Karuna Mittal

Postdoctoral fellow (2020-2021)

Karuna graduated with her PhD in cellular and molecular biology in 2018 from Georgia State University. Prior to her Ph.D., Karuna completed her Master's in Medicine Human Physiology at Sardar Patel Medical College, India, where she studied the effect of alternative medicine on metabolic syndrome in the geriatric population. In the Hong lab, she focused on the developmental and therapeutic aspects of Wilms tumor. Her DoD grant KC200264 was recommended for funding. As of 10/2021, she is the Director of Research & Development at PreludeDx.

Karuna’s publications can be found here.

Frances Fuks

Research Intern (Diversity Equity & Inclusion initiative, 2021-2022)

Frances received her MPH from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health with a focus on Epidemiology. She graduated from the University of Rochester with a BS in Brain and Cognitive Sciences in 2020. She has served as a peer advisor for her major and as a trainer for Students Wanting Alcohol Responsibility. She and Simonne worked with the Department of Pediatrics Diversity Committee to understand the themes surrounding DEI.

She is currently a fellow at the CDC.

SimonnE Vincent

Research Intern (Diversity Equity & Inclusion initiative, 2021-2022)

Simonne received her MPH from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health with a focus on Benavioral, Social and Health Education Sciences. She graduated from American University with a BA in psychology and public health in 2019. She has previously worked as a project coordinator for George Washington University and interned with the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization. She and Frances worked with the Department of Pediatrics Diversity Committee to understand the themes surrounding DEI.

She is currently a Social Science Research Analyst with Abt Associates.

Dami Taiwo, MD

medical STUDENT 2021-2023 (ALSF POST Program, 2022-2023)

Dami graduated from Emory University’s School of Medicine in 2023. He worked with Drs. Sharon Castellino, Bill Woods, Ann Mertens and Caitlyn Monroe to understand health care disparities in pediatric solid tumor oncology.

He was awarded the ALSF POST award in 2022.

He is currently a neurology resident at Emory University’s School of Medicine.

Victor Chen

Research Specialist (2022-2023)

Victor joined our group after graduating from Emory University in 2022. Previously, he studied therapeutic strategies for medulloblastoma under the mentorship of Dr. Anna Kenney, during which he completed a senior honors thesis.

He is currently a research technician at Columbia University under Dr. Dian Yang.

Benjamin lee

Research specialist (2020-2022)

Benjamin graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2019 majoring in Biochemistry. After graduating he spent the year working with freshmen at the Georgia Tech Christian Campus Fellowship. Prior to that, he has spent time at Seattle Children’s Research Institute researching CAR-T therapies.

He is currently a MD-PhD candidate at the University of Alabama.

GUillaume Kugener

Associate computational biologist (2017-2019)

Guillaume completed his undergraduate and masters studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined our group (along with the Cancer Data Sciences team with Aviad Tsherniak) in 2017. He analyzed computational datasets from the Achilles Dependency Map Project along with our projects in kidney and brain cancer. He is currently a MD candidate at the University of South California, Keck School of Medicine.

Mai Abdusamad

Research Assistant (2017-2018)

Mai graduated from the University of California Los Angeles and joined our group (along with the Pediatric Dependency Map team with Paquita Vazquez and Brenton Paoella) in 2017. She focused her efforts on validating novel targets in rhabdomyosarcoma. In the fall of 2018, Mai joined the laboratory of Uri Ben-David, PhD and Todd Golub, MD. She is currently a MD/PhD candidate at the University of California, Davis.

Mihir doshi

research assistant (2015-2017)

Mihir completed his masters degree at Northeastern University and joined our group in 2015 (a joint recruit with Andrew Aguirre’s laboratory). Mihir focused his efforts on optimizing methods to screen primary solid tumor cells from children. He is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Bryan Kynnap

Co-op (2015), research assistant (2015-2017)

Bryan completed his undergraudate studies at Northeastern University. He joined our group initially as a co-op student through the CaNCURE program, then part-time and subsequently full time as a research assistant. He spent a year in lab of Sita Kugel, PhD and is currently a medical scribe in orthopedic surgery. He is currently a MD candidate at Washington State University.

Antara Palkar

undergraduate Student (2021-2023)

Antara graduated from Emory University in 2023 with a degree in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and Spanish. She was awarded Highest Honors (Summa Cum Laude) for her senior thesis “Understanding drivers of doxorubicin resistance in Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor”. Her personal experience with childhood leukemia and cancer sparked an interest in cancer and pediatric oncology, and she plans on becoming a pediatric oncologist. In her free time, Antara enjoys volunteering as an ESL teacher, participating in the Student Activities Committee, and watching movies (her favorite movie is Interstellar!).

Josh Riembauer

Undergraduate Student (2021-2023)

Josh graduated from Emory University in 2023 with a degree in Human Health and Economics on the Pre-Medical track. On campus, he was involved in multiple health and mental health advocacy organizations. In his free time, he enjoys playing baseball, outdoor recreational activities, and volunteering as an EMT in his community.

Paige Hauke

Summer undergraduate student (summer 2017)

Paige finished her sophomore year of college at Wellesley College and was interested in exploring more about the life of the lab after several science courses in college. During her time in the lab, she focused on learning about site directed mutagenesis and the effects of mutations in cancer genes. She recently graduated from Wellesley College (Class of 2019). In 2019, she joined as a research assistant in my mentor’s lab, Dr. William Hahn, and is working under senior scientist, Dr. Barbel Schrofelbauer.

Brandon thornhill

Summer undergraduate student (summer 2016)

Brandon finished his freshman year of college at Holy Cross and was interested in learning more about the life of the lab as he was exploring his career options in college. During his time in the lab, he focused on learning about site directed mutagenesis and the effects of mutations in cancer genes. He recently graduated from Holy Cross (Class of 2019) and is pursuing a career in business.