Meet The Team
Dr. Elisa Zhang is fortunate to have worked with several outstanding mentees and junior colleagues at Stanford. Learn more about her former trainees below! Learn more about her current trainees on her new lab website.
Former Trainees
Kuo lab technician and former CIRM scholar
Jose Cedano
Jose joined us from Southern California, having earned his degrees from Cal State Fullerton, Santiago Canyon Community College, and Santa Ana College. In the Kuo lab, Jose has been working with Elisa on the genetic basis of serous endometrial cancer, first as a CIRM scholar and now as a Kuo lab technician. He will be entering a PhD program in the fall of 2024. In his spare time, Jose enjoys basketball, going to the gym, and trying new restaurants.
Stanford undergraduate researcher
Alexis "Lexy" Tran
Lexy first started working with Elisa in the Kuo lab as a high school student in the Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program (SIMR). Originally from the SF Bay Area, she is currently a Stanford senior and plans to go to medical school. In the Kuo lab, Lexy has worked on several projects, including the role of Wnt signaling in dictating endometrial cell fate specification, as well as the genetic basis of serous endometrial cancer.
Stanford MS1 medical student
Madelyn "Maddie" Mauro
Maddie is a first-year medical student in the Stanford Physician-Scientist Training Program. She graduated from Harvard College in 2023 with a degree in regenerative biology and Classics. Her passion for endometrial research began in the McKinley Lab at Harvard. She hopes to become a physician scientist in order to integrate laboratory research and patient care throughout her career. In the Kuo lab, Maddie is working on the genetic basis of serous endometrial cancer. In her free time, Maddie enjoys playing bass guitar and keeping up with her Latin and Greek - as much as a busy medical student can!
High school student
Lauren Guh-Siesel
A native of Los Altos, CA, Lauren first started working with Team Endometrium in the summer of 2023 as a rising high school senior. Lauren became interested in organoid and stem cell research when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she has since wanted to understand how cancers grow and how mutations lead to cancer. In the Kuo lab, Lauren has been working on the genetic basis of serous endometrial cancer. Outside of the lab and classroom, Lauren enjoys painting landscapes, playing doubles tennis, and cooking new dinner recipes with her family.
Former Stanford Amgen Scholar
Calvin Ludwig
Originally from upstate New York, Calvin worked with Elisa in the Baker lab as a Stanford Summer Research Program (SSRP) Amgen Scholar while a student at Williams College in Massachusetts. His project project examined the functional domains of the fusogenic protein syncytin-1 in the human placenta. Calvin has since graduated with his MD from Tufts University and is currently an internal medicine resident physician at Tufts Medical Center. His hobbies include running outside, hiking anywhere and everywhere, playing the flute, and cooking his mom’s classic Italian recipes.
Former Stanford SSRP Scholar
Kevin Wickham
Kevin grew up in Barbados and worked with Elisa in the Baker lab as a Stanford Summer Research Program (SSRP) Scholar while a student at Howard University. Kevin's project examined the anti-aging properties of the placenta. He has since continued to pursue his interests in aging as a PhD student in the Dillin lab at UC Berkeley.
Harvard undergraduate
Alex Guh-Siesel
Alex joined Team Endometrium for the summer 2023 when he was home in the SF Bay Area. Alex is currently a junior at Harvard College and works in David Liu's lab during the academic year. He has been developing prime editing tools in the Liu lab, which he applied toward engineering genetic "hot spot" mutations into endometrial organoids during his summer with us in the Kuo lab. Alex intends to pursue an MD/PhD and a career in medicine and research. Outside the lab, Alex loves football, basketball, and volleyball and is a big 49ers/Warriors fan.
Former Stanford undergraduate
Karla Manzanares
Karla worked with Elisa for 4 years as a Stanford undergraduate, including with support from a Bio-X fellowship. She graduated in 2023 with a degree in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering. Karla is currently working as a scientist at Genentech and will begin her PhD in bioengineering at MIT this fall where she intends to continue working to address women's health needs. In her spare time, Karla is passionate about running and volunteering with community medicine initiatives.
Former Stanford undergraduate
Joshua Chan
Originally from Foster City, CA, Josh worked with Elisa and Vincent van Unen of the Kuo and M. Davis labs as a Stanford undergraduate. His project focused on identifying endometrial progenitor populations and cell fate changes using bioinformatic approaches. He graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor's in Human Biology and a Master’s in Management Science and Engineering. He is currently a research student in the Davis lab and will begin attending medical school in the fall. He loves exploring hole-in-the wall restaurants with his friends and family, poke-pole fishing, weightlifting, and tennis. He is happy to chat about wetlab/computational research in college, navigating the work-life balance, or exploring the Bay Area!
Join us!
Please reach out to Dr. Elisa Zhang if you are interested in the uterine endometrium, placental biology, stem cells, or pregnancy!