Meet the Team
Principal Investigator
Dr. Leslie Thompson, PhD

Donald Bren Professor
Associate Professor

Dr. Joan Steffan, PhD
Project Scientists
Postdoctoral Fellows

Dr. Devon Frances Pendlebury, PhD
UCI Neurobiology & Behavior

Dr. Zhuoxing Wu, MD PhD
UCI Biological Chemistry

Dr. Thai B. Nguyen, PhD
UCI Neurobiology & Behavior

Dr. Sima Chokr, Ph.D.
UCI Neurobiology & Behavior
PhD Graduate Students

Jennifer Stocksdale
UCI Neurobiology & Behavior

Mara Burns
UCI Neurobiology & Behavior

Jharrayne McKnight
UCI Neurobiology & Behavior

Marie C Schulte-Bisping
UCI Neurobiology & Behavior

Nicolette McClure
UCI Neurobiology & Behavior

Joey Wong
UCI Biological Chemistry
Project Manager

Research Associates
Interns

Leanne Ho
UCI Neurobiology & Behavior

Navnit Kaur
UCI COMPASS Scholar

Khloe Truong
CSU Long Beach CIRM scholar
Alumni

Dr. Eva Morozko, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
New York University

Dr. Isabella Sanchez, PhD
Medical Student
UC Irvine

Dr. Josesph Ochaba, PhD
Senior Scientist
Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Andrea Reyes-Ortiz, PhD
Manager, gRED Portfolio Strategy & Planning, Genentech

Gianna Fote, PhD
Neurosurgery Resident
UC Irvine

Marketta Kachemov, PhD
UCI Neurobiology & Behavior

Katerina Faye Beck

Galt Grotke

Julia Kulchytska