MD-PhD Current Students

Paul Oancea

• Entering Year: 2023
• Research Interests: Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, Psychiatry
• Undergraduate: University of Texas at Austin

Brendan Olson

• Entering Year: 2023
• Research Interests: Nanotechnology, Drug Design, Drug Delivery
• Undergraduate: University of Utah

Ryan Pohorenec

• Entering Year: 2023
• Research Interests: Drug Discovery, Medicinal Chemistry, Synthetic Methodology
• Undergraduate: BSc, Chemistry, University of Rochester
• Graduate: MSc, Chemistry, University of Rochester

Nabeeha Qazi

• Entering Year: 2023
• Research Interests: Immunology and Infectious Diseases
• Undergraduate: B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas

• Entering Year: 2023
• Research interests: Nanomedicine, drug delivery, cancer therapeutics
• Undergraduate: The University of Alabama 

Sumeen Gill

• Entering Year: 2022
• Research Interests: Drug Development, Therapeutics, Drug Delivery
• Undergraduate: B.S., Neuroscience, Washington State University

• Entering Year: 2022
• Research Interests: Drug Development, Neurodegeneration
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biochemistry, Texas A&M University

• Entering Year: 2022
• Research Interests: Cardiovascular Biology
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biology, Texas A&M University

Logan Rivera

• Entering Year: 2022
• Research Interests: Computational Oncology, Machine Learning
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biochemistry, Genetics, Texas A&M University

Jimmy Wengler

• Entering Year: 2022
• Research Interests: Big Data, Computational Oncology, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Undergraduate: B.S., Bioinformatics, Brigham Young University

• Entering Year: 2021
• Research Interests: Photoacoustic Imaging, Image-Guided Surgery, Neuroscience
• Undergraduate: B.S., B.S.A., Biomedical Engineering, Neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin

• Entering Year: 2021
• Research Interests: Host-Pathogen Interactions, Microbial Pathogenesis
• Undergraduate: B.S., B.A., Biochemistry, Ethics and Religion, University of Oklahoma

• Entering Year: 2021
• Research Interests: Mitochondrial Immunity, Cell Death
• Undergraduate: B.S., B.A., Biochemistry, Spanish, Harding University

• Entering Year: 2021
• Research Interests: Precision Medicine, Genomics, Oncology
• Undergraduate: B.S., Molecular Biology University of California, San Diego

• Entering Year: 2021
• Research Interests: Cancer biology, Novel therapeutics/biomarkers, Genetics/epigenetics
• Undergraduate: B.S., Molecular and Cellular Biology, Johns Hopkins University

Morgan Chapman

• Entering Year: 2020
• Research Interests: Mitochondrial Disease, Innate Immunity, Antiviral Immunity
• Undergraduate: B.S., B.S., Microbiology, Genetics, Texas A&M University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Phillip West, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

Roger Garcia

• Entering Year: 2020
• Research Interests: Neuroinflammation, epigenetics
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry, Texas A&M University, Kingsville

Samson Hennessy-Strahs

• Entering Year: 2020
• Research Interests: Solid Organ Transplantation
• Undergraduate: B.A., Biological Sciences, Cornell University

Ashley Kidwell

• Entering Year: 2020
• Research Interests: MicroRNA, Stem Cells, Fetal Brain Development
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis

 Mailin Li

• Entering Year: 2020
• Research Interests: RNA biology, genetics and epigenetics
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biology, Tufts University

Karthik Mouli

• Entering Year: 2020
• Research Interests: Cellular Homeostasis, Neurodegeneration, Neuroimmunology, Sulfide Metabolism
• Undergraduate: B.A., Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley
• Ph.D. Mentor: Thomas Kent, M.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

• Entering Year: 2020
• Research Interests: Medical Devices, Optical Coherence Tomography, Imaging, Drug Delivery
• Undergraduate: B.S., Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside 

• Entering Year: 2019
• Research Interests: Ophthalmology, Computer Vision, Deep Learning
• Undergraduate: B.S., Computational Biology, University of Texas at Austin
• Ph.D. Mentor: Stephen T.C. Wong, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Biomedical Engineering

Nicholas Larson

• Entering Year: 2019
• Research Interests: Medical Imaging, MRI
• Undergraduate: B.S., Physics, Baylor University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Diego Martin, M.D., Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

Nancy Mize Gonzalez

• Entering Year: 2019
• Research Interests: T-Cell Immunobiology in Neuropsychiatric Lupus
• Undergraduate: B.A., Music, Biochemistry ('26), Shorter College; Arizona State University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Wenhao Chen, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

• Entering Year: 2019
• Research Interests: Oncology, Spatial Transcriptomics, Deep Learning
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Stephen T.C. Wong, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Biomedical Engineering

• Entering Year: 2019
• Research Interests: Microglial Dynamics, Neuroinflammation
• Undergraduate: B.S., Chemistry, Stanford University
• Graduate: M.S. Biology, Stanford University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Farida Sohrabji, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

• Entering Year: 2018
• Research Interests: Neurodegenerative Diseases, Oncolytic Virotherapy, Brain-Machine Interfaces
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California

• Entering Year: 2018
• Research Interests: Developmental Biology, Cardiovascular Regeneration, Metabolism, Epigenetics
• Undergraduate: B.A., Biology: Neuroscience, Biomedical Physics, Washington University in St. Louis
• Ph.D. Mentor: John P. Cooke, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

Megh Patel 

• Entering Year: 2018
• Research Interests: Neuroregeneration, Tissue Engineering, Medical Devices
• Undergraduate: B.S., Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Ph.D. Mentor: Robert Krencik, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

• Entering Year: 2017
• Research Interests: Protein Engineering, Drug Development, Antimicrobials
• Undergraduate: B.S., Human Biology, Utah State University
• Graduate: M.S., Virology, Utah State University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Zhilei Chen, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

• Entering Year: 2017
• Research Interests: Deep Learning, Endovascular Interventions, Computer Vision
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis
• Graduate: M.S., Materials Science & Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles
• Ph.D. Mentor: Stephen T.C. Wong, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Biomedical Engineering

• Entering Year: 2017
• Research Interests: Hematologic Malignancy, Metastatic Phenotypes, Immunotherapy
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biological Engineering, Utah State University
• Graduate: M.S., Biological/Biosystems Engineering, Utah State University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Shu-Hsia Chen, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

• Entering Year: 2017
• Research Interests: Medical Devices, Cardiac Biomechanics, Congenital Heart Disease
• Undergraduate: B.S./B.C.E., Biology, Chemical Engineering, The University of Alabama
• Ph.D. Mentor: John C. Criscione. M.D., Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Biomedical Engineering

• Entering Year: 2017
• Research Interests: DNA Repair Mechanisms, Neurodegenerative Disease
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biochemistry, Genetics, Texas A&M University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Muralidhar Hegde, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

• Entering Year: 2016
• Research Interests: Immunology, T-Cells, Tolerance
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biochemistry, Brigham Young University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Xian Chang Li, M.D., Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

• Entering Year: 2016
• Research Interests: Stroke, Artificial Intelligence, Neuroimaging, Outcome Prediction
• Undergraduate: B.S., Neuroscience, Brigham Young University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Stephen T.C. Wong, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences

• Entering Year: 2016
• Research Interests: Developmental Biology, Prenatal Exposures
• Undergraduate: B.S., Biochemistry, Baylor University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Rajesh Miranda, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences
• Dissertation Title: Immediate and Lifelong Consequences of In Utero Exposure to Alcohol: A Systemic and Multi-Organ Approach

• Entering Year: 2016
• Research Interests: Precision Oncology, Experimental Therapeutics, Breast Cancer
• Undergraduate: B.A., Neuroscience, Wellesley College
• Ph.D. Mentor: Jenny Chang, M.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences
• Dissertation Title: Targeted Therapeutic Strategies for Triple Negative and Metaplastic Breast Cancers

• Entering Year: 2015
• Research Interests: Spinal plasticity, Ionic plasticity, Pain, SCI
• Undergraduate: B.S., Neuroscience, University of California, Berkeley
• Ph.D. Mentor: James Grau, Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience

• Entering Year: 2015
• Research Interests: Immunology, Cardiology, Model Generation
• Undergraduate: B.S., Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Brigham Young University
• Ph.D. Mentor: Jiang Chang, M.D., Ph.D.
• Ph.D. Department: Medical Sciences