Current Trainees

Aryana Razmara

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, PhD4
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, PhD5
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, V4
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, PhD3
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, PhD3
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, V3
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, V4
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, PhD4
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, V4
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, PhD2
jmhallum@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Rodolfo Urbano
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, V3
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).

Daniela Jimenez

VSTP, V3
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.

Raneesh Ramarapu

VSTP, PhD3
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, V3
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, PhD5
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, PhD5 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, PhD1
rhzurich@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology
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, PhD3
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, PhD1
mlkramer@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Integrative Genetics and Genomics
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Brian Leonard/Group 4
Research Interests: Comparative Oncology, Bioinformatics, and Cancer Biology.

Yeji Cho

VSTP, V2
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, V2
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, PhD2
jmsullivan@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Pharmacology and Toxicology
Major Professor: Dr. Heather Knych
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Sara Thomasy/Group 5
Research Interests: Pharmacokinetics & Pharmacodynamics, Anti-Inflammatory and Analgesic Drugs.

Amber Van Hecke

VSTP, V1
aevanhecke@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: TBD
Research Interests: Immunology

Brooke Seelenbinder

VSTP, V1
bseelenbinder@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: TBD
Research Interests: Neuroscience, Oncology.

Hailey Johnson

VSTP, V1
hljohnson@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: TBD
Research Interests: Zoonotic disease, global health, food safety, and microbial stewardship

Kalena Gottwald

VSTP, V2
klgottwald@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: TBD
Research Interests: Animal welfare and behavior, evidence-based refinements in animal care and use, animal agriculture, and environmental impacts of food systems.

Maxwell Bales

VSTP, V1
mabales@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: TBD
Research Interests: Male infertility diagnostics, regenerative reproductive medicine, reproductive toxicology, and assisted reproductive technologies for wildlife.

Madison Luker

VSTP, V3
meluker@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Immunology
Major Professor: Dr. Robert Rebhun
VSTP EC Mentor/Peer Mentor Group: Dr. Danika Bannasch/Group 7
Research Interests: Male infertility diagnostics, regenerative reproductive medicine, reproductive toxicology, and assisted reproductive technologies for wildlife.