Alumni

UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry

 

 

Details:

 

CBI Alumni have used their training in research methods at the intersection of chemistry and biology to build careers in both academia and the private sector. Many have become leaders of their field, directing crucial research in pharmaceuticals, sustainability, and the health sciences. Some have founded their own companies, others have gone on to do research at some of the most prestigious firms in the country. Below, prospective students and trainees can find a comprehensive list of alumni since 1996.

 

Professional development:

 

One of the grant's goals is to foster professional development among its trainees during and after their time at UCLA. CBI staff maintain relationships with students during and after their time at UCLA, and facilitate connections between current and previous grantees. Alumni are invited back to speak at CBI Day, and are encouraged to connect with current trainees on their research and career aspirations. See the CBI page for more information on the event’s career development workshops. 

 

The internship which is completed during trainees’ time working under the grant often leads to fruitful connections which greatly improve alumni outcomes after finishing graduate study at UCLA. 

UCLA tracks career outcomes in Life and Biomedical Sciences here.

A detailed list of CBI alumni can be viewed below. 

A breakdown of alumni outcomes can be viewed here:

Pie chart demonstrating CBI alumni's career outcomes by sector

 

Alumni list:

Name Year of Program Completion Position
     
Kunkel, Grace 2022 PhD Candidate, UCLA
Soule, Jessica 2022 Graduate Research Assistant, UCLA
Julio, Ashley 2022 PhD Candidate, UCLA
McVeigh, Matthew 2022 Graduate Student Researcher, UCLA
DeWhitt-Gonzalez, Kristofer 2021 Research Scientist, Varda Industries
Kane-Barnese, Lindsay 2021 Associate Professor, UC Irvine
Kiss, Gert 2021 Head of Scientific Computing, REVOLUTION Medicines
Lee, Christopher 2021 Staff Scientist, Los Alamos
Lim, Irene 2021 Visiting Professor, UC Irvine
Ochoa, Jessica 2021 Postdoc, Caltech
Forsythe, Neil 2021 Senior Scientist, Amgen
Go, Eun Bin 2021 Scientific Developer, Emerald Cloud Lab
Murray, Kevin 2021 Neurology Resident, Brown University
Richards, Logan 2021 Postdoc, UCLA
Meador, Kyle 2021 Graduate Student, UCLA
Palafox, Maria 2021 Graduate Student Researcher, UCLA
Misa, Joshua 2020 Scientist, Zyma Research Group
Creech, Amanda 2020 MD-PhD Candidate, UCLA
Gassman, Natalie 2020 Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Malek, Kevin 2020 CEO, Pherros Biosciences
Mensah, Samantha 2020 Passed away
Velasquez, Erick 2020 Drug Development Training Fellow, Genentech
Lerch, Michael 2019 Assistant Professor of Biophysics, Medical College of Wisconsin
Evans, Declan 2019 Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington
Sportsman, Richard 2019 Scientist, Sportsman Consulting
Valliere, Meaghan 2019 Senior Research Investigator, Biohaven Pharmaceuticals
White, Jonelle 2019 Associate Director, Office of Student Persistence, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Torres, Eric 2018 Marketing Manager, Biotium
Pham, Hung 2017 Faculty, UCLA Organic Chemistry
Perez, Felix 2017 Graduate Student, UCLA
Jones, Eric 2017 Rare Disease Lead, Octant
DeNicola, Anthony 2017 Research Scientist, Hexagon Bio
Barber, Joyann 2017 Senior Scientist, Pfizer
Paluck, Samantha 2017 Senior Materials Enginerr, SpaceX
Perlin, Pesach 2017 Consultant, Eversana Consulting
Simon, Adam 2017 Director of Computational Chemistry, QuantX Biosciences
Ta, Lisa 2017 Postdoctoral Fellow, UCLA
Tobolowsky, Robert 2017 Chemistry Instructor, Los Angeles Pierce College
Chun-Chang, Sunny 2016 Instructor, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Qian, Elaine 2016 Chemist, Laboratory Skin Care, Inc
Woodall, Nicholas 2016 Postdoctoral Fellow, Vistera
Rose, Tristan 2015 Director, Preclinical Development at 1200 Pharma
Bracken, Jack 2015 Laboratory Safety Program Manager, UCLA
Laganowsky, Arthur 2015 Associate Professor of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
Weitz, Sara 2015 Program Manager, Siemens Healthineers
Chan, Pik K (Becky) 2013 Material & Metabolic Scientist, Amgen
Alconcel, Steevens 2013 Scientist and Health and Sustainability Advocate, Amgen
Patel, Ashay 2013 Research Associate, UC San Diego
Silberstein, Amanda 2013 Department Chair, Chemistry, Westmont College
Noey, Elizabeth 2012 Senior Scientist II, AbbVie
Ladi, Ena 2011 Scientist, Genentech
He, Cuiwen 2011 Chief Science Officer, Evolugate LLC
Morris, Carl 2011 CSO, Solid Biosciences
Sayegh, Joyce 2011 Adjunct Asst. Professor, Johnson County Community College
Lee, Cynthia 2010 Research Scientist, Texas A&M
Aghajan, Mariam 2010 Director, Ionis Pharmaceuticals
Kaddis, Catherine 2010  
Miller, Margeaux 2010 Snr Scientist II, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research
Petrossian, Tanya 2010 CEO, EndoCyclic Therapeutics
Sea, Kevin 2010 Program Coordinator, Wine Studies, Santa Rosa Jr. College
Rodriguez, Jorge 2009 Associate Professor, Biochemistry, UCLA
McCallum, Jeremy 2009 Professor, Loyola Marymount University
McCarren, Patrick 2008 Associate Director, Tango Therapeutics
Dechancie, Jason 2008 Principal, Chief Growth Office, Booz Allen Hamilton
Fukuto, Jon 2008  
Hurlow, Evan 2008 Scientist, Snapdragon Chemistry
Chang, Howard 2008 Stanford, Professor of Cancer Research
Heredia-Guillen, Karina 2008 Executive Director, Global Affairs, Abbvie
Clement, Matthew 2008 Director, Partnerships and Scientific Stragegy, Alzheimer's Disease Initiative
Cho, Jennifer 2008 VP Marketing, Soundable Health
Sowa, Glenna 2008 Director, LS Technologies
Chu, Hiufung 2007 Director Regulatory Science, 2Seventy Bio
Henry, Chris 2007 Senior Director, CoA Therapeutics (BridgeBio)
May, Grace (nee. Quaker) 2006 Senior Project Manager, Gilead
Selander, Jeffrey 2006  
Lee, Albert 2005 Research and Development, Agilent
McAlpine, Shelli 2005 Professor, University of New South Wales
Doucette, Peter 2005 Instructor, El Camino Community College
Eissa, Hisham 2005 Director, Eli Lilly and Company
Hedge, Sayee 2003 Celgene
Yohannan, Sarah 2003 Affiliate Consultant, Cardiomed Device Consultants
Cook-Ludwick, Natalie 2002 Toxicologist, Reynolds America
Lyons, Thomas 2002 Chief Science Officer, Evanoa Bioscience
Jacobs, Aaron 2002 Associate Professor, CSU San Bernadino
Murphy, Jennifer 2002 Associate Professor, Molecular Pharmacology, UCLA
Tantillo, Dean 2002 Researcher, Tantillo Group, UC Davis
Hollibaugh, Ryan 2001 Scientist, Jnana Therapeutics
Cannizzaro, Carina 2001 Research Scientist II, Gilead
Chan, C. 2001 Staff, U of Hong Kong
Aldrich, Courtney 2001 Professor, University of Minnesota
Barkovich, Robert 2001 Director, Infomatics and Visual, Agilent Technologies
Columbus, Linda 2001 Professor, University of Virginia
Thomas, Jason 2001 Vice President, Operational Warfighting Division, Center for Naval Analyses
Nosrati, Geoffrey 2000 CBO, Nutcracker Therapeutics
Argus, Joseph 2000 Senior Scientist, Nitto BioPharma
Chan, Albert 2000 Scientist I, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
Dutton, Andrew 2000 Scientist/Lecturer, Iowa State University
Jackson, Matt 2000 Senior Scientist, Hills Pet Nutrition
Baker, Brian 2000 Chemist, Lawrence Livermore National Lab
Stevens, Derek 2000  
Mitchell-Blois, Tracy 1999 Amgen, Head of Alliance Management
Smith, Adam 1999 Radiation Oncologist
Lopez, Brenda 1998  
Anderson, Karen 1998 Associate Director, GlaxoSmithKline, PA
Davidov, Pablo 1998 Influencer Marketing Consultant at the Influencer Marketing Factory
Thanos, Chris 1998 CEO and Cofounder, Actym Therapeutics
Martinez, Orlando 1997 Vice President, Program Management, Kronos Bio Inc.
Johnson, Scott 1997 Scientific Associate Director, Bristol Meyers-Squibb
Balbirnie, Melinda 1996 Research Scientist, UCLA
Nyquist, Rebecca 1996 Senior Regulatory Writer, Novartis
     
Dong, Timothy   Associate Professor, Santa Monica College
Firestone, Susan    
Horton, Ronald    
Jarrett, Deborah   Chemistry Account Manager, Waters Corporation
Ko, Jeong Hoon (JK)   Postdoc, MIT
Hasson, Samuel   Associate Director, Voyager Therapeutics
Lomenick, Brett   Senior Scientist, Oncovalent Therapeutics
Nistanaki, Sepand   Graduate Student, UCLA
Cacho, Ralph   Baker Lab, Protein Design at University of Washington
Chung, Joan- Jung    
Lau, Uland   Scientist, Lumen Bioscience
Salehi-Rad, Ramin   Pulmonologist, Westwood VA Medical Center
Ku, Peihua   US Navy Captain
Captain, Illya   Elucidata
Green, Nora   Associate Professor, Randolph-Macon College
Sanchez, Raylene    
Easter, Jesse    
Chen, Cecilia    
Freitas, Siobhan   Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Riverside Community College
Lelie, Herman   CEO, Constitution Laboratories LLC
Murray, Matthew    
Sand, Gregory   Area Sales Manager, Ion Chromatography, Metrohm USA
Shinyashiki Brenda   Principal Toxicologist, Edgewell Personal Care
Shipp, Eric    
Shirasaki, Dyna   Criminologist, LAPD
Silverman, William   Executive Director, Coulter Program, University of Miami
Switzer, Christopher   Research Fellow, King's University London
Um, Joann   Professor, Southwestern Community College
Vinokur, Jeffrey   CEO, Generation Genius; "Jeffrey Vinokur, The Dancing Scientist"
Wallace, Matthew   Founder, Owner, CEO, Berryline (Postdoc Ventures)
Wang, Jay    
Wang, Sining (Cindy)    
Wei, Jennifer   Medical Director, Agendia
Yamin, Ghiam   Adjunct Clinical Professor, Radiology, Stanford University
Yang, Jane   Chemist and Patent Agent, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Zittin-Potter, Soshanna    
Davis, Diana