Colleen is the lead genetic counselor in the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease and a Clinical Assistant Professor in medical genetics at Stanford University. She received her masters in genetic counseling from the Johns Hopkins University and the National Human Genome Research Institute. Colleen currently serves as the co-chair of the NSGC Cardiovascular Genetics SIG. Colleen also served on an American Heart Association working committee for a recent publication on policy recommendations for genetics in cardiology. At Stanford she lectures in the medical school and genetic counseling program, sits on the psychosocial curriculum committee of the genetic counseling program, co-directs the cardiovascular genetics course, and supervises clinical rotations for trainees from the genetic counseling program and the medical genetics residency program. Her research interests include interpretation and use of genetic and genomic tests in cardiology and psychosocial impact of hereditary cardiovascular conditions.
Karen is a Cloud Software Developer with the Ashley Lab group working on the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) Bioinformatics Center grant.
Megan is a genetic counselor in the Ashley lab. While originally from Philadelphia, her family moved to California when she was in elementary school and she quickly realized her love for the Bay Area. She earned a B.A. in Human Biology and M.S. in Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling at Stanford, and she is thrilled to have the opportunity to continue to work at Stanford and with such an inspiring team. Her research focuses mainly on genome sequencing and genetic variant interpretation, specifically involving its application in genomic medicine. She is also involved in disease discovery efforts that aim to identify underlying causes of Mendelian cardiac conditions through the use of next-generation sequencing technologies. Finally, she is a member of the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease, where she provides genetic counseling for patients with inherited cardiac conditions and their family members. She enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling, and competitive sailboat racing.
Steve Hershman is Director of mHealth where he is coordinating the MyHeart Counts study, using iPads to enroll research participants into the GenePool biobank as part of the Metabolic Health Center and makes sense of exercise via omics as part of the Bioinformatics Center for Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC). Previously, he was Director of Biomedical Informatics and Principal Scientist at LifeMap Solutions where he launched the pioneering ResearchKit study Asthma Health. Steve has a BA (Biochemistry), MS (Chemistry) and MSE (Computer and Information Sciences) from the University of Pennsylvania and earned his PhD in Systems Biology from Harvard University at the lab of Vamsi Mootha investigating “Personal Genomics and Mitochondrial Disease”. Sometimes he misses the wet lab, but is usually content experimenting in the kitchen instead. At Stanford he enjoys farming on the farm.
Yong Huang is a research professional at Ashley Lab. She received her MD from Shandong University School of Medicine in China, where she spent many years as a researcher and lecturer in human parasitology. She was a visiting scholar at Jikei University School of Medicine in Japan, and has been at Stanford since 2001 working on human gene therapy and now cardiovascular diseases. She is also a core member in the UDN team deriving iPSC from patient samples. An enthusiastic yogi, she also enjoys healthy cooking and outdoor activities.
Hannah Ison is a genetic counselor at the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. She received her Master’s in Medical and Molecular Genetics from Indiana University, and returned home to California to begin her career as a genetic counselor. Her primary clinical interest include working with patients who have Familial Hypercholesterolemia in both the adult and pediatric setting. Additionally, she is assisting with the development of the Cardiogenomics program at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital where she provides inpatient and outpatient genetic counseling to patients with congenital heart defects. Her research interests include determining barriers to identification and treatment of individuals with FH, as well understanding the genetic underpinnings of congenital heart disease. In her spare time she searches for all of the good eats in town and spends time with friends and family.
Jennifer is a Clinical Research Coordinator working with Dr. Matthew Wheeler on various clinical trials. Jennifer grew up in San Francisco and the East Bay. She attended the University of California, Davis and earned a degree in Biological Sciences. She is an avid snowboarder, explorer of county and national parks, and loves spending time with husband and daughter.
Young is a Software Developer working with Drs. Euan Ashley and Matthew Wheeler on the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) project. Young’s background and expertise is in the field of software engineering, with concentration on health data science. In her free time, Young loves hiking and spending time outdoors with her family.
Tia is the on-call cardiovascular genetic counselor for the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. She is a native of Toronto, Canada and moved to the Bay Area to attend Stanford’s Masters in Human Genetics and Genetic Counseling. Tia is an active member of NSGC’s Student/New Member SIG and the Cardiovascular Genetics SIG. At Stanford she lectures in the genetic counseling program and supervises students’ clinical rotations. Her research interests include the development, implementation and evaluation of new genetic counseling service delivery models. Tia spends most of her free time in the dance studio, hiking, camping and wine tasting.
Mitchel Pariani is a genetic counselor at the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. He is a native of the East Bay and earned his BS in 2005 from UC Davis in Genetics and his MS in 2007 from CSU, Northridge in Genetic Counseling. He was a genetic counselor at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles before returning home to the Bay Area in 2014. At Stanford he co-teaches the Cardiovascular Genetics course in the genetic counselling program and his research interests include hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, familial hypercholesterolemia and aortopathies. Outside of Stanford Mitchel spends time hiking, skiing, and can be found in the mountains driving, then repairing his classic Ford Mustang.
Archana is a computational biologist at the Bioinformatics Center of the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC). Her work primarily focuses on implementing some of the genomics pipelines at the BIC. She is originally from Tamil Nadu, India and received her MS in Bioinformatics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In the past she has worked in different research labs with goals from sequencing plants that support human health to finding possible leads/cures for genetic disorders (Autism and Epilepsy). In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her kid, traveling and hiking.
Shirley received her BA in Physics from UC Irvine and her Masters in Biology from Stanford. She worked for 15 years in the James Spudich Lab in the Dept. of Biochemistry at Stanford, where she became proficient in molecular biology and protein purification techniques. When that lab downsized, she joined the Bustamante Lab in the Genetics Dept. at Stanford, where she learned how to purify genomic DNA from a variety of sample sources, how to make DNA sequencing libraries from the purified genomic DNA and how to “capture” specific parts of the genome for sequencing.
While working for the Biochemistry Dept, she studied the causes of human cardiac disease, specifically how certain single point mutations in the human cardiac myosin gene (MYH7) can alter the in vitro function of MYH7. The clinical observation that two people with the same MYH7 mutation can have vastly different disease manifestation and progression sparked her interest in the field of personalized medicine and how one’s complete genetic profile could be used to tailor drug treatments for cardiac diseases and other diseases, such as cancer. Besides managing the Ashley Lab wet lab, she hopes to apply her skill set to the study of the genomic DNA of patients with heart disease in an effort to understand how and why which MYH7 mutations will make someone sick and which will not.
Kevin is a Data Aide for the Ashley lab. He graduated from Cornell in 2014 with a BA in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. He spent two years working in the Stanford Physics Department on graphene and other highly correlated electron systems before a brief stint in a Material Science graduate program before realizing he wanted to transition into the medical field, which led to his current position. When he is not at his computer Kevin enjoys backpacking, reading and playing competitive Magic the Gathering.
Brianna works as a clinical research coordinator at the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. She is a Bay Area native with an interest in genomic medicine and bioethics, and aspirations to become a genetic counselor. On the weekends you can find her trying new foods, spending time with friends and family, and staying active.
Hannah Wand is a genetic counselor at the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. She is originally from Pennsylvania and received her MS in genetic counseling from the Johns Hopkins/National Human Genome Research Institute program. She is Stanford’s ClinGen program coordinator and has a dual affiliation in the Bustamante lab. Her research primarily cost effective implementation of genomic medicine and utilization of genetic results, especially in changing health behaviors. Her primary clinical and research focus is Familial Hypercholesterolemia. In her free time, she enjoys travelling, dancing, and finding new hobbies to try.
Brooke is the Ashley Lab Administrative Associate and handles the Visiting Appointments in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine. She graduated from San José State University with her Bachelor’s in Speech-Language Pathology, and is working towards attending Graduate school. In her free time, she likes to play with her puppy, Louey!
Chunli received her PhD/DVM in Developmental Biology and Embryonic Engineering from the Institute of Zoology (IOZ, Beijing), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China in 2006. From 2006 to 2016, she worked as an Assistant Professor in IOZ, as a scientist in a stem cell company, and as a Research Associate in the Genetics Department/Cardiovascular Institute at Stanford University before joining the Ashley Lab.
Her major expertise is in stem cell research, including human iPSCs/ESCs derivation, iPSCs/ESCs differentiation and genome editing. She is also experienced in transgenic animal model generation, including animal cloning (somatic cell nuclear transfer), DNA injection, blastocyst injection and small animal surgery.
Her current work in the lab is in conjunction with the Stanford UDN project. She is in charge of iPSCs reprogramming and studies, as well as iPSCs related collaborated projects. She is also the lab manager for the Ashley Lab.
Jimmy is a full stack software programmer with extensive experience in UI design and frontend development. He previously worked on the design and development of the software interfaces for curating clinically relevant genes and variants for the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) initiative. Prior to joining the ClinGen team at Stanford University in January 2016, he was a software developer at HighWire Press, a digital scholarly journal publishing platform that was founded by Stanford University Libraries and later became an independent company.