Staff and Trainees

Flavia Chen, MPH
Flavia.Chen@ucsf.edu

Flavia Chen is the Project Manager for NBSeq, the California arm of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)-funded Newborn Screening In Genomic Medicine and Public Heath (NSIGHT) Consortium, whose goal it is “to explore the implications, challenges and opportunities associated with the possible use of genomic sequence information in the newborn period.” Under Co-PIs Drs. Barbara Koenig, Pui-Yan Kwok, and Jennifer Puck, Flavia facilitates research collaborations spanning clinical genetics, public health, genomics, law, policy and ethics. Prior to working at UCSF, Flavia received her MPH from the University of Washington’s Institute for Public Health Genetics and her BA from Bowdoin College.

Lindsay Forbes 
Lindsay.Forbes@ucsf.edu

Lindsay Forbes is the Bioethics Program Manager for CT2G and the developing bioethics infrastructure at UCSF. She is responsible for a wide variety of operations across program including long-range planning, educational offerings, selecting and mentoring project staff, and related administrative duties. Prior to joining CT2G, Lindsay was a Research Program Coordinator at Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics where she managed a multi-site research study in the IC, coordinated the  Ethics in Clinical Practice Program, and provided administrative support to senior leadership. Lindsay graduated from the  
University of California, Berkeley in 2012 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Bioethics. 

Roberta Ryan                                                                                                                
Roberta.ryan@ucsf.edu 

Roberta Ryan is Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator under Associate Director Julie Harris and Marsha Michie. She is managing Dr. Harris’s AHRQ funded project  to explore public perspectives on state-mandated newborn screening programs and providing research support to Dr. Michie’s work on the ethical, social, and clinical implications of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing. She has done prior research on breast cancer treatment disparities regarding the use of a genomic test for cancer recurrence risk. Roberta graduated from UCLA in 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies and minor in Public Affairs.  

Jaennika Aniag        
Jaennika.Aniag@ucsf.edu       
                                                                                                          
Jaennika will graduate from San Francisco State University with a MPH degree in Community Health Education—deeply rooted in the principles of social justice. She joined the CT2G team in June 2015, through the UCSF Minority in Training Cancer Control Research Program (MTPCCR) led by Dr. Rena Pasick, and was selected as an intern to work with Dr. Julie Harris-Wai in her project of biospecimen research in African American communities.  After completion of the MTPCCR project, Jaennika continued her internship with CT2G as a research assistant working with Dr. Barbara Koenig and Dr. Deborah Gordon on the project entitled “Disclosing Genomic Incidental Findings in a Cancer Biobank: An ELSI Experiment.” She obtained a BS in Biology from Santa Clara University and intends on applying to medical school, with hopes to integrate the principles of community health education and social justice into primary care.      

Monica Smith
smithmon@uchastings.edu

Monica Smith is an attorney and fellow with the UCSF / UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science, and Health Policy. Working with Dr. Barbara Koenig of CT2G and Consortium Co-Director Jaime S. King, Monica studies the legal and ethical implications of using whole genome sequencing in state newborn screening programs.  Her prior work in health law has addressed end-of-life choices, reproductive issues, and regulation of sugar as a food ingredient.

Caroline Tai      
Caroline.tai@ucsf.edu           

Caroline is a doctoral student in the Epidemiology and Translational Science PhD program at UCSF. She has an MPH from Emory University and a BS in Microbiology from UC San Diego. Currently in support of CT2G activities, she is evaluating whether patients perceive a boundary between research and clinical care as well as understanding how these views might inform implementation of genetic technologies. In addition to her interest in ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of human genetics, she also works on developing new analytical methodologies for genetic epidemiology. 

Vanisha Kumar
Vanisha.Kumar@ucsf.edu

Vanisha is an undergraduate student at San Francisco State University. In May 2015, she will acquire a Bachelor of Science in Health Education focusing on Community-based Public Health, as well as a minor in Women’s Health. She is currently interning for Associate Director Julie Harris-Wei under the AHRQ project funded and focused on a deliberative community participation on newborn screening programs and biobanks. With prior research concentrating on the Tenderloin community of San Francisco and Maternal Health in Sub-Saharan Africa, her primary drive is to unite communities by organizing, empowering, and participating in shared-leadership partnerships for public health through health equity and social justice.

Stephanie Liu      
Stephanie.liu@ucsf.edu         
                                                                                                            
Stephanie is an MPH candidate in the Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology concentration at UC Berkeley.  She has previous experience as a research technician at the Gladstone Institutes, studying genomic interactions of cancer-causing viruses.  As a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua, she worked with various community groups on environmental education and HIV/AIDS prevention projects.  She has a BS in Microbiology from UC Davis.

Ava Vakili
Ava.vakili@gmail.com

Ava Vakili is a summer intern for the Institute for Health and Aging at UCSF. She is working on various CT2G projects as well as working with the team in establishing two Coursera courses. She graduated from UC Berkeley in 2013, majoring in Anthropology with an emphasis in Biological/Medical Anthropology. She is excited to work with the UCSF staff and work towards creating a strong transdisciplinary intellectual community. 

Erika Langer, MS
Erika.langer@ucsf.edu

Erika is a third-year doctoral candidate in the History of Health Sciences program at UCSF, whose research interests include historic perspectives on gene-environment interaction implicated in human health and disease. Her dissertation offers a 20th century history of genetics through case study of yeast as a model organism and genetic technology. She is interested in historic efforts to identify and make meaning of human biological differences, with implications for contemporary genomic science and health disparities research. In Spring 2014, she supported the design and facilitation of a course featuring visiting professor Dr. Wylie Burke, as a Graduate Student Researcher for Anthropology 225: Challenges in “Precision” Genomic Medicine & Public Health. She completed a BA in International Relations and Spanish at Tufts University in 2005, and an MS in Health Services Research at Boston University School of Public Health in 2010.

Maura Pisciotta, MS
Maura.Pisciotta@ucsf.edu

Maura is a doctoral student in Social and Behavioral Sciences at UCSF with interests in health inequalities, science and technology studies, and gender and sexualities. At CT2G, she helped develop the course, Challenges in “Precision” Genomic Medicine and Public Health and plan for the Presidential Chair Lecture Series. She is currently working with VA to research veteran involvement in health care. Maura holds a MS in Sociology from Portland State University.