Our Team

Principal Investigator

Billy Kim
Principal Investigator
The Rush S. Dickson Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Genetics, and Pharmacology
B.A. Wesleyan University
M.D. Brown University

Fun Fact: He was an NCAA Div III All-American Swimmer in College

Administrative Support

Ken Leota
Administrative Specialist
B.A. Communication Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Fun Fact: Ken is a digital artist and enjoys making art prints!

Lab Technician

Milagro “Mila” Ortiz
Laboratory Manager
B.A. Biology and Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Fun Fact: Mila’s hometown is a small OBX island called Ocracoke that is only accessible by ferry.

Bladder Cancer Program Manager

Jeffrey Damrauer, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Oncology
Ph.D. Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
B.S. Biology, The Ohio State University

Computational Biologist

Mi Zhou, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Cell & Developmental Biology, Rutgers University
M.S. Applied and Mathematical Statistics, Rutgers University
B.S. Biotechnology, Wuhan University

Fun Fact: Mi loves putting things in order and finding just the right spot for everything. She enjoys organizing things—it just makes life easier and more enjoyable.

Seowoo Kim
M.S. Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Fun Fact: Seowoo loves watching baseball games and was the manager of her college’s baseball club during her undergraduate years.

Micheal Superdock, M.D.

M.D. The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

B.A. Computer Science, Swarthmore College

Fun Fact: Michael enjoys running and playing soccer, and he previously played competitively on the varsity men’s soccer team at Swarthmore College.

Visiting Scholar

Minyong Kang, M.D., Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellows

Shawn Yu, M.D., Ph.D.
B.S. Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
M.D./Ph.D. Bioengineering, University of Washington

Fun Fact: Shawn had a third front tooth which was removed when he was a kid.

Peng Jin, Ph.D.
Ph.D. Biomedical Science,

Seoul National University, College of Medicine
Fun Fact: Peng has been a Messi fan for 20+ years. Still hasn’t seen him live. At this point, it’s a race between Messi’s retirement and his luck!

Graduate Students

Michael Sturdivant
B.S. Biology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Fun Fact: Micheal is a North Carolina native and life-long Duke fan

Emily Kounlavong
MDPhD Candidate Pathobiology and Translational Science, UNC
B.S. chemistry, University of Tennessee

Fun Fact: Emily loves to bake and occasionally brings amazing treats to the lab!

Elliott Drew Toomer
B.S in Biology with a minor in Applied Statistics and Data Analytics
Kennesaw State University

Fun Fact: Drew played college football as an o-line!

Collaborators

Sarah Wobker, MD
Assistant Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Tracy Rose, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Medicine, Hematology / Oncology,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Daniel Crona, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Pharmacy,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Kate Gessner, M.D., Ph.D. Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
B.A. Genetics, Cell, and Developmental Biology, Dartmouth College

Matthew Milowsky, M.D.
Professor of Medicine, Oncology,

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Lab Alumni

• Andrew Truong, Research Scientist, Ribometrix (Former Graduate Student)
• Di Wu, Bioinformatic Specialist, University of Kansas (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Ujjawal (Jim) Manocha, Associate Scientist, Gilead Sciences, Bioinformatics (Former Lab Manager)
• Xingnan Zheng, Data Scientist, Publicis Groupe (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• John Raupp, Medical Student, University of Michigan, (Former Lab Technician)
• William Weir, ENT Resident, University of Arkansas (Former Graduate Student)
• Yuki Kita, Assistant Professor Urology, Kyoto University, Japan (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Ibardo Zambrano, Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) Fellow, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Former SUO Research Fellow)
• Atsushi Okato, Chief Physician, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, QST Hospital, Japan (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Takanobu Utsumi, Associate Professor, Toho University (Sakura Medical Center), Japan (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Jordan Kardos, Bioinformatics Specialist, Gilead Sciences (Former Graduate Student)
• Bhavani Krishnan, Manager, Global Solutions, IMS Health (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Tracy Rose, Associate Professor, UNC (Former Hematology/Oncology Fellow)
• Ryoichi Saito, Associate Professor, Department of Urology, Hyogo Medical University, Japan (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Hyo Jin Lee, Professor, Cancer Research Institute, Chungnam National University, Korea (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• David Chism, Assistant Professor, Vanderbilt University (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Sean Bailey, Director, Mouse Phase 1 Unit, UNC (Former Graduate Student)
• Jeffrey Damrauer, Bioinformatics Specialist, UNC (Former Graduate Student)
• Bing Zhou, Senior Scientist, Qiagen (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Sara Hanna, Feasibility Fellow, Novella Clinical (Former Graduate Student)
• Autumn McRee, Associate Professor, UNC (Former Hematology/Oncology Fellow)
• Mingqing Li, Attending Physician, Kaiser Heatlhcare (Former Hematology/Oncology Fellow)
• Tanja Hadzic, Manager, Medical Affairs, Salix Pharm (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Harper Wilson, Medical Student, Wake Forest (Former Research Technician)
• Taylor Gammons, Medical Student, UNC Chapel Hill (Former Research Technician)
• Sam Heathcote, Surgery Resident, New Hanover Regional Medical Center (Former Research Technician)
• Andrew Gdowski (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Sean Clark-Garvey (Former Postdoctoral Fellow)
• Wolfgang Beckabir (Former Graduate Student)