Masashi Kitazawa, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Department of Medicine
Also a member of Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) and Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND)
Personal background: Born and raised in Nagano, Japan. He moved to the U.S. and earned B.S. in Chemistry at California State University, San Bernardino, M.S. in Environmental Toxicology at UCI, and Ph.D. in Toxicology at Iowa State University. He then joined Frank LaFerla lab at UCI to investigate the toxic mechanisms leading to Alzheimer’s disease using animals and cell culture models. In 2012, he moved to University of California, Merced to start his own laboratory. In 2016, he joined UCI Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.
Love to play and watch baseball, and observe life cycle of butterflies with kids in the backyard.
Sharon Lim, Ph.D.
Assistant Project Scientist
sioklaml@hs.uci.edu
949-824-8083
2016 Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship recipient
Naoki Hida, Ph.D.
Assistant Project Scientist
nhida@hs.uci.edu
949-824-8083
Joan Vu
Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) graduate student
949-824-8083
Heng-Wei “Jay” Hsu, Ph.D.
Assistant Project Scientist
hengweih@hs.uci.edu
949-824-8083
Marina Mejias-Ortega, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Researcher
mejiasom@hs.uci.edu
949-824-8083
Rachel Kim, M.S.
Lab Technician
younkk1@uci.edu
949-824-8083
Past lab members
Post-docs
Carlos Rodriguez-Ortiz, Ph.D. (2012 – 2020)
2015 Alzheimer’s Association Mentored New Investigator Research Grant to Promote Diversity recipient
Heng-Wei “Jay” Hsu, Ph.D. (2015 – 2020)
2016 Alzheimer’s Association Research Fellowship recipient
Joannee Zumkehr, Ph.D. (2017)
Hitomi Hoshino, Ph.D. (2012 – 2013)
Laboratory technicians
Christine Chen (2015 – 2016)
Diana Tran (2015 – 2016)
Zannett Kieu (2013 – 2014)
Graduate students
Janielle Vidal (2016 – 2022)
Jason Kilian (2013 – 2020)
Joannee Zumkehr (2012 -2017)
2016 NIH F31 pre-doctoral fellowship recipient
Undergraduate students
Charlesice Hawkins (Undergraduate Student, June 2013 – May 2015)
2013-2014 UC LEADS Undergraduate Research Program
Emmanuel Villanueva (Undergraduate Student, Jan 2014 – Dec. 2015)
2013-2014 UC Merced MARC U-STAR student (NIH/NIGMS T34 Award)
Gema Rodriguez (Undergraduate Student, June 2014 – Feb. 2016)
2014-2015 UC LEADS Undergraduate Research Program
Victoria Gallup (Undergraduate Student, June 2014 – May 2015)
Tina Truong (Undergraduate Student, Sep. 2014 – Feb. 2016)
Kenneth Mata (Undergraduate Student, Sep. 2014 – Feb. 2016)
Hitomi Sugimoto (Undergraduate Student, Feb. 2015 – Feb. 2016)
Sandeep Dhand (Undergraduate Student, Jan. 2014 – Dec. 2014)
Julio Flores (Undergraduate Student, Apr. 2012 – May 2014)
2014 The Grossman Award in Biology and the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award in the School of Natural Sciences
2012-2014 The Center of Excellence on Health Disparities Undergraduate Research Program (UC Merced)
2013 Undergraduate Physician Scientist Research Training Summer Program (Georgia Health Science Univ.)
2013-2014 UC Merced MARC U-STAR student (NIH/NIGMS T34 Award)
Joanna Valenzuela (Undergraduate Student, June 2013 – May 2014)
2013-2014 Pre-Health Undergraduate Research Program
Christine Chen (Undergraduate Student, Jan 2014 – May 2014)
Navjot Basi (Undergraduate Student, Jan 2014 – May 2014)
Thin Wai (Undergraduate student, Jan. 2012 – Dec. 2013)
Lara Jaber (Undergraduate Student, Oct. 2012 – Jul. 2013)