Current Trainees

Aryana Razmara

VSTP, PhD3
amrazmara@ucdavis.edu
Graduate Group: Immunology
Major Professor: Dr. Robert Canter
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Sara Thomasy
Research Interests: Comparative Oncology, NK cell therapy, animal models, and clinical trials.

Lizzy Ashley

VSTP, PhD2
lashley@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Epidemiology
Major Professor: Dr. Christine Kreuder Johnson
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Brian Bird
Research Interests: Marine ecosystem health, Quantitative disease ecology, Spatial epidemiology, Wildlife disease modeling, and Social-ecological systems.

Olivia Cords

VSTP, PhD3
ocords@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Epidemiology
Major Professor: Dr. Christine Kreuder Johnson
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Brian Bird
Research Interests: Epidemiology, One Health, and Infectious Disease.

Jenn Cossaboon

VSTP, PhD5
jcossaboon@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Swee Teh
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Brian Leonard
Research Interests: Environmental Toxicology, Endocrine Disruption, Reproductive Health, Aquaculture Techniques, and Medaka.

Brittany Davis

VSTP, PhD1
bpdavis@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Neuroscience
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Danika Bannasch
Research Interests: Behavioral Neuroscience, Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Neuroendocrine System, Neuroinflammation, and Neuropharmacology.

Catherine Dombroski

VSTP, PhD1
cdombroski@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Damian Genetos
Research Interests: Metabolic Disease, Diabetes, Nutrition, Genetics, and Translational Research. 

Ashleigh Flores

VSTP, PhD3
asmflores@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Bart Weimer
VSTP Advisor: Renée M. Tsolis
Research Interests: Enterolithiasis, Small Animal Urolithiasis, the Microbiome, Equine Gastrointestinal Health and Disease, Urinary System Health and Disease

Chase Garcia

VSTP, PhD5
cagar@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology
Major Professor: Dr. Gino Cortopassi
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Brian Leonard
Research Interests: Nutrition, Metabolic Disease, Age-related Disease, and Mitochondrial pathophysiology.

Sophie Gretler

VSTP, PhD2
srgretler@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Pharmacology and Toxicology
Major Professor: Dr. Renée M. Tsolis
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Danika Bannasch
Research Interests: Host-pathogen interaction and host response to infection. Characterization of genes linked to the host specificity of Salmonella strains.

Katherine Griffin

VSTP, PhD5
khgriffin@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Immunology
Major Professor: Dr. Kent Leach
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Aijun Wang
Research Interests: Immunology, Immune signaling, Tissue Engineering, and Orthopedic Surgery.

JuJu Hallum

VSTP, V2
jmhallum@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Danika Bannasch
Research Interests: Histology, stem cells, hematopoiesis, cancer biology, embryology, comparative histopathology, and general pathology.

Erin Hisey

VSTP, PhD3
eahisey@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Brian Leonard
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Carrie Finno
Research Interests: Ocular surface pathology, lipid biology, gland biology, and Evaporative Dry Eye Disease (EDED).

Ash Jay

VSTP, V4 fall 2024
ashjay@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Wolf Heyer
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Jessica Morgan
Research Interests: Cancer biology, Genomic Instability, and BRCA2.

Daniela Jimenez

VSTP, PhD2
dajimenez@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Immunology
Major Professor: Dr. Christine Toedebusch
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Sara Thomasy
Research Interests: Immunology, Cancer Immunology, Comparative Oncology, brain tumors, glioma associated microglia/macrophages.

Madison Luker

VSTP, PhD2
meluker@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Immunology
Major Professor: Dr. Robert Rebhun
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Sara Thomasy
Research Interests: Comparative and translational oncology, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, cancer immunology.

Devan Murphy

VSTP, V3
devmurphy@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Major Professor: Dr. John Albeck
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Jessica Morgan
Research Interests: Signal transduction, live-cell imaging, ERK and NF-kB, Inflammation, and Lung Epithelium.

Raneesh Ramarapu

VSTP, PhD1
 rramarapu@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Carrie Finno
Research Interests: Stem Cell Therapeutics, Opthalmology, Clinical Developmental Biology.

Eleanor (El) Pressman

VSTP, PhD3
empressman@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Animal Biology
Major Professor: Dr. Ermias Kebreab
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Brian Leonard
Research Interests: Environmental impact of animal agriculture, dairy farming, ruminant nutrition, enteric methane and methane-inhibiting feed additives, and mathematical modeling.

Makda Asrat

VSTP, PhD3
masrat@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Integrative Pathobiology
Major Professor: Dr. Simon Anthony
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Carrie Finno
Research Interests: Wildlife disease ecology, pathology, One Health, host microbe interactions, bats, advanced physiology.

Victoria Tobin

VSTP, PhD3 CalTech
vrtobin@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Biology
Major Professor: Dr. Michael Elowitz and Dr. Matt Thomson
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Renée M. Tsolis
Research Interests: Immunology, Comparative Medicine, Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics, CAR T cells, and Synthetic Circuits.

Raymond Zurich

VSTP, V1
rhzurich@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Damian Genetos
Research Interests: Animal Models of Human Disease, Development, Wound Healing and Regeneration, Infectious Diseases.

MJ Marshall

VSTP, PhD1
ejmarshall@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Damian Genetos
Research Interests: Reproductive biology, developmental biology, environmental toxicology, regenerative medicine, analgesia and anesthesia, molecular biology, corticosteroids, endocrinology.

Matt Kramer

VSTP, V1
mlkramer@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Group: TBD
Major Professor: TBD
VSTP Advisor: Dr. Aijun Wang
Research Interests: Comparative Oncology, Bioinformatics, and Cancer Biology.