Faculty
Peter Kuhn, PhD
DIRECTOR, CSI-CANCER
Dean’s Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Medicine, Biomedical Engineering, and Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering
James Hicks, PhD
Professor of research, Deputy Director, CSI-Cancer
Department of Biological Sciences, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Jeremy Mason, PhD
Assistant Professor of Research,
Director of Data Science
Department of Urology,
Keck School of Medicine
Liya Xu, PhD
Assistant professor of research, Director of Applied Genomics
Department of Ophthalmology, CHLA
Institute Fellows
Jorge Nieva, MD
Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine
Department of Medicine
Inderbir Gill, MD
CHAIR AND Distinguished PROFESSOR of Urology,
ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR CLINICAL INNOVATION
Department of Urology
Jesse Berry, MD
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR Of CLINICAL Ophthalmology,
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR of OCULAR ONCOLOGY
Department of Ophthalmology
Administration Staff
Elvia Nunez
Director of Research administration
Allie Welsh
dIRECTOR OF FINANCE
Research Scientists
Anand Kolatkar, PhD
dIRECTOR OF dATA sCIENCE INFRASTRUCTURE
Stephanie Shishido, PhD
DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL RESEARCH
Postdoctoral Scholars
Rish Prabakar, PhD
George Courcoubetis, PhD
Liz Qi, PharmD
Graduate Students
Nikki Higa
PhD Candidate
Cancer Biology and Genomics
Amin Naghdloo
PHD STUDENT
Mechanical Engineering
Jiyoun Seo
PhD student
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Doanna Pham
PHD Student
Molecular Biology
Sonia Maryam Setayesh
PhD candidate
Molecular Biology
Mina Tolou Ghani
PhD Student
Molecular Biology
Mike Schmidt
PhD Candidate
PIBBS
Technical Support staff
Valerie Hennes
Research Lab Specialist
Andrés Rivera
Research Lab Technician, Supervisor
Avery Lin
Specialized Lab Technician
Software Engineering (DevOps & IT) Staff
Rafael Nevarez
Research Programmer I
Robin Dominguez
Systems Administrator III
William Kim
Programmer Analyst II
Jeff Siu
Programmer Analyst II
Rajiv Mandya Nagaraju
Associate Data Scientist
Patient-facing Tech Staff
Sara Ma
Program Administrator
Undergraduate Students
More on our CURE students: Cancer Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)
Dean Tessone
Biological Sciences,
CURE Co-Leader
Mentor: Sonia Setayesh, Amin Naghdloo
Audrey Limb
Biochemistry
Mentors: Nikki Higa and Lisa Welter
Anya Shah
Global Health
Mentors: Stephanie Shishido
Theresa Luo
Biochemistry
Mentor: Sonia Setayesh
Emmeline Lin
Human Biology
Mentor: Stephanie Shishido
Carli Kaleta
Quantitative Biology
Mentors: Libere Ndacayisaba and Sonia Setayesh
Sankalp Mrutyunjaya
QUantitative Biology
Mentors: George Courcoubetis, Jeremy Mason
Amelia Marvit
Human Biology
Mentor: Stephanie Shishido
Carla Collier
BIOCHEMISTRY
Mentor: Stephanie Shishido
Emmett Liljegren
human biology
Mentors: Liz Qi, Stephanie Shishido
Brandon Ye
QUANTITATIVE BIOLOGY
Mentors: George Courcoubetis, Jeremy Mason
Monica Rodriguez
Quantitative Biology
Mentors: Rish Prabakar, Mike Schmidt
Salmaan Sayeed
Computational Neuroscience, CURE CO-LEADER
Mentor: Stephanie Shishido
Christina Chang
Biochemistry
Mentor: Liya Xu
Amy Huang
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Mentor: Stephanie Shishido
Kaelyn Cho
Biomedical ENgineering
Mentors: Rish Prabakar, Mike Schmidt
Lily Bai
Human Biology
Mentor: Stephanie Shishido
Divya Suresh
Biological Sciences
Mentor: Stephanie Shishido
Srikar Kolluru
Human Biology
Mentor: Stephanie Shishido
Andrew Udov
Human Biology
Mentor: Stephanie Shishido
Lab Alumni
| Name | Position in the lab | Dates | Current Position |
| Dr. Libere Ndacayisaba | Graduate Student | 2018-2022 | Computational Biologist II, NextRNA Therapeutics |
| Dr. Lisa Welter | Graduate Student | 2015-2022 | Scientist, Takara |
| Dr. Eduardo Ayala | Lab Manager | 2021-2022 | Biotechnology Instructor, El Camino College |
| Mr. Samuel Lee | Specialized Lab Technician | 2021-2022 | Coming Soon |
| Ms. Olivia Hart | Research Lab Technician II, Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | Master’s Student, USC Keck, Medical Physiology |
| Mr. Elijah Wen | Undergraduate Student | 2021-2022 | Coming Soon |
| Mr. Kameron Shahabi | Undergraduate Student | 2021-2022 | Intern, Tesla |
| Mr. Andrew Chen | Undergraduate Student | 2020-2022 | USC PDP, Quantitative Biology |
| Ms. Annie Amacker | Undergraduate Student | 2020-2022 | Medical Student, Keck School of Medicine of USC |
| Mr. Alexander Hill | Undergraduate Student | 2020-2022 | PhD Student, UC Santa Cruz |
| Mr. Hari Mellacheruvu | Undergraduate Student | 2020-2022 | USC PDP, Quantitative Biology |
| Mr. Mihir Kumar | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | Analyst, Cornerstone Research |
| Mr. Cameron Baab | Undergraduate Student | 2018-2022 | Coming Soon |
| Mr. Nathan Kristanto | Undergraduate Student | 2020-2022 | Solutions Engineer, Deloitte |
| Mr. Aidan Plant | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | Coming Soon |
| Ms. Jena Tran | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | USC PDP, Quantitative Biology |
| Ms. Amanda Hmelar | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | Field Clinical Representative, Cardiac Rhythm Management |
| Mr. Eric Yang | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | Analyst, Roivant Sciences |
| Ms. Vera Hsu | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | USC PDP, Preventive Medicine |
| Mr. Sachin Narayan | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | Coming Soon |
| Dr. Joseph Larsen | Graduate Student | 2016-2022 | Coming Soon |
| Dr. Shoujie Chai | Graduate Student | 2018-2022 | Scientist, Grail |
| Mr. Nicholas Matsumoto | Programmer Analyst II | 2017-2022 | Lead Programmer Analyst, Cedars-Sinai |
| Ms. Arushi Agrawal | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | Medical Student, Keck School of Medicine of USC |
| Mr. Rithik Rajani | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | Software Engineer, Arena |
| Mr. Jaden Mullin | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2022 | Coming Soon |
| Dr. Chen-Ching Peng | Postdoctoral Scholar | 2018-2020 | Postdoc at CHLA, Dr. Jesse Berry Lab |
| Dr. Carmen Ruiz Velasco | Director of Applied Research | 2014-2021 | Advanced Research Technology, Exact Sciences |
| Ms. Aidan Moriarty | Graduate Student | 2020-2021 | Min Yu Lab |
| Ms. Maddie Walker | Undergraduate Student | 2020-2021 | Coming Soon |
| Dr. Kien Nguyen | Graduate Student | 2018-2021 | Research Scientist, Meta |
| Mr. Sean Solomon | Undergraduate Student | 2019-2021 | Medical Student, UC Irvine School of Medicine |
| Mr. Paul Lanctot | Programmer Analyst II | 2018-2021 | Coming Soon |
| Ms. Ching-Ju (Ruu) Hsu | Specialized Lab Technician | 2019-2021 | PhD Student, Baylor College of Medicine |
| Ms. Carlisle Maney | Undergraduate student | 2019-2021 | Clinical Data Analyst, Flatiron Health |
| Mr. Ryan Storgard | Undergraduate student | 2017-2021 | Medical Student, Weill Medical College of Cornell University |
| Ms. Kate Rappard | Research Lab Technician II, Undergraduate Student | 2016-2021 | Technician, US Department of Justice |
| Mr. Shun-Yang Chen | Rotation PhD Student | Spring 2021 | PhD graduate student, Andrew McMahon Lab |
| Ms. Riya Verma | Rotation PhD Student | Spring 2021 | Coming soon |
| Ms. Ruoshan Dong | High School Student intern | 2019-2020 | College student, UC Berkeley |
| Ms. Xiomara Villasenor | Research Associate | 2014-2021 | Clinical Research Coordinator Assistant, UCSD Cancer Center |
| Mr. Petar Antovski | Rotation PhD Student | Spring 2021 | PhD graduate student, Rong Lu Lab |
| Ms. Sweta Sharma | Rotation PhD Student | Spring 2021 | PhD graduate student, Unmesh Jadhav lab |
| Mr. Daniel Liu | Undergraduate student | 2019-2021 | Undergraduate Researcher, Dr Kate White |
| Ms. Kathlynn Alba | Administrative Assistant II | 2017-2020 | Senior Communications Designer, Initiative |
| Dr. Milind Pore | Postdoctoral Scholar | 2015-2020 | Scientist, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research |
| Dr. Drahomír Kolenčík | Visiting Ph.D. student | 2019-2020 | Medical Science Liaison, AstraZeneca |
| Ms. Sevwandie R. | Specialized Lab Technician | 2017-2020 | Coming soon |
| Ms. Kate Cunningham | Undergraduate student | 2018-2020 | MD-PhD student, Columbia University Irving Medical Center |
| Mr. Kai Han Tu | Specialized Lab Technician | 2018-2020 | Research Associate III at Cedars-Sinai |
| Ms. Ayeshna Desai | Undergraduate student | 2019 | Associate, Corporate Development, Aadi Bioscience |
| Ms. Laura Roed | Undergraduate student | 2018-2019 | Innovation & Experience Design Consultant, Ernst & Young |
| Mr. Daniel Flores | Undergraduate student | 2018-2019 | Medical Student, UC Irvine School of Medicine PRIME-LC cohort |
| Dr. Paymaneh Malihi | Graduate Student | 2015-2019 | Manager, Global Strategic Marketing, J&J Vision |
| Ms. Sujin Jeong | Research Lab Tech I | 2018-2019 | Medical Student, UC Davis School of Medicine |
| Mr. Michael Morikado | Undergraduate Student | 2015-2019 | Systems Integration Engineer/Scientist 2, Illumina |
| Ms. Isabelle Vu | Undergraduate Student | 2019 | Medical Student, Keck School of Medicine of USC |
| Dr. Mohan Singh | Research Scientist | 2018-2019 | Investigator, GSK |
| Dr. Varsha Sundaresan | Postdoctoral Fellow | 2018-2019 | Translational Medicine Lead, Rubius Therapeutics |
| Ms. Kelly Hong | High school student intern | 2018-2019 | College student, Amherst College |
| Mr. Dillon McKinley | Undergraduate Student | 2015-2019 | Medical Student, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine |
| Ms. Divya Sripathy | Undergraduate Student | 2017-2019 | Technical Data Analyst, Intel Corporation |
| Ms. Preeya Katti | Undergraduate Student | 2017-2019 | Medical Student, St. George’s University School of Medicine |
| Mr. Matthew Lin | Undergraduate Student | 2016-2019 | Medical Student, Keck School of Medicine of USC |
| Ms. Angela Chen | Undergraduate Student | 2016-2019 | Regulatory Affairs Associate, Mirati Therapeutics |
| Mr. Rahul Masson | Undergraduate Student | 2016-2019 | Medical student, Keck School of Medicine of USC |
| Mr. Ali Hashemi | Undergraduate Student | 2018-2019 | Software Engineer, American Express |
| Mr. Ankur Rastogi | Undergraduate Student | 2018- 2019 | Engineer, Retool |
| Mr. Shaobo Li | Rotation Student | Spring 2019 | PhD graduate student, Joseph Wiemels lab |
| Mr. Peter Savari | Rotation Student | Spring 2019 | PhD graduate student, The Smith Lab |
| Ms. Amanda Meyer | Rotation Student | Fall 2018 | PhD graduate student, Andrew McMahon lab |
| Dr. Sara Restrepo-Vassalli | Postdoctoral Scholar | 2015 – 2018 | Medical Affairs Manager, OM Pharma |
| Mr. Benjamin Ormseth | Research Lab Technician II | 2017 – 2018 | Medical Student, The Ohio State School of Medicine |
| Mr. Joseph Bae | Undergraduate Student | 2016 – 2018 | MD-PhD Student, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University |
| Mr. Christopher Kohler | Undergraduate Student | 2016 – 2017 | Medical Student, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University |
| Dr. Jana-Aletta Thiele | PhD Student with Charles University in Prague | 2015 – 2018 | Assistant Head of Production, Lyocontract GmbH |
| Ms. Sophia Wix | Undergraduate Student | 2015 – 2018 | Medical Student, TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine |
| Ms. Serena Zheng | Undergraduate Student | 2015 – 2018 | Medical Student, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai |
| Dr. Michaela Miklikova | Exchange Postdoctoral Fellow | 2015 – 2016 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Charles University in Prague |
| Dr. Anna Sundstrom-Gerdtsson | Postdoctoral Scholar | 2014 – 2018 | Associate Senior Lecturer, Lund University, Sweden |
| Mr. Erik Gerdtsson | Research Lab Specialist | 2014 – 2018 | Imaging Scientist, ImaGene-iT |
| Dr. Fredrika Carlsson | Postdoctoral Scholar; Research Associate | 2014 – 2016 | Project Director, Synklino, Sweden |
| Sara Ruzycky | Specialized Lab Tech | 2015 – 2016 | Senior Research Associate, Intellia Therapeutics |
| Gina Labeaud | Specialized Lab Technician | 2015 – 2016 | Group Facilitator, The Childrens Collective Inc |
| Ms. Lan Zhou | Research Assistant | 2013 – 2015 | PhD Graduate Student, Arizona State University |
| Dr. Edna Flores | Scripps Clinical Fellow | 2013 – 2014 | Medical Oncologist and Hematologist, Scripps Health |
| Dr. Aadel Chaudhuri | Professional Scientific Collaborator | 2013 – 2014 | Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology |
| Ms. Newsha Sahaf | Research Assistant III | 2013 – 2014 | Scientist, Gossamer Bio |
| Dr. Jennifer Au | Scripps Clinical Fellow | 2013 – 2014 | Transplant Hepatologist, Scripps Health |
| Dr. Zheng Topp | Scripps Clinical Fellow | 2013 – 2014 | Hematologist Oncologist, Baptist Health |
| Dr. Mariam Rodriguez Lee | Research Associate; Research Scientist | 2013 – 2013; 2013 – 2018 | Medical Affairs Consultant, 1798 |
| Dr. Anders Carlsson | Postdoctoral Scholar; Research Scientist | 2012 – 2015, 2015 – 2016 | CEO, Bionamic, Sweden |
| Ms. Nadia Ebrahim | Research Assistant | 2012 – 2014 | Alliances Manager, Epic Sciences |
| Dr. Luisa Fernandez Altuna | Research Associate | 2012 – 2014 | Scientist, Epic Sciences |
| Ms. Janett Stoehr | Research Assistant Trainee | 2012 – 2013 | Research Assistant, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Sydney, Australia |
| Ms. Magdalena Panetta | Summer Intern | 2012 | Figure Staking Coach, Saint Paul, Minnesota |
| Dr. Garry Jason Forse | Research Associate | 2011- 2013 | Principal Scientist, Grifols Biologicals |
| Dr. Mohsen Sabouri | Bioinformatics Analyst | 2011 – 2013 | Associate Director, Bioinformatics, Mission Bio |
| Ms. (Julia) Su Zhou Li | Research Assistant | 2011 – 2013 | Postdoctoral Scholar, UC San Diego |
| Ms. Meghana Bhimarao | Summer Intern | 2011 | Consulting Data Analyst, Kaiser Permanente |
| Dr. Angel Ernesto Dago Rodriguez | Research Associate | 2010 – 2014 | Scientist, Lynx Biosciences, Inc |
| Ms. Rachelle Kareen Jessica Lamy | Research Assistant | 2010 – 2012 | Clinical Laboratory Scientist, NeoGenomics Laboratories |
| Mr. Thomas Metzner | Research Assistant | 2010 – 2012 | Medical Student, Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences |
| Ms. Loressa Uson | Research Assistant | 2010 – 2012 | Government Relations Analyst, UC San Diego |
| Ms. Meghana Honnatti | Research Assistant | 2010 – 2011 | Senior Business Analyst, Epic Sciences |
| Dr. Melissa Torrey | Oncology Research Fellow | 2010 – 2011 | Medical Oncologist and Hematologist, Scripps Health |
| Dr. Edward Cho | Research Associate | 2010 – 2011 | Senior Scientist, BioNano Genomics |
| Mr. Daniel Malinowski | Summer Intern | 2010 | Dartmouth College, Hannover, NH |
| Dr. Yelena Petrova | Research Associate | 2009 – 2011 | Staff Biostatistician and SAS Programmer, Stattrials |
| Dr. Craig Yoshioka | Research Programmer | 2009 – 2011 | Research Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University |
| Dr. Marco Wendel | Research Associate | 2009 – 2011 | Medical Strategy & Operations Lead, Bristol Myers Squibb |
| Dr. Xing Yang | Scientific Associate | 2009 – 2010 | VP of Technology, BioNanomatrix |
| Mr. Devin Sok | Graduate Student | 2009 – 2010 | Director of Antibody Discovery and Development, International AIDS Vaccine Research (IAVI), Scripps Research Institute |
| Dr. Ethan Schram | Oncology Research Fellow | 2009 – 2010 | Oncologist, Adventist Health St. Helena |
| Dr. David Nelson | Visiting Investigator | 2009 – 2010 | President and CEO, Splash Pharmaceuticals, Inc, San Diego, CA |
| Ms. Madelyn Luttgen | Research Assistant II | 2008 – 2014 | Law Clerk, Fish & Richardson P.C., San Diego, CA |
| Dr. Michael McCormick | Research Associate | 2008 – 2013 | Staff Scientist, Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP |
| Mr. Lawrence Allin | Research Assistant III | 2008 – 2012 | Scientist, SAFC |
| Dr. Cromwell Cornillez-Ty | Staff Scientist | 2008 – 2011 | Investment Advisor Representative, STEM Financial, LLC |
| Mr. Michael Malchiodi | Research Assistant | 2008 – 2011 | Technical Support Scientist, Truvian |
| Dr. Sumana Chandramouli | Research Associate | 2008 – 2009 | Director & Research Program Leader, Infectious Diseases, Moderna |
| Dr. Edward Huynh | Oncology Research Fellow | 2008 – 2009 | Oncologist, Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group |
| Mr. Daniel Lazar | Research Assistant | 2007 – 2012 | Research Assistant, TSRI |
| Dr. Beili Wu | Research Associate | 2007 – 2011 | Professor, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, CAS, Shanghai, P.R. China |
| Ms. Theresa Tran | Research Intern; Summer Intern | 2007-2008; 2009 | UCSD |
| Dr. Jennifer Fisher | Oncology Research Fellow | 2007 – 2008 | Oncologist, Scripps Health |
| Dr. Vadim Cherezov | Assistant Professor | 2006 – 2013 | Professor, The Bridge at USC |
| Mr. Peter Clark | Research Assistant I | 2006 – 2010 | Professional Helicopter Pilot & Instructor |
| Dr. Jerome Dupuy | Research Associate | 2006 – 2008 | Assistant Professor, Marseille-Luminy University, France |
| Ms. Leila Davis | Research Assistant | 2006 – 2008 | Not available yet |
| Dr. Nicole Lazarus | Research Associate | 2006 – 2008 | Scientific Associate at PARC |
| Mr. Joshua Kunken | Bioinformatics Analyst | 2005 – 2014 | Data Scientist/Engineer, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center |
| Ms. Sophie Daudenarde | Research Assistant | 2005 – 2009 | Senior Product Manager, Convergence Group |
| Ms. Michelle Kraus | Research Assistant | 2005 – 2007 | Scientist, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals |
| Mr. Matthew Leach | Research Assistant I | 2005 – 2007 | Medical Doctor – Otolaryngology, Scripps Health |
| Ms. Christine Chen | Research Assistant | 2005 – 2006 | Graduate student – UCSB |
| Mr. Enrique Rayon | Summer Intern | 2005 | Bio-Mechanical Engineer, NuVasive |
| Dr. Dena Marrinucci | Graduate Student; Scientific Associate | 2004 – 2009; 2009 – 2010 | Founder and VP of Truvian Sciences |
| Dr. Kumar Saikatendu | Research Associate | 2004 – 2008 | Director – Drug Discovery Sciences, Takeda Pharmaceuticals |
| Ms. Sophie Coon | Research Programmer III | 2004 – 2007 | Research Programmer, Illumina |
| Ms. Vanitha Subramanian | Research Assistant I | 2004 – 2007 | Scientist, Novartis |
| Dr. Alexei Brooun | Scientific Associate | 2004 – 2007 | Director, Target Protein Design, Merck |
| Dr. Maneesh Yadav | Graduate Student | 2004 – 2007 | Quantitative Research Analyst, Graham Capital Management, San Francisco, CA |
| Dr. Jill E. Chrencik | Research Associate | 2004 – 2007 | Scientist, Merck |
| Mr. Scott Foster | Research Assistant | 2004 – 2006 | Executive Director and Director of Coaching, Liverpool FC International Academy |
| Dr. Lindsay Kroener | Research Assistant | 2004 – 2005 | Assistant Clinical Professor in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, UCLA |
| Dr. Enrique Abola | Research Scientist (Staff) | 2003 – 2014 | Semi-retired |
| Dr. Jeremiah Joseph | Staff Scientist | 2003 – 2012 | Associate Director, Ferring Pharmaceuticals |
