Department of Human Genetics

Brandalyn Andreasen Chidsey
Brandalyn (Rio Rancho, New Mexico)  received her B.S. in Genetics and Biotechnology (2011) from Brigham Young University (Provo, UT), where she received multiple academic scholarships. Brandalyn managed a molecular biology research laboratory, which studied he regulation of gene expression during skeletal development and cartilage degeneration in osteoarthritis. She also was an internship counselor for college students. Her advocacy activities include the Center for Women and Children in Crisis, Utah State Mental Hospital, Summer Special Olympics and Riders’ Cup, Therapeutic Riding Center, and church leadership. Brandalyn is especially interested in the translational aspect of helping patients to understand complex genetic information at a time of crisis.

Chinmayee Bhimarao Nagaraj
Chinmayee (Mumbai, India) received her B.S. in Biotechnology  (2009) from the University of Mumbai and her M.S. in Biomedical Genetics (2011) from Vellore Institute of Technology (India), where she received merit scholarships for outstanding academic performance. She carried out her master’s thesis at the National University of Singapore on Combined inhibition of telomerase and ataxia telangiectasia mutated in human brain cancer cells. She has also worked on a group project with cell-specific antigens to understand the cell growth and differentiation process using human embryonic stem cells at Reliance Life Sciences. Her advocacy activities include co-organizing a music camp in a remote area of India and raising money for an AIDS organization. Chinmayee is a professional Carnatic classical singer and also enjoys playing violin and painting. She has given concert performances throughout India, won multiple performance awards, and taught music students at Krishna Gana Sudha Global Academy. She is an athlete, and has competed in multiple meets at the state and national level and has a green belt in Tae kwon do (Martial art). She speaks Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, and Tulu. She loves travelling and exploring different cultures. Chinmayee is interested in ethical and societal issues in public health genetics such as lack of services and support, multicultural issues, non-medical use of genetics, and workforce issues.

Lauren Eimers-Wangrud
Lauren (Salt Lake City, UT) received a B.A. in Spanish (2002) from the University of Utah, a B.S. in Zoology with a minor in Chemistry (2005) from Weber State University (Ogden, UT), and a M.Ed. in Professional Counseling (2011) from the University of Utah. As part of her graduate program, Lauren did clinical internships at an adoption agency. She speaks Spanish and spent summer semesters at the Universidad Catolica (2001) in Valparaiso, Chile and Instituto de Idiomas (2002) in San Jose, Costa Rica. Lauren has held many positions involving aquatics (lifeguard, teaching, coaching, supervising), was a medical genetics laboratory technologist at ARUP Laboratories, and was a teaching specialist for Granite School District health classes. Lauren has undertaken innumerable leadership and advocacy activities, including service learning, AIDS awareness, Horizonte (serving minorities and refuges), university service clubs, anatomy instruction, student government, hunger advocacy, health and first-aid organizations, youth programs, nature programs, sports programs, arts programs, and an international medical mission. She received the Weber State leadership scholarship and is a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society. Lauren’s leisure time interests include sports, arts, gardening, travel, and literature. Lauren is interested in melding genetics and psychosocial counseling to serve genetics patients who need extended mental health care and support, as well as genetics research.

Stephanie Jez
Stephanie (Dallas, TX) received her B.S. degree (2011) in biology with a psychology minor from Texas A&M University (Corpus Christi, TX), where she received several scholarships. During her undergraduate training, Stephanie was a member of the Science Talent Expansion Program, mentored and tutored freshman biology students and general undergraduates through a leadership program, worked as an undergraduate researcher in a physiology laboratory studying blood cortisol levels in fish, and served as an officer of Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honor Society. Stephanie is interested in prenatal and pediatric genetics, genetic research, and education and public policy.

Amara Lauritzen
Amara (Portland, OR) received a B.S. in Biology (2003) from the University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, where she received scholarships, including the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology Summer Scholarship. Amara worked as a lab technician at Huntsman Cancer Institute (Salt Lake City, UT) studying signal transduction by growth factors and adult human stem cell biology. She currently works as a research assistant at Knight Cancer Institute (Oregon Health and Sciences University) studying leukemia and hematopoietic failure. She also volunteers at a sexual assault crisis line. Amara is interested in extending genetic services to underserved populations and the intersection of genetic information and psychosocial counseling.

Jeanette Saffir
Jeanette (Valencia, CA) will receive her B.S. in Biology with a Cellular and Molecular Biology concentration and her B.A. in Psychology with a Counseling and Developmental concentration (2011) from California State University Northridge (Northridge, CA). She was a student leader of a supplemental instruction class teaching genetics and introductory statistics, and research assistant in a molecular biology lab studying epigenetic regulation of a B cell specific gene. She also did a genetic counseling internship at Genzyme Genetics. She has worked as a medical assistant in dermatology and done tutoring and crisis hotline counseling. Jeanette also studied at American Jewish University (Jerusalem, Israel) with a concentration in Jewish and Israel studies. Jeanette speaks conversational Hebrew, has lived and traveled abroad, and is interested in sports. Jeanette is particularly interested in working with children in a diagnostic setting.

Alizabeth Woodruff
Alizabeth (Ronan, MT) received her B.S. (2008, Magna cum laude) in Biology with a Chemistry minor from Walla Walla University (College Place, WA). In high school, she won the state VFW essay scholarship and placed 5th in the national competition. She has worked as a cardiology medical assistant, a certified nurse aide (CNA) working with dementia patients and end-of-life issues, and a microbiology laboratory technician. Advocacy activities include HIV counseling, testing, and advocacy; student volunteer in psychiatry; youth soccer coach; and working with troubled youth. Originally studying to becoming a physician’s assistant, Alizabeth discovered a passion for genetic counseling and changed her career path. Alizabeth is excited about research, public education, bioethical issues, extending genetics services to underserved client populations, and the potential for new areas of subspecialty.

Katie Bergstrom
Katie (Vancouver, WA) received her B.S. in Genetics and Cell Biology with minors in pre-Genetic Counseling and Spanish (2010) from Washington State University (Pullman, WA). While completing her undergraduate degree, Katie was a resident advisor, HIV peer counselor, certified Planned Parenthood peer educator, and Vice President for Voices for Planned Parenthood. She studied abroad in Andalucia, Spain (2009) and represented Estonia in the National Model United Nations conference in New York (2010). She also participated in microbiology research transforming yeast cells and silencing genes involved in histone expression and modification. Her honors thesis examined the ethics of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. Katie is looking forward to building strong relationships with patients in a clinical setting. She also interested in public health and reproductive genetics.

Meghan Chirpich
Meghan (Wells, MN) received her B.A. in Biology and Spanish with a minor in Psychology (2010) from the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, MN. She received the Regent's/Trustees', Jewett, and Reunion Scholarships. During college, Meghan assisted in research using single nucleotide polymorphisms in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. She was a mentor for Birthline Crisis Pregnancy Center and worked as a student manager in her college library and as a lifeguard/camp counselor for kids and adults with disabilities. She served as a prison ministry mentor at a maximum security prison and as a volunteer at a retirement home. Meghan studied abroad in Viña del Mar, Chile (2008) and volunteered in Chimbote, Peru, becoming proficient in reading, writing, and speaking Spanish. She is an avid runner and enjoys foreign travel. She enjoys working with clients in a crisis situation and hopes to eventually serve as a genetic counselor for the Latino community.

Erin Heckaman
Erin (Cincinnati, OH) obtained her B.S. (2010) in Genetics & Biotechnology from Brigham Young University (Provo, UT), where she received an academic scholarship. She worked as a research assistant in a plant genetics research laboratory, where she participated in linkage mapping of virulence genes and SNP genotyping. Erin was awarded a student research grant for the genetic investigation of the pathology of Ustilago bullata. She co-authored a poster entitled "SNP discovery via genomic reduction, barcoding, and 454-pyrosequencing in Amaranth" at the 2010 Plant and Animal Genome Conference in San Diego. Advocacy experiences have included working as a volunteer for hospice, Special Olympics, and Adaptive Aquatics, and tutoring chemistry and genetics. Erin also did a 10-week internship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the Utah Valley Intermountain Health Center. She studied abroad at the BYU Jerusalam Center in Israel and also traveled to Egypt and Jordan. She has language skills in Spanish and loves camping, hiking, running, cooking, and reading. Erin is interested in the educational aspects of genetic counseling and seeing the role of genetic counseling extend further into the community.

Sumathi Iyer
Sumathi (Bangalore, India) received her B.Sc. degree (2004) in biotechnology from Bangalore University (Bangalore, India) and also completed an honors program (2004) in cancer genetics, human genetics, immunology, and molecular biology at Gene Vision, in Bangalore. She received her M.Sc. degree (honors with distinction, 2006) in Biomedical Genetics from Vellore Institute of Technology (Vellore, India). Her master's thesis was entitled Study of micronuclei frequencies in carcinoma breast patients undergoing radiotherapy by MN-FISH Assay. She then worked as a cytogenetic technologist at Manipal Hospital in Bangalore for 2½ years. She presented a poster Importance of prenatal diagnosis: validated by two cases of chromosome 4 deletion at the XXXII Annual Conference of Indian Society of Human Genetics on Deconstructing Human Diseases: The Genomic Advantage (2007). Sumathi speaks English, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada. She is intrigued by the intricacies of genetics and the interminable new developments and discoveries occurring in this field. She is driven by a desire to help prevent, manage, and eventually cure genetic conditions, and to give back to society.

Danielle Lemke
Danielle (Tomahawk, WI) received a B.S. in Biology with a minor in psychology (2010) from the University of Wisconsin (Eau Claire, WI). Danielle worked as a teaching assistant in genetics. She volunteered with the Healing with Horses Therapeutic Riding Program, working with individuals with disabilities. She also volunteered with a rape and crisis hotline at her university. She was President of the UW – Eau Claire Equestrian Team. Honors have included two scholarships, membership in several honor societies, and Dean's List and Academic Distinction. As part of her duties as the 2006 Lincoln County Rodeo Queen, Danielle advocated for the Children's Miracle Network by raising money through a telethon and assisting with a 'special rodeo' for children and adults with disabilities. Danielle has also done the equivalent of an internship at the Marshfield Clinic, including attending the state of Wisconsin's Genetic Conference. She also worked as a DNA Laboratory Technician at PreventionGenetics in Marshfield, Wisconsin during the summer prior to attending graduate school. Danielle is interested in prenatal and pediatric genetics, but would also like to include oncology and neurogenetics in her practice.

Alekhya Narravula
Alekhya (Chennai, India) received her B.Sc. in Biotechnology (2008) from Vellore Institute of Technology (Vellore, India), and her M.Sc. in Medical Genetics (2009, with merit) from the University of Newcastle (Newcastle upon Tyne, England). She also completed a module on Basic Counseling Skills at the University of Leicester (Leicester, England). Her master's thesis was 'Copy number variation of CYP21B and CYP21P in autoimmune Addison's disease'. Volunteer activities included reading to residents of the Nethrodaya home for the visually challenged, visiting HIV positive destitute children, interacting with children with Down syndrome and MPS disorders, and tutoring physically challenged children in English. She interned for six months under a genetic consultant in MediScan (Chennai, India). This included prenatal procedure counseling and family and medical history taking. In 2007 she was selected to represent India as an Interport Student by Rotary International in the Semester at Sea Program sponsored by the University of Virginia. She speaks English, Tamil, and Telugu. Extracurricular interests include dancing, painting and sports; she was her school's Sports Secretary and was a member of the VITU tennis team. Alekhya is interested in helping to provide better genetic services in India, and in continuing her role in advocacy.

Jade Tinker
Jade (Grand Prairie, TX) received her B.S. (2010) in Animal Behavior from Southwestern University (Georgetown, TX). She studied for a summer (2008) at the University of Guanajuato, Mexico and speaks Korean and Spanish. She was a behavioral neuroscience research assistant in the Psychology Department. For her capstone research project she studied how similarities and differences in MHC, genes known to be important in immunology and organ transplantation, affect a female rat's preference for a mate. She was a founding officer of the Animal Behavior Society. She received the Mood Scholar Award and has been on Dean's List. She has worked as the head counselor at a camp for gifted children. Her advocacy activities include volunteering in a science education program for grades 3-5 and volunteering on a crisis hotline for victims of domestic violence or rape. Jade is interested in prenatal or pediatric genetic counseling and multicultural issues in genetic counseling. She would like to develop expertise to counsel in both Korean and Spanish and make genetic counseling more available to these populations.