Mentors

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List of Mentors :

  • Faviolla Baez-Cruz - Graduate Student - favb@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
  • Joe Baur, Ph.D. - Associate Professor - baur@pennmedicine.upenn.edu - I work on aging and metabolism in mouse models and I direct the Rodent Metabolic Phenotyping Core. I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and came to the US for graduate school at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. I obtained my green card as a postdoc and became a US citizen while on the Penn faculty.
  • Natali Chanaday, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor -Natali.Chanaday@pennmedicine.upenn.edu - I grew up in Argentina and obtained a PhD in Chemistry at the National University of Cordoba (Argentina). I then did a postdoctoral training in molecular neuroscience in the US (Texas and Tennessee). I am passionate about science and also enjoy doing crafts, art projects, swimming and reading (specially science fiction). As a mentor, I want to help you achieve your goals and also learn from you in the process. I have experience using alternative approaches to teaching in academic and non-academic environments. I also come from a non-academic family. So I had diverse experiences in my life and career that I can use now to help others navigate our beautiful profession. Whether it is for technical support, career plans and advice or philosophical discussions, my door is always open!
  • Carol Deutsch, Ph.D. - Professor - cjd@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
  • Roberto Dominguez, Ph.D. - Professor - droberto@pennmedicine.upenn.edu - I was born in Cuba and have lived in 6 countries and leaned several languages while developing my career in science. This has given me a broad understanding of cultural diversity, and a recognition of the amazing power and beauty of diversity and inclusion at any level: home, work, city, country. 
  • J. Kevin Foskett, Ph.D. - Professor - foskett@pennmedicine.upenn.edu - Chair of the Department. Been in this career for a while. Fairly broad range of scientific knowledge and interests.  Backed into a career in science in a mostly non-traditional way. Most beneficial along the way was discovery of two great mentors. Challenges along the way: a) Am I in the right career?  b) Financial; c) work/life balance.
  • Katya Grishcheuk, Ph.D. - Associate Professor - gekate@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
  • Erika Holzbaur, Ph.D. -  Professor - holzbaur@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
  • Melike Lakadamyali, Ph.D - Associate Professor - melikel@pennmedicine.upenn.edu - I was born in Cyprus, a small country where a career in science is not a viable option and role models/mentors for this career choice do not exist. I was always academically oriented and won a fellowship to study Physics at UT-Austin as an undergraduate. From there on, several mentors encouraged my education and scientific career. I would have never applied for a PhD program at Harvard without the encouragement of these mentors. Therefore, I fully understand the value of role models and mentors for underrepresented minorities and want to provide the same help that my mentors provided to me at critical stages of my education and career. Being a mom to a young child and a woman in a majority male dominated field, I also closely relate to the daily struggles of underrepresented minorities in STEM fields. 
  • Zhe Lu, Ph.D. - Professor - zhelu@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
  • Claire Mitchell, Ph.D. - Professor - chm@upenn.edu - Having two children and two R01 grants in 5 years was busy. Needing to compromise 
  • E. Michael Ostap, Ph.D. - Professor - ostap@pennmedicine.upenn.edu - Director of NIH T32 based training program for >15 years.
  • Benjamin Prosser, Ph.D. - Associate Professor - bpros@pennmedicine.upenn.edu - I'm an associate professor of physiology, working on novel therapeutics for heart failure and congenital neurodevelopment disorders.  In many ways I've had a privileged path, and followed a fairly linear track to becoming a PI.  My biggest challenge occurred with the birth and diagnosis of my daughter with a rare neurological disease.  With this we built a new arm of the lab that is purely driven to develop new therapeutics for these disorders and have become deeply involved in the rare disease space.  This has also made me reexamine my priorities (both at home and at work), my relationship with work/life balance, and has given me a different perspective on translational research and finding meaning in our work.  I wanted to offer my mentoring services in case these perspectives could be useful.  
  • Paul Titchenell, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor - ptitc@pennmedicine.upenn.eduJoined the faculty in July 2017. Balancing scientific discovery with the well-being of a young/growing family in a global pandemic. Navigating the demands and expectations of the tenure track during this chaotic time.
  • Kahealani Uehara - Graduate Student - Ueharak@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
  • PavanVedula, Ph.D. - Postdoc - pavanv@upenn.edu - I am a late stage postdoc, currently on the job market to transition to a faculty position. I work on the actin cytoskeleton and novel regulatory mechanisms that dictate its physiological functions. The "challenge" in my scientific career has been to work in a field that is very crowded. However, I have learned a lot from leaders in my field whose work has built the foundation of my research.
  • Jillian Weissenrieder, Ph.D. - Postdoc - jillian.weissenrieder@pennmedicine.upenn.edu - I am a postdoctoral research fellow in Kevin Foskett's lab, where I research the role of ion channels in pancreatic cancer physiology. My path to science was somewhat circuitous- I worked as a pastry chef for about a decade before becoming the first member of my family to obtain a college education. My background is socioeconomically disadvantaged, and I was raised in a very rural, socially conservative area. I am most suited to mentoring in regards to challenges related to socioeconomic differences, gender identity, orientation, and alternative paths to science. I am happy to speak with whomever feels that they would benefit from discussion with me, given my background and experiences!
  • Jaclyn Welles, Ph.D. - Postdoc - jaclyn.welles@pennmedicine.upenn.edu - I’m a 1st year post doctoral research fellow! I’m in the lab of Paul titchenell. My work focuses on the pathogenesis of nash and nafld. As a black woman in Stem I’ve had to overcome numerous experiences. I’m also a first generation American. My family immigrated to the US from Ghana, West Africa. I would love to help anyone to whom any of this would be helpful for!