Laura Elias

Daniel Cavanaugh

Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I attended the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and have spent the last few years in a lab that studies the neurobiological basis of drug addiction. In my free time, I do a lot of reading and enjoy playing ultimate frisbee. I graduated in 2002, and have spent this past year working full time in Philadelphia. I'm excited to be going back to school and can't wait to explore San Francisco and the neuroscience program at UCSF.

Jeremy Cholfin (MSTP)

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, I began my migration out west at the age of one. Living in Arizona for 9 years, I learned how to run wind-sprints in 100 degree weather and to avoid dust devils. My family ultimately made it to the blessed destination of 72-degree San Diego, where we settled down. There, I soon developed a noble career goal: that of becoming an NBA basketball star. Unfortunately, I could not think of a good way to combine basketball with science and medicine (my other two loves), so I opted for the latter two. During high school, I did a year of research studying fly neurodevelopment. I enjoyed the experience so much that I decided to major in neuroscience when I went to UCLA for college. There, I worked in the laboratory of Dan Geschwind, studying the genetics of several neurological disorders. Continuing on that trajectory, I came to UCSF to pursue an MD/PhD. In the mean time, I have maintained an interest in the classics, and have traveled to ancient sites in Greece and Turkey to study the history in person. I also greatly enjoy movies, reading, theater, and sports.

Jennifer Coats

I grew up in a small town in the desert outside Los Angeles. After high school I attended UCSD where I got my B.S. in Biophysics in 2001. During my undergraduate days I took a job as a laboratory assistant in a neuroscience lab and fell in love with it. Since graduating I've stayed on in the same lab where I participate in learning and memory research in transgenic and knock-out mice. In my free time I like to play PS2 and X-Box, read, and drink fine beers.

Cara Hampton

I am from Los Angeles, California and have been living in the Sacramento and Davis area for the past ten years. I initially became interested in neuroscience while doing behavioral therapy for autistic children. I graduated with a BS in Biology from UCDavis in 2002 and decided to pursue a Ph.D after working with Dr. Kim McAllister at the Center for Neuroscience at UC Davis. When I have spare time away from the lab I like wakeboarding, kickboxing, yoga, painting and drawing.

Sonja Hohl

I was born in Charleston, SC and grew up in Basle, Switzerland. I am currently completing my Diploma in Experimental Physics at the ETH in Zurich, Switzerland, with an emphasis on Nanophysics and Neuroinformatics. I am working on models of neurons in visual cortex, trying to derive their properties from the statistics of natural images. During the last few years I have moved around quite a bit. Apart from studying in Zurich, I spent three semesters at Brown University and one year at the University of Granada in Spain on an Erasmus scholarship. While at Brown I was doing a lot of gymnastics, in Granada I became passionate about Salsa dancing. I also enjoy hiking, snowboarding, and swimming in Lake Zurich on hot summer days.

Meredith Judy

I was born in Berkeley and spent the first 18 years of my life living in the East Bay. For college I decided to try something different and traveled all the way to Ithaca, NY to attend Cornell. There, I studied biology with an emphasis in neurobiology and behavior. Although I enjoyed my time at Cornell, I couldn't wait to get back to the West Coast. Thus, I moved back to the Bay Area after graduation and began working in the McIntire lab at the Gallo Clinic and Research Center. There, I have been working on a project that uses the behavior and genetics of C. elegans to study ethanol sensitivity and tolerance. When I have free time I like to eat at fine restaurants, do crosswords, and read British and Japanese mystery novels. I'm also mildly obsessed with orchids and spend a lot of time trying to keep the ten that I have alive.

Scott Juntti

I was born and raised in Minneapolis, then moved to Madison to study at the University of Wisconsin, majoring in biology and psychology. After graduation I moved to Goettingen, Germany, to work at the Max Planck Institute. I made a couple of knock-in mutant mice for the study of long-term potentiation, became a German beer connoisseur, and traveled around Europe. When my mice were done, I decided I'd earned a break from the 23 years spent in upper Midwest winters and northern European rain, and moved to San Diego. My time is now spent mostly at the beach or at work at Scripps, where I am researching pheromone sensation in mice. In my spare time, I enjoy playing sports, especially basketball, ultimate Frisbee, and soccer; doing anything outdoors, and learning new languages.

Steven Kim

I was born in Seoul, Korea and grew up in North Carolina. I recently graduated with a degree in Psychology from Harvard College, where I dabbled in visual cognition (change detection in humans) and behavioral neuroscience (prefrontal cortical lesions in rats). My interests are eclectic: stochastic processes, Korean language, indoleamines, cooking, and French postmodern philosophy. I like rats and cats.

Brendan Mullaney

I was born and grew up in a small town in South Dakota. After high school I attended Johns Hopkins University, majoring in Neuroscience. As a student I worked in a lab studying animal models of disease and injury. I also rowed for the Hopkins crew team. I enjoy reading, backpacking, racquetball and eating.

Julie Pinkston

I’m originally from the suburbs of Philadelphia, and I’m currently finishing my biology degree at MIT. I’ve been working in the Tonegawa lab at MIT for the past year, helping to characterize a Cre-transgenic mouse line. I like to run, play sports, cheer for the Eagles, draw, and watch movies. I also have a cat, Bella, who makes me smile.

Devon Ryan

I'm originally from a rural "city" in Ohio named Lima (improperly pronounced like the bean, not the city in Peru). I moved to Chicago to begin college at the University of Chicago, where I graduated in 2002. I've stayed in Chicago after graduating to study SK channels, try and elucidate the mechanism underlying stroke induced vasospasm, and because Chicago is a really great city in which to live. I'm looking forward to moving to SF as it will be my third time to the west coast, the previous two being interview trips. I enjoy reading, live music of almost any sort except country, and the normal out-doors activities like baseball, biking, and hiking.

Archana Shenoy

Hi, my name is Archana Shenoy and I am an incoming student at UCSF. I recently got a Bachelor's degree in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I became interested in Neuroscience due to my lab experience as an undergraduate, in a developmental neurobiology lab focused on questions regarding axon guidance. My hobbies include reading and music.

Melody Wu

I was born in L.A. and lived there until my family moved to Taiwan when I was six. I went to an American High School in Taipei and came to Berkeley where I kind of fell into neuroscience while taking general breadth courses at Cal. I ended up double majoring in Cognitive Science and Molecular and Cell Biology and here I am. I love the theater (especially musicals),reading anything I can get my hands on (when I have the time), and collecting Milk and Absolut ads among other things, and I fervently believe that rugby beats the pants off of football.

Joy Yu

I grew up in Tallahassee, Florida and just graduated from Duke with a psychology degree this past year. The past two summers I worked in a lab that was researching the neurobiology of social attachment. I love music; I played the piano for 9 years, play a little guitar, and sang in the Duke Chorale. I'm excited about living on the west coast for the first time.

Ye Zhang