The Team

Principal Investigator

Katie Pollard

Ph.D. Students

Shiron Drusinsky
Amanda Everitt
Alexander Floren
Ryan Keivanfar
Jodi Lee
Cindy Pino
Shu Zhang

Postdocs

Veronika Dubinkina
Shuzhen Kuang
Delphine Tripp
Xinru Zhang

Research Scientists

Sean Whalen
Chunyu Zhao

Bioinformatics Core

Ayushi Agrawal
Natalie Gill
Kristina Hanspers
Alex Pico (Director)
Reuben Thomas (Associate Director)
Michela Traglia

Executive Assistant

Zainab Yusuf-Sada

Alumni

Zhirui Hu, Postdoc 2022-2025. Current position: Assistant Professor, Oregon State University.

Devon Gramajo, PUMAS Intern, Summer 2025. Current position: Student, Santa Rosa.

Katie Gjoni, Pharmacogenomics PhD 2021-2025. Current position: Genomics Software Engineer, Contractor.

Byron Smith, Postdoc 2019-2024. Current position: Bioinformatics engineer, Xaira Therapeutics.

Alexis De La Torre, PUMAS Intern, Summer 2024. Current position: Student, UC Davis.

Miriam Goldman, Bioinformatics PhD 2019-2024. Current position: Data Scientist, Verily.

Xiaofan Jin, Postdoc 2019-2024. Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Calgary.

Abigail Lind, Postdoc 2017-2023. Current position: Assistant Professor, Georgia Tech.

Laura Gunsalus, Bioinformatics PhD 2018-2023. Current position: Scientist, Genenetech AI/ML.

Maureen Pittman, Bioinformatics PhD 2017-2023. Current position: interviewing for postdocs.

Annamarie Bustion, Pharmacogenomics PhD 2017-2022. Current position: CERSI Fellow, FDA / Gilead / Savic Lab, UCSF.

Calla Martyn, Bioinformatics PhD 2018-2022 (joint with Seemay Chou). Current position: Scientist, Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases.

Jason Shi, Postdoc 2017-2022. Current position: Research Bioinformatician III, Cedars Sinai Human Microbiome Research Institute.

Pawel Przytycki, Postdoc 2018-2022. Current position: Assistant Professor, Boston University.

Kathleen Keough, Pharmacogenomics PhD 2016-2020, Postdoc 2020-2021. Current position: Senior Bioinformatics Scientist, Personalis.

Isabel Armour-Garb, Student 2020-2021, Summer intern. Current position: PhD Student, Princeton University.

Daniela Arce, Student 2021, SF State BUILD undergraduate. Current position: Masters student, SF State, and researcher in the Lim lab at UCSF.

Luis Fernando Chumpitaz Diaz, Student 2018-2021, SF State BUILD undergraduate and RISE masters student. Current position: PhD Student, Stanford University.

Geoff Fudenberg, Postdoc 2016-2021. Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Southern California.

Susanna Morin, MARC Fellow from UC Santa Cruz, Summer 2020. Current position: Data Scientist, Gainwell Technologies.

Patrick Bradley, Postdoc 2013-2020. Current position: Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University.

Amber Paasch, Postdoc 2017-2019. Current position: Senior Scientist R&D, Universal Sequencing Technology.

Nandita Garud, Postdoc 2015-2019. Current position: Associate Professor, University of California, Los Angeles.

Hassan Samee, Postdoc 2015-2019. Current position: Associate Professor, Baylor College of Medicine.

Elizabeth Eckenrod, PUMAS Intern from San Diego City College, Summer 2019. Current position: Undergraduate student, University of California, San Diego.

Svetlana Lyalina, Bioinformatics PhD, 6/18. Current position: Data Scientist, Personalized Health Care Group, Roche/Genentech.

Josh Ladau, Postdoc 2009-2018. Current position: Senior Soil Scientist, Arva Intelligence.

Katherine Zhang, high school intern from Harker High School, Summers 2017-2018. Current position: Software Engineer Intern, Google.

Hane Ryu, Pharmacogenomics PhD, 9/17 (joint with Nadav Ahituv). Current position: Senior Product Manager, Abbott.

Tara Friedrich, Bioinformatics PhD, 6/17. Current position: Bioinformatics Engineer, New Frontiers.

Stephen Nayfach, Bioinformatics PhD, 6/17. Current positions: Head of Bioinformatics, Profluent Bio.

Haleigh Miller, Gladstone Diversity Intern from Foothill Community College, Summer 2016. Current position: Graduate Student Researcher, DeRisi Lab.

Kit Tse, PUMAS Intern from College of Alemeda, Summer 2015. Current position: Senior Software Engineer, Roblox.

Aram Avila-Herrera, Bioinformatics PhD, 6/15. Current position: Bioinformatics Software Developer, Lawrence Livermore National Labs.

Alisha Holloway, Staff Scientist 2009-2015. Current position: Chief Scientific Officer, Phylos Bioscience and Assistant Adjunct Professor, UCSF.

Krista Kernodle, UC Leads Intern from UC Irvine, Summer 2014. Current position: Scientific Data Architect II, TetraScience.

Molong Li, Sarnoff Fellow 2013-2014 (joint with Deepak Srivastava). Current positions: Manager, Decision Analytics, Included Health and Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCSF.

Genevieve Erwin Haliburton, Bioinformatics PhD, 6/14. Current position: Manager, Computational Biology and Data Science, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Tom Sharpton, Postdoc 2009-2013. Current position: Professor, Oregon State University.

Rebecca Truty, Postdoc 2010-2013. Current position: Principal Bioinformatics Scientist, Invitae, Cepheid.

Mariel Finucane, Postdoc 2012-2013. Current position: Director of Statistical Methods, Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA.

Sam Riesenfeld, Postdoc 2009-2013. Current position: Assistant Professor, University of Chicago.

Tony Capra, Postdoc 2009-2013. Current position: Professor, University of California, San Francisco.

Dennis Kostka, Postdoc 2007-2011. Current position: Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh.

Danielle Lemay, Nutrition PhD, 5/08 and Postdoc, 2008-2011 (UC Davis)(Co-supervised with J. Bruce German). Current positions: Research Molecular Biologist, USDA and Associate Adjunct Professor, UC Davis.

Sandy Taylor, Biostatistics PhD, 12/09 (UC Davis). Current position: Program Manager, Principal Biostatistician, UC Davis CTSC.

Arpy Mikaelian, Applied Math MS, 3/09 (UC Davis). Current position: Lead Data Analyst, Apple.

Greg Wall, Biostatistics MS, 5/08 (UC Davis). Current position: Head of Engineering, D2G Oncology, Inc.