stuart Lipton, TSRI (Su 18; 7/2)
  • Thesis Lab: N/A