School of Medicine

Alan Williams, MRSB
Mentor: Ed Grabczyk, PhD
Graduate Assistant
awil83@lsuhsc.edu  

Alan Williams is a fourth year PhD student in the Genetics department. He is a student of Dr. Grabczyk working to understand repeat expansion disorders such as Friedreich Ataxia and Huntington's disease. Alan received his BS in Biological Science from Florida State University with minors in Computer Science and Chemistry.  Additionally, Alan completed the Global Citizenship Certificate program at FSU. As part of that program, he presented a capstone project researching cultural competency in care for individuals affected by Zika in Brazil and Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Beyond the classroom, he also assisted with research at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and was a 2018 participant of the Google Summer of Code program, working with the Canadian Centre for Computational Genetics in developing tools for studying copy number variation.  In recognition of his contributions, he was inducted into the Garnet & Gold Scholar Society, one of the highest honors at FSU. He volunteers regularly for the American Red Cross in the Information and Planning department. 

Connor Kent
Mentor: Qiang Shen, PhD
ckent1@lsuhsc.edu

Connor Kent is in his third year of graduate school at LSUHSC studying under Dr. Qiang Shen. He received a Bachelor’s degree in microbiology from LSU in Baton Rouge. During his time at LSU, he assisted in Dr. Johannson’s laboratory in the Department of Kineseology, and participated in an NSF-REM under Dr. Won Bo Shim at Texas A&M University in the Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology

Connor is interested in determining the role of NEET proteins in breast cancer growth and progression. NEET proteins are a family of three mitochondrial iron-sulfur cluster proteins believed to promote cancer growth and survival through maintaining redox homeostasis, glucose metabolism, and suppression of apoptosis. His research is aimed at determining whether these proteins are viable targets against breast cancer.   

Eric Eymard
Mentors: Charles Wood, PhD and John West, PhD
Graduate Assistant
eeymar@lsuhsc.edu

Eric Eymard is in his second year of graduate school at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans under the mentorship of Drs. Wood and West. He earned a Master’s Degree in Immunology, where he studied the epigenetics of memory T cells and used CRISPR-Cas9 to modify Th2 T cells for the treatment of atopic diseases. Prior to beginning his MD/PhD training, Mr. Eymard gained industry experience at Century Therapeutics, contributing to two patents involving CAR-T cell therapies for blood cancers. These experiences solidified his interest in translational immunology and cancer research. At LSUHSC, he currently studies immune responses to Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), focusing on the humoral response to childhood KSHV infection, T cell responses within and around Kaposi sarcoma tumors, and the impact of HIV co-infection on these processes. His current future career plans are focused on continuing research in the field of cancer immunology while practicing as a radiation oncologist.

Gabrielle Sheets
Mentor: Fern Tsien, PhD
Master's Student
gshee1@lsuhsc.edu

Gabrielle Sheets is in her 2^nd year of her master’s degree at LSUHSC New Orleans under Dr. Fern Tsien’s mentorship. She received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from University of New Orleans where she worked under Dr. Sarah Black on affective disorders in parent and child dyads. Her current research focuses on investigating the phenotypic and epigenetic neurological changes in pediatric cancer patients treated with methotrexate. Following the completion of her thesis, she plans on applying to medical school in the hopes of becoming a physician scientist. Gabrielle enjoys spending time with her family and three cats.

Gabrielle Vontz
Mentor: Qiang Shen, MD, PhD
gvontz@lsuhsc.edu

Gethein Andrew, M.S., MRSB
Mentor: Ed Grabczyk, Ph.D.
Graduate Assistant
gandr2@lsuhsc.edu

Gethein G.M. Andrew is in her final year of graduate school at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans under the instruction of Dr. Ed Grabczyk, Ph.D. She received a Bachelor’s Degree with a Major in Microbiology and a minor in Ceramic Studio Art from East Tennessee State University where her research on bacterial-fungal interactions went on to place 1^st in her regional research forum. Ms. Andrew has also gained a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Sciences from Quillen College of Medicine where her thesis work was focused on GABAergic pathology in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex of the human brain. This project sparked her interest in neurological diseases that cause neurodegeneration. To further narrow her field of interest, Ms. Andrew is currently studying DNA repeat expansion disorders that cause progressive neural and neuromuscular decline.

Gethein G.M. Andrew works on a DNA repeat expansion disorder called Friedreich Ataxia that is classically seen in the Acadian population. Her role in uncovering the mysteries of the disease lies in the DNA Mismatch Repair system. She focuses on isoform 2 of the MLH3 protein. Her laboratory has shown that splice-switching the MLH3 mRNA transcript into the non-dominant isoform causes disease progression to halt.

Kristos Martin Anto Domnic Raj
Mentor: Chindo Hicks, PhD
kantod@lsuhsc.edu 

Leilieh Itayem 
Mentor: Chindo Hicks, PhD
litaye@lsuhsc.edu

Lija Hoffman
Mentor: Chindo Hicks, PhD
lhoff2@lsuhsc.edu

Lija M.K. Hoffman is a second year MS student in the Bioinformatics and Computational Medicine Training Program at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center – New Orleans. She is working under the instruction of Dr. Chindo Hicks, utilizing integrative multi-omics and machine learning approaches for the discovery of biomarkers and therapeutic targets in liver cancer. She received a BS in Psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, during which time she worked in a cognitive neuroscience lab studying large-scale functional connectivity. She then accepted a position conducting multi-method research on affective disorders at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL. Developing an interest in oncology, she pivoted to work in cancer clinical trials, which solidified her passion for the area of study. Following completion of her current program, she plans to contribute to the development of oncology therapeutics through work in drug discovery.

Margaret Larsen
Mentor: Bolin Liu, MD
Graduate Assistant
mlarse@lsuhsc.edu

Margaret Larsen is currently a MD/PhD student in her second year of graduate school at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LA. She currently works under Dr. Bolin Liu studying the molecular biology of non-small cell lung cancer. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Rhodes College in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. While at Rhodes College, she worked at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with Dr. Charles Roberts studying therapeutic resistance in malignant rhabdoid tumors. She plans to pursue research focusing on molecular oncology while practicing as a physician in the field of pediatric hematology/oncology.

Teagan Prouse
Mentor: Rinku Majumder,PhD
tprous@lsuhsc.edu

Wema Kibanga
Mentor: Charles Wood, Ph.D.
Graduate Assistant
wkiban@lsuhsc.edu

Wema Kibanga is a third-year graduate student at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, where she trains under the mentorship of Dr. Charles Wood, Ph.D. She earned her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and a master’s degree in clinical and Hospital Pharmacy from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania. During her master’s training, Ms. Kibanga completed clinical rotations across multiple specialties, including oncology, where she developed a strong interest in HIV-associated malignancies; a field that now defines her research focus.

Wema Kibanga’s research centers on Kaposi sarcoma, an HIV-associated malignancy driven by viral pathogenesis. Her work focuses on identifying and characterizing reservoirs of Kaposi sarcoma–associated herpesvirus (KSHV) using human autopsy samples, with the goal of uncovering viral persistence mechanisms that contribute to disease development and progression.

Mrityunjoy Biswas
Mentor: Fokhrul Hossain, PhD
Email: MBISW2@LSUHSC.EDU

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