Lab Members

Emma Pristo

Emma graduated from Northwestern University in 2024, where she studied Neuroscience and Political Science with plans to pursue a career in medicine. At Northwestern, she participated in basic science research in cancer immunology and clinical research in pediatric epilepsy, experiences that sparked an interest in pediatric oncology. In 2025, she began medical school at Duke […]
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Maya Chandar

Maya graduated from Duke in 2026 with majors in Neuroscience and Computer Science and a minor in Sociology. During her time in the lab, she trained in flow cytometry, in vivo models, and immunologic assays in the context of brain tumors, and subsequently developed experience analyzing whole-genome and RNA sequencing data. In 2026, she began […]
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Elizabeth Owens

Elizabeth graduated from Duke in 2024, where she studied Neuroscience, Computer Science, and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. During her senior year, she joined our lab for her honors project and trained in single-cell RNA sequencing analysis. She remained in the lab after graduation as a research technician and, in 2026, enrolled in the Master’s program […]
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Anna Corcoran

Anna graduated from Duke in 2026, where she studied Statistics, Biology, and Mathematics. As an undergraduate, she trained in Xenium spatial transcriptomics analysis and continued in the lab as a research technician. Her research interests center on cancer biology, and she plans to pursue an MD-PhD to integrate clinical medicine with translational research. Outside the […]
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Eugene Vaios, MD, MBA

NIH K38 Transition Scholar Dr. Vaios started working on this project when he was a radiation oncology resident. He transitioned to a faculty appointment after being awarded an NIH K38 grant that is focused on development of a non-invasive biomarker that could improve diagnosis, risk assessment, and treatment monitoring. His study used cell-free DNA (cfDNA) […]
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Kirit Singh, MD, PhD

Kirit Singh recently earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Duke University and is now continuing in the lab as a postdoctoral associate and Preparing Future Faculty fellow. His research focuses on translational drug development, with a particular emphasis on bi-specific T cell engagers and surgical window-of-opportunity trials.
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Ke-Nan Zhang, MD, PhD

Kenan Zhang is a neurosurgeon from China working on molecular classification and immunotherapeutic research on diffuse glioma. Kenan leads multiple bioinformatics projects and supervises student and technicians. He aspires to become an independent Surgeon-scientist and make a difference for patients with diffuse glioma. He enjoys swimming, cooking food, and PC DIY in his free time.
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Kelly Hotchkiss, PhD

Kelly Hotchkiss has expertise in developing pre-clinical immune cell culture, synthetic biology, in vitro and in vivo models as well as evaluations of biological systems from a biomedical engineering perspective.
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