Liz is a PhD student in Biomedical Informatics. She earned her BS in Applied Mathematics from UCLA in 2017, where she worked with Prof Grace Xiao on building bayesian networks to model regulatory elements in cancer. Previously, Liz worked with Prof Rachel Martin to develop statistical methods to detect protein aggregation, as well as Prof Pardis Sabeti to identify the optimal set of clinical variables needed to make informed medical decisions that drastically reduced the time of diagnosis for Lassa Fever. Liz is interested in developing unsupervised machine learning methods, particularly with causal inference, multiscale, multivariate problems in time series and longitudinal analysis. When she isn’t working out statistical problems or coding, Liz enjoys wilderness backpacking, skiing, and staying up-to-date about politics.
Hannah is a graduate student in Stanford’s Genetics PhD program, and a DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellow. She grew up in Ithaca, NY, and earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences and Biometry/Statistics from Cornell University in 2014. Her prior research topics range from plant-aphid-virus interactions to the polar bear gut microbiome. In the Ashley lab, she is focused on better understanding the biology of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy using genome-editing and bioinformatic approaches. Outside the lab, she enjoys hiking, wilderness backpacking, photography, and collecting owls.
John is a graduate student in the genetics Ph.D program. As an undergraduate he studied biology and continued to veterinary school where he received a DVM. During his time at university, John investigated the effects antiviral drugs have on retrovirus in relation to the development of resistance. He then switched his research focus in vet school and investigated genetic variations related to structural heart disease in captive chimpanzees.
John then transitioned to the clinic as a mixed animal veterinary surgeon, treating animals ranging in size from mice to horses, with a lot of dogs, cats and cows in between. While John enjoyed his time as a veterinarian, he often found himself thinking of how to further investigate cardiomyopathies in great apes. This interest is what led John to the Ashley lab. While not in the lab or the clinic, John enjoys running ultra-marathons, skiing and scuba diving.
Anna is a graduate student in the Biomedical Informatics PhD Program at Stanford University. She is interested in developing algorithms that utilize machine learning and data mining approaches to derive medically relevant conclusions from multi-layer omics data. Anna attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she double majored in Computer Science and Biological Engineering.
After graduation she pursed an M.Eng. degree at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Bioengineering Systems and Technologies group, where she continued to work until beginning her PhD at Stanford. During this time she developed algorithms to characterize microbiome metagenomic datasets, to predict kinship and biological ancestry from variant data, and to characterize different stages of healing from muscoskeletal injury.
Currently, Anna is developing deep learning algorithms for identifying pathogenic variants in undiagnosed diseases. She is also mining “big data” sources such as the UK Biobank and the MyHeart Counts mobile health data for meaningful associations between physical activity and health. Anna’s long term goal is to contribute to precision medicine by integrating physical activity, medical history, and genetic information to build a more complete picture of patient health.
Jessica is a graduate student in the Biomedical Informatics Ph.D. Program who is interested in clinical applications of wearable technology/mobile health for better patient management and outcomes. She received her B.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology and M.s in Bioinformatics from San Diego State University in 2011 and 2013 respectively. During her masters and subsequent, she worked for a biotech company developing noninvasive prenatal diagnostics before joining the Stanford Biomedical Informatics Ph.D. program. Outside the lab, Jessica enjoys spending time with her husband, puppy, and drinking lots of iced coffee.