Graduates 2015–2023

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