Current Trainees
Aryana Razmara
VSTP, V3
amrazmara@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Immunology
Major Professor: Dr. Robert Canter
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Danika Bannasch/Group 7
Research Interests: Comparative Oncology, NK cell therapy, animal models, and clinical trials.
Lizzy Ashley
VSTP, PhD3
lashley@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Epidemiology
Major Professor: Dr. Christine Kreuder Johnson
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Brian Bird/Group 6
Research Interests: Marine ecosystem health, Quantitative disease ecology, Spatial epidemiology, Wildlife disease modeling, and Social-ecological systems.
Olivia Cords
VSTP, PhD4
ocords@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Epidemiology
Major Professor: Dr. Christine Kreuder Johnson
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Renée M Tsolis/Group 2
Research Interests: Epidemiology, One Health, and Infectious Disease.
Jenn Cossaboon
VSTP, V3
jcossaboon@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Swee Teh
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Brian Leonard/Group 4
Research Interests: Environmental Toxicology, Endocrine Disruption, Reproductive Health, Aquaculture Techniques, and Medaka.
Brittany Davis
VSTP, PhD2
bpdavis@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Neuroscience
Major Professor: Dr. Pam Lein and Dr. Angie Gelli
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Renée M Tsolis/Group 2
Research Interests: Behavioral Neuroscience, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Neuroendocrine System, Neuroinflammation, and Neuropharmacology.
Catherine Dombroski
VSTP, PhD2
cdombroski@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology
Major Professor: Dr. Mark Huising
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Aijun Wang/Group 1
Research Interests: Metabolic Disease, Diabetes, Nutrition, Genetics, and Translational Research.
Ashleigh Flores
VSTP, PhD4
asmflores@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Bart Weimer
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Sara Thomasy/Group 5
Research Interests: Enterolithiasis, Small Animal Urolithiasis, the Microbiome, Equine Gastrointestinal Health and Disease, Urinary System Health and Disease
Chase Garcia
VSTP, V3
cagar@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology
Major Professor: Dr. Gino Cortopassi
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Damian Genetos/Group 3
Research Interests: Nutrition, Metabolic Disease, Age-related Disease, and Mitochondrial pathophysiology.
Sophie Gretler
VSTP, PhD3
srgretler@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Pharmacology and Toxicology
Major Professor: Dr. Renée M. Tsolis
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Damian Genetos/ Group 3
Research Interests: Host-pathogen interaction and host response to infection. Characterization of genes linked to the host specificity of Salmonella strains.
Katherine Griffin
VSTP, V3
khgriffin@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Immunology
Major Professor: Dr. Kent Leach
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Renée M Tsolis/ Group 2
Research Interests: Immunology, Immune signaling, Tissue Engineering, and Orthopedic Surgery.
JuJu Hallum
VSTP, PhD1
jmhallum@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Aijun Wang/Group 1
Research Interests: Histology, stem cells, hematopoiesis, cancer biology, embryology, comparative histopathology, and general pathology.
Erin Hisey
VSTP, PhD4
eahisey@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Brian Leonard
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Brian Bird/Group 6
Research Interests: Ocular surface pathology, lipid biology, gland biology, and Evaporative Dry Eye Disease (EDED).
Ash Jay
VSTP, V4
ashjay@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Wolf Heyer
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Brian Bird/Group 6
Research Interests: Cancer biology, Genomic Instability, and BRCA2.
Daniela Jimenez
VSTP, PhD3
dajimenez@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Immunology
Major Professor: Dr. Christine Toedebusch
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Sara Thomasy/Group 5
Research Interests: Immunology, Cancer Immunology, Comparative Oncology, brain tumors, glioma associated microglia/macrophages.
Madison Luker
VSTP, PhD3
meluker@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Immunology
Major Professor: Dr. Robert Rebhun
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Danika Bannasch/Group 7
Research Interests: Comparative and translational oncology, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, cancer immunology.
Devan Murphy
VSTP, V4
devmurphy@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Major Professor: Dr. John Albeck
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Sara Thomasy/Group 5
Research Interests: Signal transduction, live-cell imaging, ERK and NF-kB, Inflammation, and Lung Epithelium.
Raneesh Ramarapu
VSTP, PhD2
rramarapu@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Sara Thomasy
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Danika Bannasch/Group 7
Research Interests: Bioinformatics (Machine-learning, high dimensionality data, single cell), Stem Cell Dynamics, Gene Regulatory Circuits, Cellular Reprogramming.
Eleanor (El) Pressman
VSTP, PhD4
empressman@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Animal Biology
Major Professor: Dr. Ermias Kebreab
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Damian Genetos/Group 3
Research Interests: Environmental impact of animal agriculture, dairy farming, ruminant nutrition, enteric methane and methane-inhibiting feed additives, and mathematical modeling.
Makda Asrat
VSTP, PhD4
masrat@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Fauna Smith
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Danika Bannasch/Group 7
Research Interests: Immune characterization of sheep and goats, reproductive and developmental immunology, field research on novel approaches to prevention and management of infectious diseases of sheep and goats.
Victoria Tobin
VSTP, PhD4 CalTech
vrtobin@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Biology
Major Professor: Dr. Michael Elowitz and Dr. Matt Thomson
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Brian Leonard/Group 4
Research Interests: Immunology, Comparative Medicine, Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics, CAR T cells, and Synthetic Circuits.
Raymond Zurich
VSTP, V2
rhzurich@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Renée M Tsolis/Group 2
Research Interests: Animal Models of Human Disease, Development, Wound Healing and Regeneration, Infectious Diseases.
MJ Marshall
VSTP, PhD2
ejmarshall@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology
Major Professor: Dr. Crystal Rogers
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Brian Leonard/Group 4
Research Interests: Reproductive biology, developmental biology, environmental toxicology, regenerative medicine, analgesia and anesthesia, molecular biology, corticosteroids, endocrinology.
Matt Kramer
VSTP, V2
mlkramer@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Brian Leonard/Group4
Research Interests: Comparative Oncology, Bioinformatics, and Cancer Biology.
Yeji Cho
VSTP, V1
yejcho@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Aijun Wang/Group 1
Research Interests: Immunology, Infectious Disease, Host-Pathogen Interactions, and Translational Research.
Jalena Wouters
VSTP, V1
jrwouters@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Damian Genetos/Group 3
Research Interests: Genetics, Genomics, Novel Therapeutics, Translational Models, and Biomedical Engineering.
Juliana Sullivan
VSTP, V1
jmsullivan@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Pharmacology and Toxicology
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Sara Thomasy/Group 5
Research Interests: Pharmacokinetics & Pharmacodynamics, Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Drugs.