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MCOM Graduate & Postdoctoral Affairs

PhD Resources

Current Students

Monica Moore

Year 7, Clinicals

Lab: Dr. Ozlem Guzeloglu-Kayisli

Research Interests: I study the stress-responsive protein FKBP51 and its role in the effects of prenatal stress on the development of the ovary and how this impacts ovarian health throughout the reproductive life course.

Email: monicamoore@usf.edu


Sarah Lulu

Year 6, Dissertation Research

Lab: Dr. Patrick Hwu

Email: sarahlulu@usf.edu 


Evan Potts

Year 5, Dissertation Research

Lab: Dr. Jolan Walter

Email: davidevanpotts@usf.edu


Natasha Ram

Year 5, Dissertation Research

Lab: Dr. Gopal Thinakaran

Research Interests: Neuroinflammation, neurodegenerative disease/ TBI and health disparities. For my PhD work, my overall objective is to identify genetic markers in chronic subdural hematomas through bioinformatic and molecular biology approaches to better understand disease prognosis and recurrence. 

Email: natasharam@usf.edu


Vincent Lok

Year 4, Directed Research

Lab: Dr. Brian Czerniecki

Research Interest: Leveraging dendritic cell-based immunotherapy to break immune tolerance in breast cancer

Email: vlok@usf.edu


Emily Otmanowski

Year 4, Directed Research

Lab: Dr. Jasenka Zubcevic


Jacob Connolly

Year 3, Directed Research

Lab: Dr. Nathan Schilaty

Research Interests: The field of neuroscience with a particular focus on neurodegenerative diseases

Email: connolly45@usf.edu


Derek Jacobs

Year 3, Directed Research

Lab: Dr. Zachary Porterfield

Research Interest: Cardiovascular research

Email: derekjacobs@usf.edu


Melis Yilmaz

Year 2, Pre-Clinical

Research Interest: I have a background in neuroimmunology and although I have not joined a lab yet, I am interested in working on immune cell dysregulation and autoreactive B-cells in different organ system diseases.

Email: melisyilmaz@usf.edu


Aahir Srinath

Year 1, Pre-Clinical


Christina Dabrowski

Year 1, Pre-Clinical