Eun Ji Chung, PhD
Associate Professor & Chair, Biomedical Engineering, USC
Presentation Title: Nanomedicine for Genetic and Chronic Diseases
Eun Ji Chung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California and the Dr. Karl Jacob Jr. and Karl Jacob III Early Career Chair. She has a courtesy appointment in Chemical Engineering, Medicine (Nephrology and Hypertension), and Surgery (Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Repair), and is an affiliated faculty at the Norris Cancer Center and the Stem Cells department. Her laboratory is interested in harnessing molecular design and self-assembly to develop nano- to macroscale biomaterials that can be utilized in medicine. Dr. Chung received her B.A. with honors in Molecular Biology from Scripps College, her Ph.D. from the Department of Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University, and her postdoctoral training from the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago.
Cristina Zavaleta, PhD
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, USC
Dr. Zavaleta was born and raised in McAllen, Texas, a small town on the border with Mexico. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Medicine at a small private university in San Antonio. After graduating, she started in the Medical Physics graduate program at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio where she focused on utilizing radioactive nanoparticles for the treatment of ovarian cancer. She was the first in her family to obtain a Ph.D. She began a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University where she dedicated the majority of her time developing a new Raman imaging strategy for cancer detection. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California in the department of Biomedical Engineering. Her lab focuses on providing physicians with better molecular imaging tools to improve cancer detection.
Nasim Annabi, Ph.D
Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, UCLA
Presentation Title: Drug Eluting Bioadhesive Hydrogels for Treatment of Ocular Diseases
Nasim Annabi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She received a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Sydney (Australia). From 2011-2014, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Before joining UCLA in 2018, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University. Her multidisciplinary research program at UCLA aims to integrate novel chemistries with microscale technologies to develop the next generation of biomaterials for medical applications. In addition, her group has devised innovative strategies for the development of surgical sealants for the repair and sealing of elastic tissues. Dr. Annabi has published over 160 articles in peer-reviewed journals. As July 2023, she has been cited over 21,076 times and her H index is already at 74. Her innovations have resulted in 20 patents and generated significant commercial interest. She is a co-founder of GelMEDIX, a biotechnology company committed to innovating the next generation of ocular and regenerative therapies. Dr Annabi has been recognized with several national and international awards including 2022 Woman in NanoScience Award at the Global Conference for Nanotechnology, the 2021 Young Investigator Award from the Society for Biomaterials (SFB), the 2021 Biomaterials Science Lectureship Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), the 2020 Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum (NSEF) Young Investigator Award of American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Australian Prestigious Endeavour Award, and the National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Award. Her team has received major grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Defense (DOD) and the American Heart Association (AHA).
Janice Zang, Ph.D.
Co-Founder & CEO, N1 Life, Inc.
Dr. Zang is the Co-founder and CEO of N1 Life, a silicon valley based biotech startup working on developing disruptive drug delivery technologies and innovative therapeutics for under addressed unmet medical needs. Dr. Zang received her PhD in Chemistry from Stanford University and BS in Chemistry from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. After a decade of frontier research at the interface of chemistry, biology and medicine, Dr. Zang has transitioned into a scientist entrepreneur in order to translate cutting-edge new technologies to actual clinical applications. Since 2019, Dr. Zang has been responsible for R&D operation and strategy, Business development and Fundraising for N1 Life.
Hovhannes Gukasyan, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences , Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, USC
Dr. Hovhannes (Hovik) Gukasyan is an associate professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences, and is helping grow the school’s undergraduate major in biopharmaceutical sciences. He spent two decades in the pharmaceutical industry, including roles at Pfizer and AbbVie, and served as an adjunct professor at USC Mann and Keck Graduate Institute School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He earned a PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from USC Mann.