MEET OUR TEAM
Ahmed Fadiel, MS-CEIR, PhD
COU Director, Co-Founder
Ahmed Fadiel, PhD
Dr. Fadiel is the Director and Co-Founder of the Computational Oncology Unit at the University of Chicago. He has more than 20 years of research experience in cancer molecular biology and bioinformatics developing protein interaction networks and pathway models to increase understanding of cancer progression. His research and development work in academia and industry used molecular dynamics simulations to study structural aspects of drug/target/ligand interactions. Dr. Fadiel has experience in integrating and analyzing high throughput data and developing computational methods and tools for analyzing and incorporating these data. Dr. Fadiel has also developed many novel bioinformatics algorithms and tools. Dr. Fadiel has 15 years of experience in teaching bioinformatics.
Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD
CCC Director, COU Founder
Kunle Odunsi, MD, PhD
Dr. Odunsi, Founder of the Computational Oncology Unit, is the AbbVie Foundation Distinguished Service Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology Professor of Medicine and the director of University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Research Center. He is also Dean for Oncology in the Biological Sciences Division. As a nationally recognized expert in immunotherapy and vaccine therapy for cancer, Dr. Odunsi’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of immune recognition and tolerance in ovarian cancer and translating these findings to immunotherapy clinical trials. He is the founder of the COU, and provides vision, collaboration, and guidance to the COU.
Rajan Gopalakrishnan, MS
Director of Informatics
Rajan Gopalakrishnan, MS
Rajan Gopalakrishnan, MS, is the director for informatics and information technology (IT) at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center. Mr. Gopalakrishnan joined in May 2011 with 16 years of experience in healthcare and public health IT consulting where he worked with several large regional hospital systems and state and public health organizations. As the director for informatics, Mr. Gopalakrishnan is responsible for the design, maintenance, upkeep of all informatics and IT capabilities within the Cancer Center. In addition, he participates in setting future strategy and the roadmap for cancer informatics functions that will provide cutting-edge support for Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers and staff. Mr. Gopalakrishnan is a member of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and likes to pursue interesting developments in public health informatics within the cancer domain.
Niall Connellan
IT Operations Manager & Sr. Systems Administrator
Niall Connellan
Niall Connellan is the IT Operations Manager and Senior Systems Administrator at the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center. A Chicago native, Mr. Connellan brings over 22 years of experience and an extremely diversified understanding for many computing technologies used in both modern and legacy systems. His swift and unique ability to diagnose issues across the entire informatics stack within a system, allows for quick resolution times to complex issues. Driven by a passion for continuously developing his craft, Mr. Connellan routinely tests new technologies to stay current with industry advancements, along with determining if and how it could provide value to the Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has a number of IT certifications, along with being a certified Scrum Master from the SAFe v5 Agile framework.
Aly Khan, PhD
Assissant Professor, Computational Immunology
Aly Kahn, PhD
Dr. Khan is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Pathology, Family Medicine, and the College at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on developing novel computational methods to better understand how immune cells interact with each other, the surrounding tissue and organ systems, and the microbiome. The long-term goal of his lab is to translate computationally driven discoveries into clinically relevant applications. Previously, he was a member of the research faculty at the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, where he led a research program in computational immunology. In addition to his academic research, he has developed computational methods at Merck, Genentech, Tempus Labs, and 23andMe. He obtained his PhD in Computational Biology jointly from Cornell University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Hardik Shah, MS
Metabolomics Platform Director, Collaborator
Hardik Shah, MS
Hardik Shah is a Director of the newly established Metabolomics Platform at the University of Chicago, and a collaborator with the Computational Oncology Unit. Mr. Shah received his master’s degree in Chemistry from Fairleigh Dickinson University, NJ, USA and his undergraduate degree in Pharmacy from G.S.P.S.I.O.P, Akola, Maharashtra, INDIA. He obtained mass spectrometry skills and its application to the metabolomics field at Procter & Gamble. Since then Shah played a major role in establishing the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) based metabolite profiling methods at leading metabolomics core facilities of two leading biomedical research centers, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York. Also, he was responsible for setting up the Metabolomics Platform in Dr. Vamsi Mootha lab, part of Massachusetts General Hospital, Broad Institute of MIT, and Harvard Medical School, Boston. His metabolomics work has enabled multiple cutting-edge discoveries as evidenced by numerous publications in high-profile journals.
Samuel Weng, MS
Proteomics Platform Director
Samuel Weng, MSc
Samuel (Shao Huan) Weng is currently a Director of the Proteomics Platform at the University of Chicago Comprehensive Cancer Center. With two MSc degrees (Analytical Chemistry from Simon Fraser University and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine from the University of British Columbia), Samuel has expertise in proteomics for developing diagnostic and therapeutic targets towards personalized medicine, as well as material and analytical chemistry for developing disease detection platforms. Prior to this position, he was a scientist in at AstraZeneca and actively involved in developing drug candidates for cancers, respiratory diseases, immunology diseases, and more. With his contribution in COVID-19 antibody development, he obtained AstraZeneca CEO award in Special COVID-19 award category in 2021. Samuel also worked as a cancer researcher at British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute and applied mass-spectrometry based methods to explore the treatment responses from leukemia patients as well as monitor their complement pathway and proteolytic activities in limited clinical samples and then try to establish personalized medicine for the patient.
Hyuneui Hailey Cho
Trainee Data Scientist
Hyuneui Hailey Cho
Hyuneui Cho is a Masters of Public Health student with a concentration in data science. Previously, Ms. Cho had worked as a journalist for more than 6 years covering national newspapers in Korea. As a health/medical correspondent, she had covered the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDC), and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, with a special focus on public health and infectious disease. Ms. Cho is interested in applying data-driven approaches to address health disparities and promote equitable access to care.
Drew Memmott, MPhil, MA
CCC Director of Administration, COU Co-Founder
Drew Memmott MPhil, MA
Drew Memmott, Co-Founder of the Computational Oncology Unit, leads the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center administrative unit. He joined the leadership team in 2021. He has extensive experience in scientific administration and managing NCI designated Cancer Centers. Mr. Memmott has graduate degrees from the University of Washington and Columbia University. As Associate Director for Administration at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center, he has broad oversight for the administrative and fiscal management of the center, including financial management, personnel, IT infrastructure to support clinical trials operations, pre- and post-awards for the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) and multiple interdepartmental grants, Cancer Center public relations and communications, and research support units like the Computational Oncology Unit. He also works collaboratively with Cancer Center leadership in strategic planning activities and implementation of plans for programmatic growth.
Marisa Naujokas, PhD
Scientific Program Administrator
Marisa Naujokas, PhD
Dr. Naujokas is a scientific program administrator and project manager with the Computational Oncology Unit at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center. She obtained her PhD in immunology from Rush University in Chicago, and successfully completed her postdoctoral fellowship at University of Chicago in immunology and cell biology before transitioning to scientific writing, and information and project management. Over the course of 25 years, she has applied her skills in writing, communication, information management, research, and team management in a variety of contexts and applications. Most recently she has been working with large teams of researchers to develop complex project planning and grant development for team science grants.
Cherise Jackson, MS
Research Administrator
Cherise Jackson, MS
Cherise Jackson is a research administrator who is supporting the Computational Oncology Unit at the University of Chicago. She has a master’s degree in Multidisciplinary Human Service. She has been providing customer service and administrative support for over 20 years including 3 years at UChicago. Cherise’s experience consists of providing administrative support to investigators, scientists, institutional committees, or physicians as assigned. Her active role consists of providing confidential and high-level administrative support, including scheduling. She also has experience in providing specialized research support to help investigators with supplies, meetings, and linking to other resources to help keep the lab running smoothly and efficiently.
Jane Kollmer
Director for Communications
Jane Kollmer
Jane Kollmer is the director for communications at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center. With nearly 20 years of experience in marketing and communication, Kollmer is well-versed in attracting and engaging audiences through the strategic use of compelling content. In her role, Kollmer is responsible for elevating the UCCCC’s profile as a leading cancer research institution and raise visibility of and positive affiliation for the UCMCCC among members, staff, medical and research communities, news media, and the public. She will work with the Computational Oncology Unit team to disseminate research findings and educate our community about computational approaches to improve outcomes for cancer patients.