Alumni

Advisor: Suchard, M. and Lee, C.
Dissertation: Computational, comparative and stochastic modeling approaches to evolution of alternatively spliced exons
Grad Year: 2008
Post Grad Plans: Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics; Founding Director, Program for Human Microbiome Research; Graduate Program Director, Joint Clemson-MUSC PhD training program in Biomedical Data Science and Informatics; Medical University of South Carolina

David Alexander
Advisor: Lange, K.
Dissertation: Statistical and computational methods for ancestry estimation and variable selection in genome-scale datasets
Grad Year: 2011
Post Grad Plans: Software engineer at Google X since 2017 (formerly at Pacific Biosciences)

Jason E. Aten
Advisor: Lange, K. and Horvath, S.
Dissertation: Causal not confounded gene networks: inferring acyclic and non-acyclic gene bayesian networks in mrna expression studies using recursive v-structures, genetic variation, and orthogonal causal anchor structural equation models
Grad Year: 2008
Post Grad Plans: Quantitative Developer, Consultant

Alireza Atri
Advisor: Sneyd, J.
Dissertation: Mathematical modeling and analysis of intracellular calcium dynamics: oscillations and wave propagation
Grad Year: 1996
Post Grad Plans: Medical Director, Banner Sun Health Research Institute (BSHRI), 2018-present (formerly California Pacific Medical Center)

Kristin Lynn Ayers
Advisor: Lange, K.
Dissertation: Methods for haplotype construction and their applications
Grad Year: 2008
Post Grad Plans: Research Scientist, Sema4 Genomics, 2017-present (formerly Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology)

Mark M. Bahn
Advisor: Huang, S.
Dissertation: Studies of ligand-neuroreceptor binding with dynamic in vivo human and primate position emission tomography data: model definition, validation, and parameta estimation
Grad Year: 1988
Post Grad Plans: Associate Professor of Radiology and Consultant in the Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic

Lara E. Bauman
Advisor: Lange, K.
Dissertation: Qtl variance component models
Grad Year: 2007
Post Grad Plans:
Technical Staff Member, Sandia National Laboratory, 2010-present and Math professor, Chabot College, 2019-present

Bijan Berenji
Advisor: Chou, T.
Currently: Visiting Fellow at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bijan-berenji-1255793a/

Michael Lee Boehnke
Advisor: Lange, K. and Spence, M.
Dissertation: Advances in pedigree analysis: ascertainment, goodness of fit, and optimization
Grad Year: 1983
Post Grad Plans: Richard G. Cornell Distinguished University Professor of Biostatistics; Director, Center for Statistical Genetics; Director, Genome Science Training Program, University of Michigan

Lucas Boettcher
Advisor: Chou, T.
Currently: Assistant Professor of Computational Science at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.
https://www.frankfurt-school.de/en/home/research/staff/Lucas-Boettcher

Richard Ellis Carson
Advisor: Huang, S.
Dissertation: Two parameter estimation methods for positron emission tomography: theory and application to the measurement of local cerebral blood flow in humans
Grad Year: 1983
Post Grad Plans: Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and of Biomedical Engineering; Director, Yale PET Research Center; Director of Graduate Studies, Biomedical Engineering, 2005-present

Buddhapriya Chakrabarti
Advisor: Chou, T.
Currently: Senior Lecturer in Biological Physics at Sheffield University
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/physics/people/academic/buddhapriya-chakrabarti

Joshua Chang
Advisor: Chou, T.
Dissertation: Cortical spreading depression: a mathematical model and associated inverse problems
Grad Year: 2012
Post Grad Plans: NSF Postdoc Fellow at Mathematical Biosciences Institute, 2012-2015; NIH contractor, 2019-present; co-founder of Mederrata

Kewei Chen
Advisor: Huang, H.
Dissertation: Estimation methods that account for measurement characteristics and statistical noise of input function in quantitative dynamic pet studies
Grad Year: 1993
Post Grad Plans: Director of the Computational Image Analysis Program, Banner PET Center; Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Arizona State University

Benjamin Chu
Advisor: Lange, K. and Sinsheimer, J.
Dissertation: Scalable Algorithms for Genetic Association Studies, Genotype Imputation, and Ancestry Inference
Grad Year: 2021
Post Grad Plans: Postdoc at Stanford University

Yao-Li Chuang
Advisor: Chou, T.

Eugene Chudin
Advisor: Landaw, E. and Kogan, B.
Dissertation: Instability of cardiac excitation wave propagation and intracelluar calcium dynamics (computer simulation study)
Grad Year: 1999
Post Grad Plans: Staff Data Scientist, Google, 2019 - present (formerly Microsoft)

Forrest Wrenn Crawford
Advisor: Suchard, M. and Lee, C.
Dissertation: General birth-death processes: probabilities, inference, and applications
Grad Year: 2012
Post Grad Plans: Associate Professor of Biostatistics, Evolutionary Biology, and Statistics, Yale School of Public Health

Mauricio Cruz Loya
Grad Year: 2022

Gabriela Cybis
Advisor: Suchard, M.
Dissertation: Phenotypic Bayesian phylodynamics: hierarchical graph models, antigenic clustering and latent liabilities
Grad Year: 2014
Post Grad Plans: Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Renaud Dessalles
Advisor: Chou, T.
Currently: Mathematician Specialist at Green Shield Technology
Grad Year: 2019
https://dessalles.github.io/

Karin Saskia Dorman
Advisor: Sinsheimer, J.
Dissertation: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 genome variability- recombination and emergence of resistance
Grad Year: 2001
Post Grad Plans: Associate Professor, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Graduate Program, 2001-present

Pouyan Ebrahimbabaie
Advisor: Chou, T.
Currently: Senior Research Scientist at Royal Military Academy, Belgium
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pouyan-ebrahimbabaie-79a98313b/

Alexander Fisher
Advisor: Suchard, M.
Dissertation: Scalable Inference in Bayesian Phylogenetics
Grad Year: 2021
Post Grad Plans: Assistant Prof. at Duke Statistical Science

Pak-Wing Fok
Advisor: Chou, T.
Currently: Associate Professor in Mathematical Sciences at Delaware University
https://www.udel.edu/faculty-staff/experts/pak-wing-fok/

Sanjiv Gambhir
Advisor: Huang, S.
Dissertation: Quantitation of the physical factors affecting the tracer kinetic modeling of cardiac positron emission tomography data
Grad Year: 1990
Post Grad Plans: Professor of Radiology and Division Chief, Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), Stanford University

Xinzhou Ge
Advisor: Li, J.J.
Post Grad Plans: Assistant Professor at Oregon State University.

Melissa Gibbons
Advisor: Chou, T.
Currently: Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, UCSD
https://www.sandiego.edu/directory/biography.php?profile_id=4450

Leeta Alison Green
Advisor: Gambhir, S.
Dissertation: Quantitating herpes symplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase reporter gene expression in living animals using positron emission tomography and a tracer kinetic model for radiolabeled acrylic guanosine analogues
Grad Year: 2003

William Robert Holmes
Advisor: Newton, C. and Woody, C.
Dissertation: Cable theory modeling of the effectiveness of synaptic inputs in cortical pyramidal cells
Grad Year: 1986
Post Grad Plans: Professor Emeritus, Biological Sciences, Ohio University

Victoria Kelley
Grad Year: 2022

Advisor: Chou, T.
Dissertation: Mathematical models of stress disorders: Neuroendocrine dynamics and response
Grad Year: 2017
Post Grad Plans: Postdoctoral Fellow in Quantitative Biological Modeling, Northwestern, 2017-present

Kevin Daniel Klapstein
Advisor: Bruinsma, R. and Chou, T.
Dissertation:
Physical models of the activities of the e. Coli dna strand exchange protein RecA
Grad Year: 2004

Julian Landaw
Advisor: Qu, Z.
Dissertation: Cardiac Memory in the Genesis of Arrhythmias
Grad Year: 2019
Post Grad Plans: Completing MD at UCLA-Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP)

Elliot M. Landaw
Advisor: Newton, C. and Jennrich, R.
Dissertation: Optimal experimental design for biologic compartmental systems with applications of pharmacokinetics
Grad Year: 1980
Post Grad Plans: Professor Emeritus, Biomathematics and Bioengineering, UCLA

Alfonso Landeros
Advisor: Lange, K.
Dissertation: Contributions to Scientific Computing and Mathematical Modelling: Stochastic Simulation, Constrained Optimization, and Infectious Disease
Grad Year: 2021
Post Grad Plans:
Postdoctoral research under Kenneth Lange

Wei-Hsun Liao
Advisor: Huang, H.
Dissertation: Mathematical techniques in object matching and computational anatomy: a new framework based on the level set method
Grad Year: 2003
Post Grad Plans: Psychiatrist and Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Bioengineering, University of Illinois

Charles Louy
Advisor: Peskoff, A.
Dissertation: Mathematical models of oxygen diffusion in skeletal and cardiac muscle and role of myoglobin, with applications to experiments on oxygen consumption and solubilities in muscle
Grad Year: 1983
Post Grad Plans: Director, Inpatient Pain Service: Assistant Director, Pain Management Fellowship Program, Cedars-Sinai

Davide Maestrini
Advisor: Chou, T.
Currently: University of Torino

Donald Kirkman Mahoney
Advisor: Huang, S.
Dissertation: Effects of neuroreceptor clustering on ligand binding kinetics in positron emission tomography
Grad Year: 1990

John Macky Marshall
Advisor: Chou, T. and Taylor, C.
Dissertation: The dynamics of transposable elements in genetically modified mosquito vectors
Grad Year: 2007
Post Grad Plans: Assistant Professor in Residence of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley

Christian Mason
Grad Year: 2022

Rachel Mester
Advisor: Professor Bogdan Pasaniuc
Dissertation: Methods for Optimizing Mechanistic and Predictive Models of Human Disease
Grad Year: 2024
Post Grad Plans: Post-Doc at UCLA

Michelle McCarthy
Advisor: Newton, C.
Dissertation: Neocortical Mechanisms Mediating Electroencelphalographic Oscillations: A Biomathematical Analysis of Anesthesia-Induced Paradoxical Excitation
Grad Year: 2007
Post Grad Plans: Research Assistant Professor in Mathematical Neuroscience and Dynamical Systems, Boston University

Seth Gary Michelson
Advisor: Newton, C. and Brown, E.
Dissertation: Tumor escape phenomena: a stochastic compartment analysis
Grad Year: 1987
Post Grad Plans: Chief Scientific Officer and Biomathematician at Theranos

Vladimir Minin
Advisor: Suchard, M.
Dissertation: Exploring evolutionary heterogeneity with change-point models, gaussian markov random fields, and markov chain induced counting processes
Grad Year: 2007
Post Grad Plans: Professor of Statistics, UC Irvine, 2017-present (formerly University of Washington)

Bhaven Mistry
Advisor: Chou, T.
Dissertation: Stochastic Physics of Biological Assays and Improved Inference
Grad Year: 2019
Post Grad Plans: Assistant Director of the Quantitative and Computing Lab and Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematical Sciences at Claremont McKenna College.

William R. Mower
Advisor: Newton, C.
Dissertation: Stress distributions in aortic aneurysms: factors affecting risk of rupture
Grad Year: 1998
Post Grad Plans: Emergency Medicine Physician at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center

Sarah Nowak
Advisor: Chou, T.
Dissertation: Membrane Mechanics of Endocytic Processes and Cell Adhesion
Grad Year: 2009
Post Grad Plans: Assistant Professor in the Larner College of Medicine, Center for Health Services Research, and Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Vermont

John David O' Brien
Advisor: Suchard, M. and She, Z.
Dissertation: Robust statistical methods for estimating the distance and the rate of change among molecular sequences sampled from rapidly-evolving organisms
Grad Year: 2008
Post Grad Plans: Associate Professor of Mathematics, Bowdoin College

Filippo Posta
Grad Year: 2010
Advisor: Chou, T.
Currently: Adjunct Faculty, College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Grand Canyon University
https://www.gcu.edu/blog/author/filippo-posta-phd

Hillary Protas
Advisor: Huang, H.
Dissertation: Quantitative PET Image Analysis Using MR Derived Cortical Surface Maps in AD Patients and Control Subjects
Grad Year: 2010
Post Grad Plans: Researcher, Banner Alzheimer's Institute

John Michael Ordonez Ranola
Advisor: Lange, K.
Dissertation: Probability models in networks and landscape genetics
Grad Year: 2013
Post Grad Plans: Statistical Geneticist Research Scientist, Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington, 2016-present

Benjamin David Redelings
Advisor: Lange, K.
Dissertation: Joint bayesian estimation of alignment and phylogeny
Grad Year: 2006
Post Grad Plans: Research Scientist, Duke University

Neil Jay Risch
Advisor: Lange, K.
Dissertation: Theoretical and statistical analysis of chiasma distributions, recombination, and gene mapping
Grad Year: 1979
Post Grad Plans: Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Director, Center for Human Genetics, UCSF

Robert James Rovetti
Advisor: Chou, T. / Qu, Z.
Dissertation: Stochastic models of intracellular calcium release and alternans
Grad Year: 2008
Post Grad Plans: Associate Professor of Mathematics in the Seaver College of Science and Engineering, Loyola Marymount University

Eric E. Schadt
Advisor: Lange, K.
Dissertation: Generalized mathematical models for the reconstruction of evolutionary trees
Grad Year: 2002
Post Grad Plans: Founder and CEO of Sema4, a patient-centered predictive health company

Mary Sehl
Advisor: Lange, K. and Sinsheimer, J.
Dissertation: Stochastic dynamics of cancer stem cells
Grad Year: 2009
Post Grad Plans: Assistant Professor in Division of Hematology-Oncology and Department of Computational Medicine, UCLA

Trevor Shaddox
Advisor: Suchard, M.
Dissertation: Learning clinical outcomes from massive observational data
Grad Year: 2016
Post Grad Plans: Resident at Psychiatry Residency Training Program, UCLA

Bruce Edward Shapiro
Advisor: Newton, C.
Dissertation: An electrophysiological model of gap-junction mediated cortical spreading depression including osmotic volume changes
Grad Year: 2000
Post Grad Plans: Lecturer in Mathematics and Computer Science, California State University, Northridge

Kooresh Shoghi-Jadid
Advisor: Huang, H. and Barrio, J.
Dissertation: Imaging alzheimer's disease at pet's resolution: a critical analysis through simulation of beta-amyloid pathology
Grad Year: 2005
Post Grad Plans:
Associate Professor of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine

Apeksha Singh
Advisor: Professor Alexander Hoffmann
Dissertation: Modeling the cell population dynamics that underlie myeloid bias in early hematopoiesis
Grad Year: 2024
Post Grad Plans: Medical School at UCLA

Janet Suzanne Sinsheimer
Advisor: Little, R. and Lake, J.
Dissertation: Extensions to evolutionary parsimony
Grad Year: 1994
Post Grad Plans: Professor of Biostatistics, Biomathematics, and Human Genetics, UCLA

Sonya Jacinta Snedecor
Advisor: Newton, C.
Dissertation: Mathematical models to evaluate the optimal treatment of hiv-1 infection and the response of drug-resistant variants
Grad Year: 2002
Post Grad Plans: Executive Director of Health Economics, Pharmerit International

Eric Martin Sobel
Advisor: Lange, K.
Dissertation: Markov chain monte carlo methods in pedigree analysis: theoretical development and applications to location scores, variance component models, haplotyping, and marker allele sharing statistics
Grad Year: 1996
Post Grad Plans: Professor-in-Residence of Human Genetics and Biomathematics, UCLA

Timothy Stutz
Advisor: Lange, K. and Sehl, M.
Grad Year: 2020
Post Grad Plans: I worked on simulation and numerical methods for stochastic processes with Drs. Ken Lange and Mary Sehl. We've developed a spatial stochastic simulation framework for interacting particle processes on a lattice that extends many well-mixed simulation algorithms to the spatial setting. I also worked with Drs. Mary Sehl and Jason Xu (at Duke University) on numerical methods for calculating transition probabilities in multi-type branching processes.

Marc Suchard
Advisor: Sinsheimer, J. and Weiss, R.
Dissertation: Model building and selection in bayesian phylogenetic reconstruction
Grad Year: 2002
Post Grad Plans: Professor of Biostatistics, Biomathematics, and Human Genetics, UCLA

Elif Tekin
Advisor: Savage, V.
Dissertation: Emergent patterns in vascular networks and interaction networks: A network-centric approach for studying complex systems
Grad Year: 2017
Post Grad Plans: Postdoctoral Researcher at UCLA

Yuxi Tian
Advisor: Suchard, M. 
Dissertation: Large Scale Observational Analytics for Clinical Evidence Generation
Grad Year: 2020
Post Grad Plans: Yuxi is returning to med school. He’s part of the MSTP program.

Ellen Visscher
Dissertation: Master Degree
Grad Year: 2022

Wynn Landis Walker
Advisor: Landaw, E. and Dickerson, E.
Dissertation: The computational design of minor groove binding sequence reading molecules and a mathematical analysis of their sequence binding properties
Grad Year: 1997
Post Grad Plans: Statistical Data Analysis Consultant at NextBio

Daniel Eastman Weeks
Advisor: Lange, K.
Dissertation: New mathematical methods for human gene mapping
Grad Year: 1988
Post Grad Plans: Professor, Human Genetics and Biostatistics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh

Moses Quinn Wilks
Advisor: Huang, H.
Dissertation: Quantitative neurologic and oncologic positron emission tomography: overcoming practical and structural barriers
Grad Year: 2014
Post Grad Plans: Assistant in Physics, Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Mass General Hospital; Instructor, Harvard Medical School

Yue Wang
Advisor: Chou, T.
Grad Year: 2023
Currently: Associate Research Scientist in the Herbert and Florence Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics
https://cancerdynamics.columbia.edu/yue-wang-phd

Song Xu
Advisor: Chou, T.
Dissertation: Mathematical Modeling of Clonal Dynamics in Primate Hematopoiesis
Grad Year: 2018
Post Grad Plans: Data Scientist at Signifyd Inc.

Yanxiang Zhao
Advisor: Chou, T.
Currently: Deputy Chair, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Columbian College of Arts & Sciences
https://math.columbian.gwu.edu/yanxiang-zhao

Jin Zhou
Advisor: Lange, K. and Sinsheimer, J.
Dissertation: Advances in pedigree analysis: hardy-weinberg equilibrium, strain imputation, and maternal effects
Grad Year: 2011
Post Grad Plans: Associate Professor, University of Arizona (formerly research fellow, Harvard School of Public Health)