people
Principal Investigator
Michael Bamshad, MD

Michael Bamshad is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He received basic training in medicine and population genetics at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and the University of Kansas. He completed his residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in clinical genetics at the University of Utah. Dr. Bamshad is a co-author of the textbook "Medical Genetics" and is recipient of Young Investigator Award from the Society for Pediatric Research. Dr. Bamshad's research interests are focused on understanding how evolutionary processes and demographic history have shaped patterns of genetic variation among humans, and how such variation influences differences in physical features and disease susceptibility among humans. Currently active projects are investigating the distribution of genetic variation among human populations, developing novel strategies to find disease susceptibility variants, and characterizing genetic variants influencing an assortment of health-related conditions such as birth defects, chronic diseases of childhood, and chemosensory perception.
Email: mbamshad@u.washington.edu
Post-doctoral Fellows
Anita E. Beck, MD, PhD

Anita completed her undergraduate degree in biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), then she pursued a joint MD-PhD degree through a Medical Scientist Training Program scholarship at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. After Pediatrics residency at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), she specialized in Medical Genetics at Stanford University and is board certified in both Pediatrics (FAAP) and clinical Medical Genetics (FACMG). She completed a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship studying Williams syndrome and the oculo-auriculo-vertebral spectrum (OAVS) at Stanford in the lab of Uta Francke, MD. As a Senior Fellow in Dr. Bamshad's laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle, Anita furthers her interest in determining the etiology of birth defects in children by studying the distal arthrogryposis syndromes and continuing her work on OAVS.
Email: aebeck@u.washington.edu
Abigail Bigham, PhD

Abby received her undergraduate degree in Anthropology from the University of Arizona in 2001. She then went on to pursue her PhD in Anthropology with Mark Shriver at Penn State University, where she will defend her thesis in September of 2008. Her graduate research focused on identifying signatures of selection in high altitude populations. As a post-doctoral fellow in the Bamshad lab, Abby is pursing her research interests in human population genetics.
Email: awb150@u.washington.edu
Lab Technicians
Kati Buckingham, BS

Kati graduated from Western Washington University in 2003 with a degree in cellular and molecular biology. Her experience focuses on laboratory work for genetic analysis. She has recently joined the Bamshad lab to work on the West Nile Virus project. Kati enjoys traveling and the outdoors.
Email: katib@u.washington.edu
Heidi Gildersleeve, MS

Heidi completed her master’s in biology from Andrews University in Michigan. She has gained sequencing and molecular biology experience working in several University of Washington genetics labs. Since joining the Bamshad lab she is excited to be helping with projects such as West Nile Virus and Distal Arthrogryposis. Her passions include sailing, snowboarding, cooking, and reading.
Email: hgilder@u.washington.edu
Kathryn Bofferding, BS

Bio coming soon.
Tamara Bacus, BS

Tamara received her Bachelors' of Science in Biochemistry and Microbiology from the UW in 1999. Since joining the Bamshad Lab she has helped set up the new lab space for the Center for Clinical Genomics and has been working with the UW Twin Registry. In her spare time, Tamara enjoys gardening, baking, knitting, and horror films, especially zombies.
Email: tamaratj@u.washington.edu
Chris Carlos, BS

Chris completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at San Diego State University in 2009. He eventually wants to attend graduate school, but is too busy working and enjoying life. His hobbies include staying active and being outdoors, but being from southern California, he is still getting used to the weather here.
Email: carlosc@u.washington.edu
Jeff Heard, BS

Bio coming soon.
Study Coordinators
Maggie McMillin, BS

Maggie received her Bachelor's of Science in Psychology from UW in 2002. Her studies focused on child development and neurology. Maggie has a passion for working with children and families and is interested in pursuing a career as a nurse midwife. In her free time, she enjoys swing dancing, cooking and film.
Email: mcmillin@u.washington.edu, margaret.mcmillin@seattlechildrens.org
Heidi Thielmann, MA

Bio coming soon.
Graduate Student Assistants
Alice Ward, BS

Alice completed her undergraduate at UW in Bioengineering summer 2008 and is continuing on with a Master's through a 5th year Master's program. Her research interests include fetal muscle development and human muscle contractility studies. As a former Louisiana southerner, she enjoys the outdoors and regularly hikes and backpacks through the Cascades and Olympics with her husband. Her future academic plans include obtaining an M.D. / Ph.D.
Email: alice.w.ward@gmail.com
Undergraduate Student Assistants
Dar-ci Calhoun

Bio coming soon.
Alum
Phillip Kezele, PhD

B.S. Zoology, University of Washington, Dec 1998
PhD Genetics and Cell Biology, Washington State University, August 2003
Selected Publications
Kezele P, Skinner MK, Regulation of Ovarian Primordial Follicle Assembly and Development by Estrogen and Progesterone: Endocrine Model of Follicle Assembly. Endocrinology 2003, 144:3329-37
Kezele PR, Ague JM, Nilsson E, Skinner MK, Alterations in the Ovarian Transcriptome During Primordial Follicle Assembly and Development. Biol Reprod 2004, Sept 15
Web Page
http://home.comcast.net/~kezelepr/
Email: kezelepr@u.washington.edu
Kristina Dahlstrom

Kristina has a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Science degree in epidemiology from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. Her main interest is in genetic epidemiology (aka statistical genetics) and before joining the Bamshad lab in October 2007 she worked on a large molecular epidemiology study of head and neck cancer at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Kristina enjoys going to the mountains, reading and listening to music.
Email: krd5@u.washington.edu
Suzanne Peterson, MD

Suzanne is a fellow in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. She completed her medical school training at the University of Washington School of Medicine, followed by a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pittsburgh, Magee-Womens Hospital. Her research interests include the genetics of preterm labor and aneuploidy screening.
Email: sepeters@u.washington.edu
Nadine Choueiter, MD

Nadine is a fellow in Pediatric Cardiology. She completed her medical school training at the American University of
Beirut (AUB), followed by a residency in Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern, Children's Medical Center
of Dallas. Her research interest include the genetics of congenital heart disease.
Email: nadine.choueiter@seattlechildrens.org
Sasha De Leon, MS

Sasha received her undergraduate degree in biology from Morgan State University in 2004 and her Master of Science in Pathobiology from the University of Washington in 2008. Her professional interests include international health policy and she hopes to obtain a Ph.D degree in this field in the future, specifically focusing on the relationship among poverty, malnutrition, and the ecology of infectious diseases. Sasha is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, and spends most of her time reading, listening to music, and trying to get home to go to the beach.
Email: rsdeleon@u.washington.edu
Sarah Ruuska, MPH

Sarah received her undergraduate degree in biological and chemical sciences from Wells College in 1995 and her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from Emory University in 2000. Her professional interests include maternal and child health research, in particular childbirth and the environmental and genetic factors that play a role in birth defects. Before joining the Bamshad Lab she coordinated a large study of birth defects at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In her spare time Sarah enjoys the outdoors, singing, cooking for friends and family, house remodel projects, and is a volunteer childbirth coach.
Email: sarahruu@u.washington.edu
Sofia Husain

Sofia completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology at the
University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2003. She then pursued a Master of
Public Health degree at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities and is
currently working on completing her master's thesis. She has an interest
in both epidemiological disease surveillance and academic research.
Working for the Bamshad lab is allowing her to advance her skills as a
researcher. She would love to work for the World Health Organization
someday. In her spare time, she enjoys staying mentally and physically
active and spending quality time with family and friends.
Email: husains@u.washington.edu
Valerie Hoang

Valerie is the website developement assistant for the Bamshad Lab as well as for Pre-Pharmacy Club in the upcoming 2008-2009 school year. She is in her junior year at the University of Washington. She is actively involved with Pre-Pharmacy Club, Global Medical Brigades (GMB), Minority Association for Pre-health Students (MAPS), and Vietnamese Student Association (VSA). Her future career plans include opening her own pharmacy and a cafe/bakery shop.
She enjoys a nice home-cooked meal, leisure walks in the neighborhood, and sportsmanship in tennis.
Email: v1vhoang@u.washington.edu