Alumni
Amy Boddy, PhD
University of California Santa Barbara
Dr. Boddy is an Associate Professor in Integrative Anthropological Sciences at UCSB.
Read more about Dr. Boddy and her work here.
Marc Tollis, PhD
Northern Arizona University
Dr. Tollis is an evolutionary biologist using statistical genetics, bioinformatics and fieldwork to investigate the evolution of cancer suppression across mammals. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Cancer and Evolution Lab. Read more about Dr. Tollis, his work, and lab here.
Michelle Culbertson
University of Utah
Michelle grew up in Tempe, Arizona and completed her B.S in medicinal biochemistry at Arizona State University. She conducted undergraduate research with John Chaput analyzing the biostability of synthetic nucleic acids, and later with Carlo Maley establishing new model organisms for cancer research, which sparked her interest in evolutionary medicine.
She moved to Salt Lake City to pursue a combined MD/PhD degree, and is interested in applying research into host-pathogen coevolution to improving prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. She is especially interested in studying bats and how they coevolved with key zoonotic pathogens of interest to human health.
Aika Schneider-Utaka, MSc
Aika received her undergraduate and master’s degree in Biology. While working at the lab, she used bioinformatics to study the evolution of cancer genes across mammals. She is currently running a clinic in Portland, OR specializing in glaucoma.
Shri Narayanan
University of Lausanne
Shrinath received a bachelor's degree (B.Tech) in Biotechnology from Anna University and a master's degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Dallas, and he is trained as a molecular biologist. During his master's, he worked with Dr.Nikki Delk on examining the effects of cytokines on breast cancer cells with respect to their receptor status. Since then, he has started to develop strong interests in the evolutionary perspectives of cancer development and multicellularity. Shri is a Ph.D. student at the University of Lausanne.
Valerie Harris, PhD
Arizona State University
Valerie Harris is the Assistant Director for Health and Clinical Support Services at Arizona State University. Harris arrived at ASU initially to pursue her undergraduate education, and over the past decade she has worked in cancer biology, with a particular interest in the evolutionary and ecological dynamics across multiple scales of evolution – from cellular to organismal. During the course of her Ph. D., Valerie studied the incidence of cancer across non-human species, assembling a large-scale epidemiological survey of neoplastic disease from zoological institutions, veterinary facilities, and wildlife sanctuaries. She has taken part in field research throughout the globe, including time in Africa, Greenland, Mexico, Panama, and Thailand. Prior to her role in Health and Clinical Support Services, Valerie helped to lead ASU’s COVID response as the Senior Manager of the University’s clinical testing lab, providing over 800,000 results to ASU and the community at large. Currently, her work focuses on facilitating clinical research activities across multiple areas within the University and in the surrounding Phoenix biomedical corridor.
Steffi Kapsetaki, PhD
Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas Irákleion
After completing a Masters & Ph.D. at Oxford on social evolution, the major evolutionary transitions in individuality, and specifically the evolution of multicellularity, Dr. Kapsetaki was enthused by the idea of looking at cancer from an evolutionary perspective. That is, as a selfish element in a cooperative cellular society, the multicellular organism. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the lab, Dr. Kapsetaki used this perspective to tackle several questions, including connections between fusion, chimerism, and the evolution of transmissible cancers. In her spare time, Dr. Kapsetaki performs at concert venues as a pianist and explores art, poetry, composition, songwriting, and photography. To learn more about Dr. Kapsetaki, visit her webpage here.
Angelo Fortunato, PhD
eCampus University, Italy
Dr. Angelo Fortunato’s research focuses on cancer evolution, cancer biology, evolutionary biology and molecular genetics. He is working on human cancer and development of novel model organisms in cancer. He received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Rice University, Houston, Texas, and a second Ph.D. in Experimental and Clinical Oncology, from University of Florence, Italy. To learn more about Dr. Fortunato, visit his webpage here.
Sareh Seyedi, PhD
Antharis Therapeutics
Dr. Sareh Seyedi worked on evolutionary therapies for cancer in the Maley Lab, testing adaptive therapy protocols in a mouse model of breast cancer that has led to a clinical trial at the Mayo Clinic (NCT06525766). After she finished her Ph.D., she joined Antharis Therapeutics.
Daniel Saha, PhD
Dr. Daniel (Kaushik) Saha (a.k.a., Daniel Thomas) received his undergraduate degree from Presidency College and MS in Molecular Biophysics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He earned a Ph.D. in Biology in the Maley Lab working on computational simulations of adaptive therapy in cancer.
Zach Compton, PhD
University of Arizona
Dr. Zach Compton received his undergraduate degree in Genetics, Cell, and Developmental Biology and his Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology at Arizona State University. He is interested in all of the intersections that cancer biology makes with evolutionary theory, particularly comparative oncology - the study of cancer across the tree of life. Zach is passionate about bringing evolution into the cancer clinic, as well as the community. Zach was also the Co-Founder and the Co-Director of the ACE Scholars Program, an integrative multi-scale approach to undergraduate research training, which he still actively advises. He is now a postdoctoral fellow in the Petrullo lab at the University of Arizona.
Pamela Winfrey
Pamela Winfrey specializes in art/science exhibitions, programs, residencies, and artworks. She has been the lead curator in emerging art forms for Creative Capital, represented the United States on the interactive arts panel at Ars Electronica in Linz, and worked for many years at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. She wrote a book the inventer Marconi and another about the architect Palladio. She is also a playwright and screenwriter. Learn more about her work by visiting her website here.
Cristina Baciu, EdD
Arizona State University
Dr. Cristina Baciu worked as a research program manager collaborating with interdisciplinary teams at the intersection of cooperation and cancer evolution research at Arizona State University. She was the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the ACE Scholars Program and the Cooperation Scholars Program, training opportunities for undergraduate students that combine scientific mentoring with career and professional development sessions. Cristina holds two bachelor's degrees (economics and psychology) and a doctorate in educational leadership in higher education. Both practice and research-wise, Cristina is interested in mentoring undergraduate college students, barriers to students’ success, and the intersection between technology and higher education. She is now the Assistant Director of Research at the W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU. To learn more about Cristina and her work, please visit her website.
Walker Mellon, MSc
University of Arizona College of Medicine
Walker completed a Masters in Data Science in the Maley lab, working primarily on comparative oncology and serving as a co-director of the ACE Scholars Program. He continues to mentor ACE Scholars on their comparative oncology projects while working in the Jakobi Lab in the Translational Cariovascular Research Center.
