Student Members

Matthew Sutcliffe, PhD2 (He/Him/His)
Role: Co-Director
Research/Clinical Interests: Understanding and predicting drug resistance in basal-like breast cancer (Perou Lab)
Hometown: Cumberland, RI
Undergraduate: University of Virginia – Biomedical Engineering
Hobbies: Running, biking, hiking, (i.e. anything outdoors!)

Paige Takasugi, PhD2 (She/Her/Hers)
Role: Co-director
Research/Clinical Interests: Characterization of cardiac fibroblasts for the purpose of improving recovery following a heart attack (Qian Lab)
Hometown: Wilder, Idaho
Undergraduate: University of Utah – Biology with a Cell and Molecular emphasis
Fun fact: I love to get outdoors through hiking, climbing and camping!

Meryem Ok, PhD5/MS3 (She/Her/Hers)
Role: Session Boss and Student Speaker, former team leader
Research/Clinical Interests: Human intestinal stem cell fate/in vitro primary colon epithelium models in the Magness Lab & pediatrics (gastroenterology)
Hometown: McLean, VA
Undergraduate: MIT, Biological Engineering
Fun fact: I have an adopted Russian Blue cat named Sabine

Kevin Field, PhD3 (He/Him/His)
Role: Session Boss
Research/Clinical Interests: Past research experiences ranged from aging, cancer, and immunology. He is currently interested pursuing cancer genetics (with Dr. Ian Davis) and clinical pediatric oncology.
Undergraduate: University of South Carolina
Hobbies: Taking trips to Asheville and spending time with his girlfriend’s dog, Crispr.

Nate Nelson-Maney, PhD3 (He/Him/His)
Role:
Research/Clinical Interests: I work in Kathleen Caron’s Lab and I study the lymphatic vasculature and how we can medically interact with this elusive vascular system.
Hometown: Shrewsbury, MA
Undergraduate: UMass Amherst, B.S. in Biology
Hobbies: I really like to run marathons!

Kyle Pellegrino, PhD1 (He/Him/His)
Role: Session Boss
Research/Clinical Interests: Alzheimer’s, glial biology, and neuroinflammation (Cohen Lab)
Hometown: New York, New York
Undergraduate: Cornell University, Neuroscience
Hobbies: Cooking, ping pong, power lifting, learning languages

YJ Choi, MS1 (She/Her/Hers)
Role: Website contributor
Research/Clinical Interests: Biochemistry, virology, structural biology
Hometown: Buford, GA
Undergraduate: Princeton University, Chemistry
Hobbies: I enjoy hiking, cooking, and horror movies!

Maxwell Finkelstein, MS1 (He/Him/His)
Role: Day Of Help
Research/Clinical Interests: immunology with an intersection with virology
Hometown: Singapore
Undergraduate: Swarthmore College, Biochemistry and Mathematics (Statistics)
Fun fact: Outside of medicine, I enjoy spicy food, foosball, and wearing Crocs.

Chelsea Li, MS1 (She/Her/Hers)
Role: Session Boss
Research/Clinical Interests: Not sure yet! Past research experience is in cancer biology.
Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
Undergraduate: University of Utah (Biology and Health, Society & Policy)
Hobbies: Figure skating and painting

Jimmy Tabet, MS1 (He/Him/His)
Role: Day Of Help
Research/Clinical Interests: Health AI/computational approaches in medicine
Hometown: Wake Forest, NC
Undergraduate: North Carolina State University (Civil Engineering, Economics)
Hobbies: sports, food, music

Please click here to navigate to our student alumni page.