Our Team

Xilma Ortiz-González, MD, PhD

Principal Investigator
 Orcid

Dr. Xilma Ortiz-Gonzalez is a physician-scientist clinically specializing in pediatric neurology at  CHOP. Her clinical practice focuses on neurogenetics, taking care of children with ultra-rare neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.  

Her research interests focus on the molecular mechanisms that underlie neurodegeneration, particularly the role of mitochondrial dysfunction. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Puerto Rico (CUC), followed by MD/Ph.D. training at the University of Minnesota. She moved to Philadelphia for pediatric neurology training and has remained at CHOP/UPenn since.

For clinic information, see CHOP physician profile, for TBCK/Epilepsy genetics clinical visits, reach out to our ENGIN team to help schedule by calling 267-425-0515

Jesús Tintos-Hernández, PhD

Research Associate

Dr Tintos completed his PhD in genetics in Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico. He joined the CMEM at CHOP as a post-doctoral fellow and is now  a research scientist in the OG lab. He is an expert in all things IPS, mitochondria, and cake baking.

Marco Flores-Méndez, PhD

Research Associate

"I am Postdoc in the lab, working on TBCK and how its deficiency leads to neurodegeneration using IPSC-derived neurons and zebrafish as models. My favorite technique is western blot. I like cooking, dancing, skiing, climbing, and hiking. I enjoy hanging out with friends and playing board games with them. I love to eat and my favorite food is enchiladas."

Leonardo Ramos-Rodríguez, BS

Graduate Student (NGG)

"I am a graduate student of the Neuroscience Graduate Group at the University of Pennsylvania. My dissertation is on understanding how mutations in the core autophagic proteins affect axonal integrity. To study this, I work with mutations that cause a disease known as Beta-Propeller associated neurodegeneration." 

Miosotis Alicea-Delgado, BS

Graduate Student (UPenn)

"I am a grateful first-generation student from Puerto Rico living an adventure in Philadelphia. I love spending time with my family and friends, going to the beach and doing outdoor activities. In terms of research, I want to understand pathological aspects of the brain using cellular and molecular approaches, specifically, the role of the endolysosomal pathway in neurons."

Brooke Weiler

Brooke was in our lab during the summer as part of CHOP's CRISSP Program. She is now pursuing a PhD in neuroscience and we are so proud of her! 

Alvaro Donoso, MD

Research Associate

Dr Donoso joined the lab to expand our clinical research studies. He has moved on to complete his clinical training in as a resident in family medicine  

Yamalitzy Encarnacion

Yamalitzy spent a summer in the lab as part of the CHOP-RISES program for high school students, she's now an expert in RT-PCR!

Charis Ma

Undergraduate Student (UPenn)

 Charis, was in our lab while an undergraduate at Penn studying Biology, interested in understanding the mechanisms of neurodegeneration and discovering treatments for these diseases. She is now doing a post-bac in NIH and using all those wonderful western blot skills she learned with us!