Alumni

Dr. Boddy is an Associate Professor in Integrative Anthropological Sciences at UCSB.

Read more about Dr. Boddy and her work here.

Dr. Tollis is an evolutionary biologist using statistical genetics, bioinformatics and fieldwork to investigate the evolution of cancer suppression across mammals. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Cancer and Evolution Lab. Read more about Dr. Tollis, his work, and lab here.

Michelle grew up in Tempe, Arizona and completed her B.S in medicinal biochemistry at Arizona State University. She conducted undergraduate research with John Chaput analyzing the biostability of synthetic nucleic acids, and later with Carlo Maley establishing new model organisms for cancer research, which sparked her interest in evolutionary medicine.

She moved to Salt Lake City to pursue a combined MD/PhD degree, and is interested in applying research into host-pathogen coevolution to improving prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. She is especially interested in studying bats and how they coevolved with key zoonotic pathogens of interest to human health.

Aika received her undergraduate and master’s degree in Biology. While working at the lab, she used bioinformatics to study the evolution of cancer genes across mammals. She is currently running a clinic in Portland, OR specializing in glaucoma.

Shrinath received a bachelor's degree (B.Tech) in Biotechnology from Anna University and a master's degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Dallas, and he is trained as a molecular biologist. During his master's, he worked with Dr.Nikki Delk on examining the effects of cytokines on breast cancer cells with respect to their receptor status. Since then, he has started to develop strong interests in the evolutionary perspectives of cancer development and multicellularity. Shri is a Ph.D. student at the University of Lausanne.

Valerie Harris is the Assistant Director for Health and Clinical Support Services at Arizona State University. Harris arrived at ASU initially to pursue her undergraduate education, and over the past decade she has worked in cancer biology, with a particular interest in the evolutionary and ecological dynamics across multiple scales of evolution – from cellular to organismal. During the course of her Ph. D., Valerie studied the incidence of cancer across non-human species, assembling a large-scale epidemiological survey of neoplastic disease from zoological institutions, veterinary facilities, and wildlife sanctuaries. She has taken part in field research throughout the globe, including time in Africa, Greenland, Mexico, Panama, and Thailand. Prior to her role in Health and Clinical Support Services, Valerie helped to lead ASU’s COVID response as the Senior Manager of the University’s clinical testing lab, providing over 800,000 results to ASU and the community at large. Currently, her work focuses on facilitating clinical research activities across multiple areas within the University and in the surrounding Phoenix biomedical corridor.