California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine Staff

Affad Shaikh was a Graduate Student Intern for CIAPM. He is a business-oriented Data Scientist who holds dual master's degrees in Business Administration and Information Systems and Technology from Claremont Graduate University. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of California, San Diego in International Studies. He looks for solutions and uncovers stories that inform strategy and decision making, and he combines design thinking with a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach. His motivation is to be of service, and he is the Board Secretary for the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, a California non-profit dedicated to serving marginalized communities at the intersection of immigration detention and criminal justice. He also completed a Data Fellowship at The Data Incubator. Prior to his graduate studies, Affad built up the Civil Rights department in the Greater Los Angeles office of the Council on American and Islamic Relations, a national non-profit.

Aiyana Cortez is a computational biologist and PhD candidate in Biophysics at the University of California, Davis. Her research aims to identify the molecular interactions that determine cardiotoxicity of medicinal drugs. During her graduate studies, she has dedicated her time to advocating for student needs and promoting equity in STEM. Before graduate school, Cortez served for over two years in the United States Peace Corps as a Math and Science Teacher Trainer in The Gambia, West Africa where she advocated for volunteer needs and rights and successfully inspired organization-wide policy reform. She earned a Bachelor’s degree from California State University, Long Beach in Microbiology and Cell and Molecular Biology, with minors in Chemistry and Applied Mathematics, and completed her single-subject teaching credential in Biology.

Alexa Blundell was a Graduate Student Intern for CIAPM. She uses her training in science, design, and communication to make biomedical data and information more accessible. Blundell is passionate about working with migrant communities in California and works at a local clinic that serves uninsured and undocumented patients. She recently completed an ambassadorship with the UC Global Health Institute, where her final project focused on the health impact of pesticides on agricultural workers in California.

She earned her Bachelor's degree in Animal Science at UC Davis, and holds a Master's degree in Biomedical Sciences from Charles R. Drew University, where she completed a research thesis on transcriptomic changes in adipose tissue after e-cigarette exposure. In addition to her internship in the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, Blundell is preparing for a new role with Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, where she will partner with the CDC for a campaign on infectious disease control and health protections for protein processing workers.

April Booth was a Policy Fellow for the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine. She is a neuroscientist and PhD student of Physiology at the University of California, Davis. She is studying the effects of stress on the brain during parenting. Booth earned a Master’s degree in Physiology from UC Davis, a Master’s degree in Biology from California State University, Fresno, and double majored in Biology and Chemistry as an undergraduate at CSU Fresno.

Atul Butte served as the Principal Investigator for CIAPM at UCSF, from 2015-2018. He is the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg Distinguished Professor and inaugural Director of the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute at UCSF. Dr. Butte is also the Chief Data Scientist for the University of California Health System.

Dr. Butte was elected into the National Academy of Medicine in 2015, and in 2013, he was recognized by the Obama Administration as a White House Champion of Change in Open Science for promoting science through publicly available data.

Dr. Butte trained in Computer Science at Brown University, worked as a software engineer at Apple and Microsoft, received his MD at Brown University, trained in Pediatrics and Pediatric Endocrinology at Children's Hospital Boston, then received his PhD from Harvard Medical School and MIT.

Beck Tran is pursuing a Legal Studies and Asian American studies B.A. at UC Berkeley and intends to pursue a JD/PhD after graduating. As a member of the queer and AAPI communities, they are dedicated to advancing equity, inclusion, and representation of minority groups in law and policy. Alongside their studies, Beck has served as director of UC Berkeley’s volunteer tax clinic and Cal-in-Sacramento fellowship, assisted in the instruction of UC Berkeley political science and law courses, and works as a caseworker in the legal clinic. As a two-time recipient of the Wells Fargo Research Fellowship, they published an article last summer regarding challenges faced by AAPI-owned businesses during the pandemic and is returning this year to do similar research concerning BIPOC small businesses. At CIAPM, Beck is working on projects to advance access and equity in healthcare.

Ben Rubin served as a Science Officer for CIAPM at UCSF from 2018-2019, where he oversaw the selection, execution, and evaluation of demonstration projects, and provided strategy and support to CIAPM and its research and governmental partners. Before joining CIAPM, Rubin directed efforts at Children Now to leverage the science of resilience, toxic stress, and childhood trauma to support multi-sector public policy efforts. Before that, he served in the California State Senate Health Committee as a Science & Technology Policy Fellow.

Ben was a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology and Brandeis University, earned his PhD in Neurobiology from Duke University, and graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Biology and Psychology from Cornell University.

Bridgette is a doctoral candidate in the Epidemiology Graduate Program at University of California, Davis. Her research aims to increase health equity through exploring the distribution of health outcomes in relation to the social and built environment to inform institutional policy. Additionally, she works with Dr. Alice Popejoy on race, ethnicity, and ancestry, and their relationship to health outcomes. She received her master’s degree in Public health from UC Davis and her bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from UC Merced. Ultimately, Bridgette is dedicated to community-engagement efforts, and hopes that through her work she amplifies the voices of historically vulnerable communities and ensures that research is equitable and representative of the public health challenges and its population.

Chris Wang is the manager at the UC Davis Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences, and served as the Financial Officer for the CIAPM. He has a strong career record of research administration management and support, along with program management.

David served as a Science Officer for CIAPM at UCSF from 2018-2019, where he oversaw demonstration projects, coordinated the initiative's communication efforts, and provided support and insight to CIAPM and its partners. As a student at UCSF, he was a member of the leadership team for the Science Policy Group. He was responsible for event advertising, creating the website, and was part of the team that helped coordinate a student advocacy day in Washington DC.

David received his PhD in Biophysics from UCSF where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. He graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Elizabeth Baca served as a Deputy Director in the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, providing vision, leadership and oversight of CIAPM. Her portfolio involves working across agencies and departments in California as well as with many foundations, non-profit and for-profit groups, and entrepreneurs.

Previously, Baca served on the General Pediatric Faculty at Stanford Medical School and directed the Community Pediatric and Child Advocacy Rotation. In addition to teaching medical students and residents about the social, economic, and environmental factors that affect health, she was the lead faculty mentor on several projects to increase access to healthy foods, reduce environmental triggers of asthma, increase physical activity opportunities, and improve the built environment.

Baca studied health policy at Universidad Simon Bolivar in Venezuela. She completed her Master's in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and her medical degree at Harvard Medical School. Baca completed her pediatric residency in the Pediatric Leadership for the Underserved (PLUS) program at UC San Francisco.

Elyse served in CIAPM as a Science and Technology Policy Fellow through the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST). She spent her fellowship year at CIAPM contributing to the development of the Request for Proposals (RFP) for depression research. Prior to joining CCST and CIAPM, Elyse completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering at Caltech studying Los Angeles air quality, and her BS in Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College. She was involved in many science policy activities at Caltech, including the Student Activism Speaker Series and leading an international science policy trip to Geneva. She currently serves as a postdoctoral fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

Esther is a doctoral candidate in the Environmental Toxicology Graduate Program at UC Riverside. Her doctoral research investigates emerging tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes and their potential effects on human health using analytical and in vitro approaches. She received her master's degree in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics from the California State University Channel Islands while studying counterfeit electronic cigarette products. In 2016 she was a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Bridges intern, where she trained in tissue culture and moderate throughput toxicity testing under the mentorship of UC Riverside professor Dr. Prue Talbot. Esther hopes her research contributes scientific evidence for regulating constituents in emerging tobacco products, limiting potential harm to consumers, and supporting tobacco control policies.

Hyunsoo Gloria Kim was a Policy Fellow for the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine, currently finishing a PhD in Microbiology at the University of California, Davis. They hold bachelor's degrees in Molecular & Cellular Biology and Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Their current and previous research projects span the fields of synthetic biology, metabolic regulation, tissue engineering, cancer epidemiology, cognitive neuroscience, and science education. Gloria is passionate about exploring the intersections between science and equity, policy, education, and public engagement.

Hannah Chu is a third-year graduate student at the University of California, Riverside, with specializations in genetics, development, entomology, science communication, and graphic design. Her four-month internship will focus on the development of infographics illustrating CIAPM’s ongoing research projects, among other projects in support of the program’s mission.

India Hook-Barnard helped launch the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine, and served as its Executive Director from 2015-2018. Hook-Barnard was a postdoctoral research fellow at the National Institutes of Health. She earned a PhD in Microbiology-Medicine from the University of Missouri.

Jessica Lumian was a Graduate Student Intern and Policy Fellow at CIAPM. She earned a PhD in Microbiology at the University of California, Davis in the Earth and Planetary Sciences department. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Michigan State University. Her thesis research focused on environmental tolerance mechanisms of Antarctic cyanobacteria using a variety of bioinformatics techniques. She enjoys promoting data availability and reproducibility in scientific research and has served as a prior instructor for The Carpentries, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching fundamental computational skills and fostering an inclusive data science community. She also assists with the organization of science outreach events through STEM for Girls at UC Davis and is interested in increasing science literacy for all ages. In addition to her graduate work, Jessica studied the accessibility of dialysis treatment centers in California using geographical and statistical analyses. She is enthusiastic about contributing to work promoting equity and accessibility in healthcare.

Kate Gordon was the Director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Research and a Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom on Climate. She is a nationally recognized expert on the intersection of climate change, energy, and economic development. She has authored or co-authored numerous publications, including the Fourth National Climate Assessment's chapter on "Reducing Risks Through Adaptation Actions." Prior to being appointed OPR Director, Gordon was a Senior Advisor at the Henry M. Paulson Institute, where she oversaw the "Risky Business Project," focused on quantifying the economic impacts of climate change to the U.S. economy, and also provided strategic support to the Institute's U.S.- China CEO Council for Sustainable Urbanization. She was also a nonresident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

Earlier in her career Gordon served as Vice President for Climate and Energy at the Center for the Next Generation, Vice President of Energy and Environment at the Washington D.C.-based Center for American Progress, and Co-Executive Director at the national Apollo Alliance (now the Blue Green Alliance).

Gordon earned a JD and an masters in city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University.

Ken McCullough was a Science Policy fellow with the California Council on Science and Technology, placed in the Office of the Surgeon General and the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine. McCullough is a neuroscientist who has studied changes to the brain and body caused by stress and traumatic experiences. McCullough earned his PhD from Emory University, and completed his post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University, McLean Hospital.

Max was a Managerial Economics student at UC Davis while at CIAPM and graduated in June 2023. He served the CIAPM/OPR team as a Communications and Administration Intern. Through his experience as an Intern at the Stanford Health Care - ValleyCare Hospital, he was interested in improving our health care system. He contributed highly to the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine and hopes to pursue a fulfilling career at the intersection of business and science. He currently serves as a Sales Development Representative at Vector Solutions.

Megan graduated from Sacramento State with a degree in Public Health Administration. As CIAPM's first Undergraduate Student Intern, she handled administrative and communications related tasks. In addition, she assisted with CIAPM’s annual report and played an integral role in the launch of OPR’s Grant Administration Interest Group. Megan is moving toward obtaining a master’s degree in public health from Sacramento State, following her passion of making an impact in disease prevention.

Megan Varvais joined the Governor's Office of Planning and Research in May 2019. Prior to that, she was the Social Media Manager at Consumer Federation of California, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization. She also worked as a Campaign Coordinator for the Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety Foundation, where she built a first-of-its-kind database to match consumers with credit unions and educated the public about community banking and mandatory binding arbitration. Her professional and volunteer experiences include graphic design, event planning, grassroots organizing and outreach, regulatory and consumer law, legislative advocacy, and coalition building.

In the community, Megan serves on the South Land Park Neighborhood Association Board of Directors. In the past, she has been a delegate to the California Democratic Party and the Communications Director for Wellstone Progressive Democrats of Sacramento. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Arizona State University, with a concentration in nonprofit leadership and management.

Nichole Holm was a Graduate Policy Fellow with CIAPM in 2019. She received a PhD in Genetics and Genomics from the University of California, Davis, where she studied neurodegenerative diseases Fragile X Tremor and Ataxia Syndrome in the Hagerman lab.

Shannon Muir served as CIAPM Co-Director and Science Officer. Dr. Muir previously served as the Director of Research Proposal Development Services and a Strategic Research Opportunities Analyst for UC San Diego, as well as a Senior Program Associate and Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Senate Health Committee, for the California Council on Science and Technology. She received a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from UC San Diego, a master's degree in Pharmacology from Tulane University, and a bachelor's degree in Psychobiology from UCLA.

Uta Grieshammer was the Program Director for CIAPM in 2015-2018. Prior to that, she worked for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. In 2021 she returned to CIRM as the Senior Science Officer for their Discovery program. Dr. Grieshammer earned her PhD in biochemistry from Boston University, and has research expertise in molecular and cellular mechanisms of embryonic development.