People

Kathy Giacomini, PhD, BSPharm

Dean, School of Pharmacy
Professor and Principal Investigator

[email protected]

• Understanding the roles of membrane transporters in drug absorption, disposition, targeting, and in clinical drug response
• Discovering natural variants in transporter genes in ethnically diverse human populations that associate with variation in drug response

Joanne Chun

Director, MS in AICD3
Director, Postgraduate Education Programs
Assistant Adjunct Professor

[email protected]

• Creates and develops innovative educational programs, enhancing opportunities for graduates in drug discovery and development
• Focuses on transforming patient care using computational methods in these fields

Sook Wah Yee, PhD

Adjunct Associate Professor

[email protected]

• Investigating the discovery of transporters as drug targets
• Utilizing genome-wide data to identify transporter endogenous role and drug pharmacological action

Jia Yang, PhD

Assistant Researcher

[email protected]

• Investigating the physiological and pharmacological roles of SLC transporters

Mark Kvale, PhD

Programmer Analyst

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• Using statistical genetics and machine learning to analyze data and infer results in large-scale genetic and genomic experiments
• Provides statistical and genetic analyses support for several PIs in the UCSF. Staff at UCSF Institute of Human Genetics

Olive Burata, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar

[email protected]

• Investigating the pharmacological role of SLC transporters in the Blood Brain Barrier
• Protein engineering of microbial drug transporters as bioremediation and bioaugmentation solutions
• Interested in fostering entrepreneurial education among PhDs and students 
• Long-time fan of the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco 49ers

Mark Ware

Graduate Student, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics

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• Structure, mechanisms, and function of SLC transporters in the blood-brain barrier

Kelsey Trumbach, MPH

Clinical Research Coordinator

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• Management of clinical research investigating the discovery of transporters as drug targets. See Healthy Volunteers Needed for Genomic and Metabolomic Study

• Ensure that clinical research and related activities are performed in accordance with federal regulations, university and sponsoring agency policies and procedures

Kyle Shun

Staff Research Associate

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• Studying the role of SLC transporters in the blood-brain barrier

Christina Chen

Research Finance Administrator

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• Finance analyst for Giacomini and Yee laboratory. Provides support for other research group and programs

Wan-Yu Lai

Project Coordinator

[email protected]

• Provides administrative support for Giacomini and Yee laboratory and for other research group and programs