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title: "Team"
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## Principal Investigator

{% include team_member member_name="Malachi" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Assistant Director of the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine. He has more than 13 years of experience in the fields of genomics, bioinformatics, data mining, and cancer research. His research is focused on improving our understanding of cancer biology and the development of personalized medicine strategies for cancer using genomics and informatics technologies. He develops bioinformatics and statistical methods for the analysis of high throughput sequence data and identification of biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic and drug response prediction." image="/assets/img/team/MG14.jpg" role="Principle Investigator" %}

## Postdoctoral Researchers

{% include team_member member_name="Alex" bio='<strong><NAME></strong> is an <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/grants-training/training/funding/f32">NCI Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow</a> at the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine. His research interests are in facilitating the interpretation of genomic variants in a clinical context. He leads development of the <a href="http://dgidb.org">Drug Gene Interaction Database</a>, and is a primary contributor to other projects centered on interpretations of genomic variants (<a href="http://docm.info">Database of Curated Mutations</a>, <a href="http://civicdb.org">Clinical Interpretations of Variants in Cancer</a>) and <a href="https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/GenVisR.html">Genomic Visualizations in R</a>. Alex is an active member of the <a href="http://genomicsandhealth.org/">Global Alliance for Genomics and Health</a> (GA4GH), and is leading an effort to aggregate and normalize the disparate knowledgebases of the GA4GH <a href="http://cancervariants.org">Variant Interpretation for Cancer Consortium</a>. He is also currently studying the role of genomic variants in cancers and leading a study characterizing relapsed Small Cell Lung Cancers with Drs. <a href="http://obigriffith.org/">Obi Griffith</a>, <a href="http://obigriffith.org/">Malachi Griffith</a>, and <a href="http://oncology.wustl.edu/people/faculty/Govindan/Govindan_Bio.html"><NAME></a>.' image="/assets/img/team/alex_wagner.jpg" role="Postdoctoral Fellow" %}

## Graduate Students

{% include team_member member_name="Yang" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is a medical student at Washington University in St. Louis, and is currently conducting a year of research in the Griffith Lab. He completed his undegraduate at Yale University in 2016, where he obtained a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Broadly speaking, he is interested in applying mathematical and computational techniques to investigating the fundamental principles of cancer immunology and translating these discoveries into novel immmunotherapies. More specifically, he is involved in a diverse set of projects in the lab, including CIViC, DGIdb, pVACTools, Regtools, and various collaborative clinical efforts." image="/assets/img/team/yangyang_feng.png" role="Graduate Student/MD" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Kelsy" bio="<strong><NAME>otto</strong> is a graduate student in the Molecular Cell Biology program at Washington University in St. Louis. She completed her undergraduate degree at Mercer University in 2016, where she earned a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. she is interested in developing methods to analyze multiple types of sequencing data in order to better understand regulatory mutations and splicing within cancer, with the hope of identifying novel biomarkers. Currently, she is involved with DGIdb, Regtools, and analysis of large scale clinical cohorts." image="/assets/img/team/kelsy_cotto.jpg" role="Graduate Student" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Erica" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> graduated from Cornell University in 2013 with a dual degree in Biological Sciences and Applied Economics & Management. In 2013, Erica matriculated into the MD/PhD Program at the Washington University School of Medicine. She has completed her first two years of medical school and is currently in her second year of her PhD with a focus on Molecular Genetics and Genomics. Within the Griffith lab, Erica is focused on developing a CIViC capture panel for direct evaluation of clinically relevant tumors linked to clinical relevances summaries." image="/assets/img/team/erica_barnell.jpg" role="Graduate Student" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Katie" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is PhD candidate in the Molecular Cell Biology program at Washington University in St. Louis. She graduated from Penn State University in 2014 with honors in Biochemistry. Katie has been awarded positions in the Precision Medicine and Cancer Biology Pathways at Washington University, and is interested in utilizing genomics and informatics approaches to study cancer and tumor immunology in order to understand mechanisms of drug and treatment sensitivity. Her thesis research is focused on characterizing models of and defining therapeutic opportunities in head and neck cancer. Katie has also contributed to other projects in the lab, including CIViC, GenVisR, pVACtools, and DGIdb, as well as analyzing cancer case studies for the Washington University Genomics Tumor Board. Katie’s additional talents include saying the alphabet backwards, standing on her head, and regularly drinking large amounts of coffee." image="/assets/img/team/katie_campbell.jpg" role="Graduate Student" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Ben" bio='<strong><NAME></strong> is a PhD candidate in the Human and Statistical Genetics program at Washington University in St. Louis. His research is focused on computational method development to improve the detection of biologically important somatic variants. Specifically, he is interested in applying machine learning algorithms to improve genomic analysis and enable precision medicine. Additionally, he led the team to create the <a href="http://docm.info">Database of Curated Mutations</a>, and is a primary contributor to <a href="http://dgidb.org">DGIdb</a> and <a href="http://civicdb.org">CIViC</a>. Ben graduated from Brigham Young University majoring in Bioinformatics with University Honors. In his free time, Ben enjoys mountain biking, watching BYU sports, and spending time with his wife and daughter.' image="/assets/img/team/benjamin_ainscough.jpg" role="PhD Candidate" %}

## Staff

{% include team_member member_name="Zach" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is a staff scientist at the McDonell Genome Institute at Washington University in Saint Louis. His undergraduate work was completed at the Ohio State University where he obtained a B.Sc. in molecular biology. His Graduate work was performed at the University of Illinois where he obtained a M.eng in bioinformatics. His research focus is in the realm of cancer biology where he uses and develops tools and techniques to aid in the analysis and interpretation of cancer sequencing data. He has worked on several large sequencing projects across many cancer types and has expertise in a variety of languages (perl, R, bash, python, typescript, angular2). He is also the creator and maintainer of the bioconductor package GenVisR, a graphics program designed to help visualize cohort level genomic data." image="/assets/img/team/zachary_skidmore.jpg" role="Staff Scientist/Bioinformatician" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Susanna" bio='<strong><NAME></strong> is a Programmer Analyst at the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. She obtained her M.eng in Computer Science from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. She is the lead software developer for the <a href="https://civic.genome.wustl.edu/home">Clinical Interpretations of Variants in Cancer project</a>, the <a href="http://dgidb.org/">Drug Gene Interaction Database</a>, and <a href="https://github.com/griffithlab/pVAC-Tools">pVACtools</a>.' image="/assets/img/team/susanna_kiwala.jpeg" role="Programmer Analyst" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Jason_K" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is post-baccalaureate premedical student who recently graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Genomics and Computational Biology. As an aspiring physician scientist, his research interests lie in the development and application of computational tools to effectively analyze large sequencing datasets. Through this, he is able to identify and characterize novel genomic events as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in cancer, which can support improved personalized strategies against the disease. Over the years, he has contributed to several development projects including DoCM, GenVisR, and Regtools. He has also been heavily involved a number of cohort-level investigations spanning several cancer types such as heptocellular carcinoma (cirrhotic, noncirrhtoic, fibrolamellar, and mixed fibrolamellar), adult T-cell leukemia, and osteosarcoma." image="/assets/img/team/jason_kunisaki.jpg" role="Data Analyst/Bioinformatician" %}

## Faculty

{% include team_member member_name="Killanin" bio='<strong><NAME>’s</strong> work focuses on the analysis and interpretation of genomic and transcriptomic sequence data produced from a variety of cancer types. Her primary interest is in the use of genomic data to improve the current standards of patient care. Since joining the McDonnell Genome Institute in 2014 she has been involved in comprehensive analysis of cancer patient cohorts as well as small and n-of-1 studies. In collaboration with the Genomics Tumor Board, she has led the analysis of case studies in order to better understand the molecular underpinnings of multiple hematologic cancers. Currently, her primary project is leading the analysis of >400 cases of follicular lymphoma in order to identify genomic events which can predict clinical outcomes for patients with this type of cancer. Applying her experience with these analyses and her predoctoral work on the genetics of myelodysplastic syndromes, she has been part of the team of developers and researchers that created and is actively expanding the open-source, community driven <a href="https://civic.genome.wustl.edu/home">Clinical Interpretations of Variants in Cancer (CIViC) knowledgebase</a>.' image="/assets/img/team/kilannin_krysiak.jpg" role="Instructor in Medicine" %}<commit_msg>minor fix<commit_after>---
layout: page-fullwidth
title: "Team"
meta_title: ""
subheadline: ""
teaser: ""
permalink: "/team/"
header:
    image_fullwidth: "genvis-dna-bg_optimized_v1a.png"
---

## Principal Investigator

{% include team_member member_name="Malachi" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Assistant Director of the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine. He has more than 13 years of experience in the fields of genomics, bioinformatics, data mining, and cancer research. His research is focused on improving our understanding of cancer biology and the development of personalized medicine strategies for cancer using genomics and informatics technologies. He develops bioinformatics and statistical methods for the analysis of high throughput sequence data and identification of biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic and drug response prediction." image="/assets/img/team/MG14.jpg" role="Principle Investigator" %}

## Postdoctoral Researchers

{% include team_member member_name="Alex" bio='<strong><NAME></strong> is an <a href="https://www.cancer.gov/grants-training/training/funding/f32">NCI Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow</a> at the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine. His research interests are in facilitating the interpretation of genomic variants in a clinical context. He leads development of the <a href="http://dgidb.org">Drug Gene Interaction Database</a>, and is a primary contributor to other projects centered on interpretations of genomic variants (<a href="http://docm.info">Database of Curated Mutations</a>, <a href="http://civicdb.org">Clinical Interpretations of Variants in Cancer</a>) and <a href="https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/GenVisR.html">Genomic Visualizations in R</a>. Alex is an active member of the <a href="http://genomicsandhealth.org/">Global Alliance for Genomics and Health</a> (GA4GH), and is leading an effort to aggregate and normalize the disparate knowledgebases of the GA4GH <a href="http://cancervariants.org">Variant Interpretation for Cancer Consortium</a>. He is also currently studying the role of genomic variants in cancers and leading a study characterizing relapsed Small Cell Lung Cancers with Drs. <a href="http://obigriffith.org/">Obi Griffith</a>, <a href="http://obigriffith.org/">Malachi Griffith</a>, and <a href="http://oncology.wustl.edu/people/faculty/Govindan/Govindan_Bio.html">Ramaswamy Govindan</a>.' image="/assets/img/team/alex_wagner.jpg" role="Postdoctoral Fellow" %}

## Graduate Students

{% include team_member member_name="Yang" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is a medical student at Washington University in St. Louis, and is currently conducting a year of research in the Griffith Lab. He completed his undegraduate at Yale University in 2016, where he obtained a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. Broadly speaking, he is interested in applying mathematical and computational techniques to investigating the fundamental principles of cancer immunology and translating these discoveries into novel immmunotherapies. More specifically, he is involved in a diverse set of projects in the lab, including CIViC, DGIdb, pVACTools, Regtools, and various collaborative clinical efforts." image="/assets/img/team/yangyang_feng.png" role="Medical Student/MD5" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Kelsy" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is a graduate student in the Molecular Cell Biology program at Washington University in St. Louis. She completed her undergraduate degree at Mercer University in 2016, where she earned a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. she is interested in developing methods to analyze multiple types of sequencing data in order to better understand regulatory mutations and splicing within cancer, with the hope of identifying novel biomarkers. Currently, she is involved with DGIdb, Regtools, and analysis of large scale clinical cohorts." image="/assets/img/team/kelsy_cotto.jpg" role="Graduate Student" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Erica" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> graduated from Cornell University in 2013 with a dual degree in Biological Sciences and Applied Economics & Management. In 2013, Erica matriculated into the MD/PhD Program at the Washington University School of Medicine. She has completed her first two years of medical school and is currently in her second year of her PhD with a focus on Molecular Genetics and Genomics. Within the Griffith lab, Erica is focused on developing a CIViC capture panel for direct evaluation of clinically relevant tumors linked to clinical relevances summaries." image="/assets/img/team/erica_barnell.jpg" role="Graduate Student" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Katie" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is PhD candidate in the Molecular Cell Biology program at Washington University in St. Louis. She graduated from Penn State University in 2014 with honors in Biochemistry. Katie has been awarded positions in the Precision Medicine and Cancer Biology Pathways at Washington University, and is interested in utilizing genomics and informatics approaches to study cancer and tumor immunology in order to understand mechanisms of drug and treatment sensitivity. Her thesis research is focused on characterizing models of and defining therapeutic opportunities in head and neck cancer. Katie has also contributed to other projects in the lab, including CIViC, GenVisR, pVACtools, and DGIdb, as well as analyzing cancer case studies for the Washington University Genomics Tumor Board. Katie’s additional talents include saying the alphabet backwards, standing on her head, and regularly drinking large amounts of coffee." image="/assets/img/team/katie_campbell.jpg" role="Graduate Student" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Ben" bio='<strong><NAME></strong> is a PhD candidate in the Human and Statistical Genetics program at Washington University in St. Louis. His research is focused on computational method development to improve the detection of biologically important somatic variants. Specifically, he is interested in applying machine learning algorithms to improve genomic analysis and enable precision medicine. Additionally, he led the team to create the <a href="http://docm.info">Database of Curated Mutations</a>, and is a primary contributor to <a href="http://dgidb.org">DGIdb</a> and <a href="http://civicdb.org">CIViC</a>. Ben graduated from Brigham Young University majoring in Bioinformatics with University Honors. In his free time, Ben enjoys mountain biking, watching BYU sports, and spending time with his wife and daughter.' image="/assets/img/team/benjamin_ainscough.jpg" role="PhD Candidate" %}

## Staff

{% include team_member member_name="Zach" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is a staff scientist at the McDonell Genome Institute at Washington University in Saint Louis. His undergraduate work was completed at the Ohio State University where he obtained a B.Sc. in molecular biology. His Graduate work was performed at the University of Illinois where he obtained a M.eng in bioinformatics. His research focus is in the realm of cancer biology where he uses and develops tools and techniques to aid in the analysis and interpretation of cancer sequencing data. He has worked on several large sequencing projects across many cancer types and has expertise in a variety of languages (perl, R, bash, python, typescript, angular2). He is also the creator and maintainer of the bioconductor package GenVisR, a graphics program designed to help visualize cohort level genomic data." image="/assets/img/team/zachary_skidmore.jpg" role="Staff Scientist/Bioinformatician" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Susanna" bio='<strong><NAME></strong> is a Programmer Analyst at the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. She obtained her M.eng in Computer Science from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. She is the lead software developer for the <a href="https://civic.genome.wustl.edu/home">Clinical Interpretations of Variants in Cancer project</a>, the <a href="http://dgidb.org/">Drug Gene Interaction Database</a>, and <a href="https://github.com/griffithlab/pVAC-Tools">pVACtools</a>.' image="/assets/img/team/susanna_kiwala.jpeg" role="Programmer Analyst" %}

{% include team_member member_name="Jason_K" bio="<strong><NAME></strong> is post-baccalaureate premedical student who recently graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Genomics and Computational Biology. As an aspiring physician scientist, his research interests lie in the development and application of computational tools to effectively analyze large sequencing datasets. Through this, he is able to identify and characterize novel genomic events as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in cancer, which can support improved personalized strategies against the disease. Over the years, he has contributed to several development projects including DoCM, GenVisR, and Regtools. He has also been heavily involved a number of cohort-level investigations spanning several cancer types such as heptocellular carcinoma (cirrhotic, noncirrhtoic, fibrolamellar, and mixed fibrolamellar), adult T-cell leukemia, and osteosarcoma." image="/assets/img/team/jason_kunisaki.jpg" role="Data Analyst/Bioinformatician" %}

## Faculty

{% include team_member member_name="Killanin" bio='<strong><NAME>’s</strong> work focuses on the analysis and interpretation of genomic and transcriptomic sequence data produced from a variety of cancer types. Her primary interest is in the use of genomic data to improve the current standards of patient care. Since joining the McDonnell Genome Institute in 2014 she has been involved in comprehensive analysis of cancer patient cohorts as well as small and n-of-1 studies. In collaboration with the Genomics Tumor Board, she has led the analysis of case studies in order to better understand the molecular underpinnings of multiple hematologic cancers. Currently, her primary project is leading the analysis of >400 cases of follicular lymphoma in order to identify genomic events which can predict clinical outcomes for patients with this type of cancer. Applying her experience with these analyses and her predoctoral work on the genetics of myelodysplastic syndromes, she has been part of the team of developers and researchers that created and is actively expanding the open-source, community driven <a href="https://civic.genome.wustl.edu/home">Clinical Interpretations of Variants in Cancer (CIViC) knowledgebase</a>.' image="/assets/img/team/kilannin_krysiak.jpg" role="Instructor in Medicine" %}
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