West Lab Alumni Spotlight

Past West lab members have gone on to prestigous positions, working on neurodegenerative diseases, in both academia and industry. This page spotlights a few of these amazing researchers.

Zhiyong Liu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Cell Biology

Univ. of Al. Birmingham

West Lab post-doctoral fellow 2018-2023

Zhiyong earned a K99/R00 fellowship in the West laboratory for his work on vesicle traffic and LRRK2 function, and now runs an NIH-funded laboratory focused on Alzheimer's disease research at the Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham.

Mark Moehle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology

Univ. of Florida

West Lab graduate student, 2011-2015

Columbia University School of Medicine

Mark earned a K99/R00 fellowship and runs a laboratory focused on circuit changes that unerlie dystonia, Parkinson's disease, and different dementias.

Kaela Kelly, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist

Arvinas Therapeutics,

West Lab graduate student, 2015-2020

Kaela leads a research team focused on the development of PROTAC drugs to degrade proteins related to neurodegenerative diseases.

Nicole Bryant, Ph.D., Principal Scientist

Vividion Therapeutics

West Lab, 2018-2022

Nicole runs a research team in the Early Discovery Group, using novel chemoproteomic platforms to inform new drug targets for therapeutic interventions.

Kyle Fraser, Ph.D., Principal Scientist

Biogen IDEC

West Lab, 2012-2017

Kyle runs a research team focused on biomarkers and drug responses in neurodegenerative disease.

Hisham Abdelmotilib, MD/PhD, Clinical Fellow of Neurology

Mass Gen. Hospital, Harvard Medical School

West Lab, 2013-2018

Hisham is a practicing neurologist at one of the most prestigous neurology departments in the country and specializes in neurodegenerative disorders.

Sidhanth Chandra, MD/Ph.D.

Mass General Brigham, Harvard Medical School

West Lab, 2015-2019

Sid was an undergraduate neuroscience student in the West Lab studying the impact of LRRK2 and 14-3-3 modulation on neuropathology in rodent models of Parkinson's disease. He subsequently attended the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and completed his MD-PhD in a dual-degree program. Sid will complete his residency in neurology at Mass General Brigham in Boston.

Ravindra Boddu, BDS, Ph.D.

West Lab, 2019-2024

Ravi is a research scientist with expertise in Cellular & Molecular Biology, Genetics, in vivo procedures, multi-color flow cytometry (including acoustic focusing cytometry-Attune Nxt). He completed his studies and training from: UAB School of Dentistry, UAB Graduate School, and UAB School of Medicine. His research efforts are focused on understanding the role of LRRK2 in inflammation, immunity and Parkinson's disease.

Samuel Strader, Ph.D.

West Lab, 2021-2026

Samuel joined the West Lab in 2021 and is studying neurotoxicity of Tau protein fibrillization and the role of peripheral macrophages in neurodegenerative diseases. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he worked as a Research Technician at Duke University in the Eroglu Lab.

Arpine Sokratian, Ph.D.

West Lab, 2018-2024

Arpine started her journey at the West lab in 2018 as a research technician at UAB. She joined the graduate program at Duke in Pharmacology in 2020. Arpine's research interests are centered around the biology of key proteins implicated in Parkinson's disease and Dementia with Lewy bodies.

Lauren Shiell

West Lab, 2022-2026

Lauren studied biomedical engineering student with a minor in neuroscience, and continues to pursue work in the lab related to pathohistological analysis, nanoparticle detection and distribution in tissues. Lauren will be pursuing her PhD in Neuroscience at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in New York City.

Nirali Patel

West Lab, 2022-2025

Nirali earned her undergraduate in Biology with a concentration in Pharmacology. She joined the West Lab interested in key proteins regarding Parkinson’s disease and neuropharmacology. Nirali is currently earning her Master's degree in Biotechnology at Brown University.

Eunjae (Annie) Lee

West Lab, 2023-2024

Annie studied biotechnology with expertise in Crspr/CAS9, genome editing, and cell biology approaches. She is currently a Sr. Research Associate at ODDITY LABS.

Deney Li

West Lab, 2021-2024

Deney Li is interested in biomarkers and diagnoses of neurogenerative disease, and how these identifiers can aid in treatments. She is currently a Pharmacology PhD student at Weill Cornell Medicine & Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Kashyap Sreeram

West Lab, 2020-2025

Kashyap Sreeram is interested in studying biomarkers in biofluids for neurodegenerative disease and analyzing the effects of LRRK2 variants on Parkinson's Disease pathology. Kash is currently an MD-PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

Julia Ziaee

West Lab, 2019-2022

Salesforce, Inc.

Julia was an undergraduate researcher in the West laboratory and currently is a software engineer at Salesforce in San Franscisco.

Shijie Wang, Ph.D.

West Lab, 2017-2021

Postdoctoral researcher, UCSF

Shijie graduated with a PhD in the West lab and focuses on biomarkers and pathways in Parkinson's disease.

Joshua Li

West Lab, 2018-2022

Medical Student at Emory

Josh was a post-bac researcher in the West Lab currently in medical school.

Valentina Krendelshchikova

West Lab, 2016-2021

Scientist at Astra Zeneca

Valentina was a West lab manager and now works in Industry for protocol optimization and laboratory operations.

Nicole Malpeli

West Lab, 2018-2022

Meta Platforms, Inc

Nicole was an undergraduate computer science reseracher in the West laboratory and currently works for Meta in Manhattan as an engineer.

Lyndsay Hastings

West Lab, 2020-2021

NIH IRTA Fellow

Lyndsay was an undergraduate reseracher in the West lab and is a recipient of the National Institutes of Health's Post-baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award, and pursuing graduate school.

Allison Chang

West Lab, 2018-2020

University of Minnesota Graduate School

Allison was a Post-Bac researcher in the West lab and is pursuing a graduate degree in Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota.

Ketty Bai

West Lab, 2019-2021

Columbia University School of Medicine

Ketty was an undergraduate reseracher in the West lab and is currently pursuing an MD at Columbia University's Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.