Leadership
Saya Dennis
President
Saya grew up in a small city in Japan with a Japanese mother and American father. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Tokyo, during which she did a gap year in Vancouver, Canada, attending the University of British Columbia. She is currently a first-year PhD student in the DGP, and is interested in the application of machine learning algorithms to biomedical and clinical data. She loves spending time with her friends, exploring bars and restaurants in Chicago, and stalking cute dogs on Instagram.
Ted Linghu
Vice President
Ted was born in Taiwan but spent a good amount of his childhood in Pretoria, South Africa. He then returned to Taiwan for schooling, which eventually led him to Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. Post graduation, Ted worked a year at a biotech startup in Memphis where he was introduced to the world of data science. He went on to get his Masters of Bioinformatics from the University of Memphis with a concentration in data science and is now a doctoral student in the Driskill Graduate Program. His research interests include applying machine learning methods to -omics datasets. In his free time he likes to watch sports, spend time with his wife and two dogs and look at sneakers online.
Meghan Hutch
Secretary
Meghan grew up in Massachusetts and received her B.S in Biology from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Prior to attending Northwestern, she worked as a Clinical Research Assistant where she became fascinated by the role that data science can play in helping to understand disease and improve patient care. She looks forward to advancing her education in Biomedical Informatics while a PhD student in Northwestern’s Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences. Specifically, she is interested in utilizing computational methods to study the genetic factors influencing disease. In her free time, she enjoys exploring Chicago and running on the Lakefront Trail!
Garrett Eickelberg
Treasurer
Garrett grew up in Arizona and received his B.S in Chemistry from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. Following graduation, he spent five years working at a molecular pathology lab in Portland Oregon, where he discovered bioinformatics, clinical informatics, and data science. Garrett is currently a third-year Biomedical Informatics Ph.D. Candidate in the Driskill Graduate Program and works in the laboratory of Dr. Yuan Luo. His research aims to reduce unnecessary or inappropriate antibiotic usage and improve outcomes for patients in the Intensive Care Unit through predictive analytics. Outside of the lab, Garrett enjoys cooking, rock climbing, and playing guitar.
Elan Ness-Cohn
Webmaster
Elan grew up outside Chicago and received his B.S in Biology from MIT. Elan is currently a third year PhD Candidate in the Laboratory of Dr. Rosemary Braun as part of Northwestern’s Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences. Specifically, he is interested in developing new methods for analyzing high demential datasets in the fields of Circadian Biology and Climate Science (as related to Climate Change). In his free time he enjoys trying out new vegan recipes, swimming, and playing soccer.