The Team
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Eliezer Van Allen, MD - Principal Investigator
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Saud AlDubayan, MD
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Saud is a board-certified clinical geneticist and computational biologist in the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention at DFCI. Saud obtained his Medical Doctorate degree in 2009 and has done clinical training in adult medicine at the University of Toronto as well as clinical genetics and genomics at Harvard Medical School. Saud also did postdoctoral research training in computational biology at DFCI/Broad as well as translational genomics at Harvard Clinical and Translational Academy. In addition to clinically evaluating patients with inherited cancer-predisposition syndromes, Saud is also a dedicated scientist whose research interest has focused on exploring the utility of integrative DNA-repair centered analyses of paired germline and tumor genetic and transcriptomic data for informing clinical decision making. Saud’s current research work aims to explore novel inherited and somatic genomic predictors of cancer risk, cancer progression and chemoresistance in large cohorts of cancer patients.
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Saud is a board-certified clinical geneticist and computational biologist in the Center for Cancer Genetics and Prevention at DFCI. Saud obtained his Medical Doctorate degree in 2009 and has done clinical training in adult medicine at the University of Toronto as well as clinical genetics and genomics at Harvard Medical School. Saud also did postdoctoral research training in computational biology at DFCI/Broad as well as translational genomics at Harvard Clinical and Translational Academy. In addition to clinically evaluating patients with inherited cancer-predisposition syndromes, Saud is also a dedicated scientist whose research interest has focused on exploring the utility of integrative DNA-repair centered analyses of paired germline and tumor genetic and transcriptomic data for informing clinical decision making. Saud’s current research work aims to explore novel inherited and somatic genomic predictors of cancer risk, cancer progression and chemoresistance in large cohorts of cancer patients.
Alexander "Scanner" Cheung, BS, MBHL
Associate Computational Biologist
Scanner has returned to the Van Allen Lab as a computational biologist after taking a brief sabbatical to pursue a Fulbright Scholarship in New Zealand. As an aspiring physician, he hopes to apply the skills and knowledge gained from his research in the clinical setting to improve patient care through a precision medicine approach. He originally hails from Hawaii and attended Stanford University, but is anxiously looking forward to his first winter on the East Coast.
Associate Computational Biologist
Scanner has returned to the Van Allen Lab as a computational biologist after taking a brief sabbatical to pursue a Fulbright Scholarship in New Zealand. As an aspiring physician, he hopes to apply the skills and knowledge gained from his research in the clinical setting to improve patient care through a precision medicine approach. He originally hails from Hawaii and attended Stanford University, but is anxiously looking forward to his first winter on the East Coast.
Jake Conway, BS (Bioinformatics)
Graduate Student, Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics
Graduate Student, Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics
Felix Dietlein, MD, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow
Post-doctoral Fellow
Haitham Elmarakeby, PhD (Computer Science)
Post-doctoral Fellow
Post-doctoral Fellow
Meng Xiao He, AB (Molecular and Cellular Biology)
Graduate Student, Biophysics
Meng Xiao is a student in the Harvard Biophysics PhD program. In the Van Allen lab, he mainly focuses on single-cell RNA-sequencing but is broadly interested in genetics. Having worked as a software engineer before returning to Harvard, he is interested in practical uses for his training in biology and computer science.
Graduate Student, Biophysics
Meng Xiao is a student in the Harvard Biophysics PhD program. In the Van Allen lab, he mainly focuses on single-cell RNA-sequencing but is broadly interested in genetics. Having worked as a software engineer before returning to Harvard, he is interested in practical uses for his training in biology and computer science.
Alma Imamovic
Sophia Kamran, MD
Resident, Radiation Oncology
Resident, Radiation Oncology
Tanya Keenan, MD MPH
Medical Oncology Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Tanya is a medical oncology fellow, who joined the Van Allen lab after completing an MPH in epidemiology at Hopkins and internal medicine residency and chief residency at MGH. She is driven to improve responses to immunotherapy in breast cancer by investigating mechanisms of resistance to checkpoint blockade.
Medical Oncology Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Tanya is a medical oncology fellow, who joined the Van Allen lab after completing an MPH in epidemiology at Hopkins and internal medicine residency and chief residency at MGH. She is driven to improve responses to immunotherapy in breast cancer by investigating mechanisms of resistance to checkpoint blockade.
Eric Kofman, BS (Computer Science)
Associate Computational Biologist
After majoring in Computer Science with a concentration in Biocomputation at Stanford University, Eric worked as a software engineer at Fabric Genomics, an Oakland, CA-based genome interpretation startup, for three years before joining the Van Allen lab in September of 2017. He is motivated by the desire to understand the complex biological interactions that drive cancer and use this knowledge to improve outcomes for cancer patients.
Associate Computational Biologist
After majoring in Computer Science with a concentration in Biocomputation at Stanford University, Eric worked as a software engineer at Fabric Genomics, an Oakland, CA-based genome interpretation startup, for three years before joining the Van Allen lab in September of 2017. He is motivated by the desire to understand the complex biological interactions that drive cancer and use this knowledge to improve outcomes for cancer patients.
David Liu, MD, MPH, MS
Medical Oncology Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
David is a senior fellow in the DFCI/Harvard CancerCare Heme-Onc Fellowship. He is a refugee from Silicon Valley (or at least Seattle), where he was a software engineer before deciding to go into medicine. He is interested in using computational approaches to study tumor evolution and heterogeneity under selection as manifested in patient tumor samples through therapy, and finding biomarkers of response and resistance that are biologically-grounded and clinically relevant.
Medical Oncology Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
David is a senior fellow in the DFCI/Harvard CancerCare Heme-Onc Fellowship. He is a refugee from Silicon Valley (or at least Seattle), where he was a software engineer before deciding to go into medicine. He is interested in using computational approaches to study tumor evolution and heterogeneity under selection as manifested in patient tumor samples through therapy, and finding biomarkers of response and resistance that are biologically-grounded and clinically relevant.
Derek Liu, BS (HST MD program)
Claire Margolis, BS (Computer Science), MS (Biomedical Informatics)
California-born and raised, Claire relocated to Boston in August 2016 to join the Van Allen Lab after having completed her undergraduate and Masters studies at Stanford University. She is inspired to improve the lives of patients with cancer by changing healthcare delivery through the integration of data science, bioinformatics, and clinical translation. Her research focuses on developing integrative molecular predictors of response to cancer immunotherapy and investigating the tumor-immune microenvironment via RNA-seq.
California-born and raised, Claire relocated to Boston in August 2016 to join the Van Allen Lab after having completed her undergraduate and Masters studies at Stanford University. She is inspired to improve the lives of patients with cancer by changing healthcare delivery through the integration of data science, bioinformatics, and clinical translation. Her research focuses on developing integrative molecular predictors of response to cancer immunotherapy and investigating the tumor-immune microenvironment via RNA-seq.
Diana Miao (HST)
Shirley Mo (HST), AB (Applied Mathematics)
Jihye Park, PhD
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Jihye received her education at Pennsylvania State University, with a BS in molecular biology and statistics and a PhD in bioinformatics and genomics. She currently works at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, with a dual position in the Van Allen and Ghobrial labs. In previous positions, she worked in computational clinical research that brought contributions to public health issues, including bacterial infection and antibiotic resistance. Her current research focuses on discovering genomic, transcriptomic, and immune-genomic markers that are associated with tumor progression from early precursor conditions, such as MGUS and SMM, to Multiple Myeloma (MM). She desires to bridge the gap among experimental biologists, computational scientists and clinicians, and to synergize their research efforts.
Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Jihye received her education at Pennsylvania State University, with a BS in molecular biology and statistics and a PhD in bioinformatics and genomics. She currently works at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, with a dual position in the Van Allen and Ghobrial labs. In previous positions, she worked in computational clinical research that brought contributions to public health issues, including bacterial infection and antibiotic resistance. Her current research focuses on discovering genomic, transcriptomic, and immune-genomic markers that are associated with tumor progression from early precursor conditions, such as MGUS and SMM, to Multiple Myeloma (MM). She desires to bridge the gap among experimental biologists, computational scientists and clinicians, and to synergize their research efforts.
Brendan Reardon, BS (Physics)
Associate Computational Biologist
Brendan originally conducted research in astrophysics while studying physics at Brandeis University before migrating to computational biology and clinical computational oncology. His research is now motivated by the goal of improving clinical interpretation in cancer genomics, especially through integrative approaches.
Associate Computational Biologist
Brendan originally conducted research in astrophysics while studying physics at Brandeis University before migrating to computational biology and clinical computational oncology. His research is now motivated by the goal of improving clinical interpretation in cancer genomics, especially through integrative approaches.
Amaro Taylor-Weiner, BS (Cognitive Brain Science and Philosophy)
Graduate Student, Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics
Graduate Student, Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics
Natalie Vokes, MD, MPhil
Medical Oncology Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Medical Oncology Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Lab Alumni
Travis Zack, MD, PhD (UCSF Internal Medicine)
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Daniel Keliher (Mathematics PhD program, Tufts University)
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Paris Ghazi (Undergraduate, Cornell University)
Nate Moore (MD program, Indiana University)
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Alicia Smart (HST)
Garam Celine Han, PhD (BMS ImmunoOncology)
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Noora J. Al-Muftah, MS (Computational Biology & Quantitative Genetics)
Noora completed a Masters Program in Computational Biology & Quantitative Genetics at Harvard. Previously, she was an undergrad at Carnegie Mellon University where she did her bachelors in Computational Biology. She is fascinated by the intersection of computer science and genomics. Her interests are in applying statistical and computational techniques to problems in cancer genomics and population genetics. |
Stephanie Wankowicz (UCSF PhD Program)
Stephanie began as a Research Data Specialist in the genitourinary department at DFCI collecting clinical data and conducting research in bladder cancer. She transitioned to the Van Allen Lab in April 2016 and has focused on large whole exome projects in genitourinary cancers. |