Quimby Lee, PhD
PhD student, Neuroscience (2020-2025)
Quimby is interested in developing non-invasive neuroimaging techniques to study neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism. Her research in the FAN lab optimized measures of cerebrovascular function from resting-state functional MRI in pediatric populations, including autistic children. Quimby was awarded the NIH F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral fellowship (2024).
Outside of research, she enjoys comedy, volleyball, and Timothée Chalamet movies. After graduation, Quimby started an NIH T32-funded postdoctoral position at Stanford University with Jonathan Polimeni.
Yufei (David) Zhu, PhD
PhD student, Biomedical Engineering (2020-2025)
During his Ph.D. with the FAN Lab, David compared novel arterial-spin labeling (ASL) MRI approaches to measure water exchange across the human blood-brain barrier. His work was funded by an NIH TL1 fellowship with the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center. David also is the artist behind our lab logo!
David is an accomplished tennis player, beginner yogi, and architecture hobbyist. David’s research interest is in the development of novel and clinically useful advanced neuroimaging biomarkers for different neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. After graduating, David started a T32-funded postdoctoral fellow at the University of Southern California in the LOFT Lab (2025).
Poorvi Daga
Undergraduate researcher (2023-2025)
Poorvi is interested in the application of neuroimaging and developing technologies that help monitor/diagnose patients. For her research, Poorvi used quantitative BOLD MRI to study brain oxygenation perturbations in age-related white matter lesions.
Besides her research interests, Poorvi enjoy traveling and exploring new food places. After graduating with her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Poorvi joined Genentech as a Pharma Technical Development Intern (2025).
Claire Hsu
Undergraduate researcher (2023-2025)
Claire is passionate about Alzheimer's research and investigated how cerebrovascular reactivity and white matter lesions influence brain functional connectivity in aging and dementia. She was awarded the 2025 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. Claire enjoys swimming and crocheting.
After graduating, Claire pursued an internship with Malcova (advanced imaging for early disease detection) and in 2026 started a Junior Specialist research position at UC Davis with Prof. Christina Young.
Abrar Sadikeen
Undergraduate researcher (2023-2025)
Abrar is interested in neuroimaging, AI, and its intersection and received a BS in biomedical engineering and minor in computer science. As a sweet tooth, Abrar loves to bake, especially with chocolate and spices, and she also enjoys painting landscapes.
In Fall 2025, Abrar joined the Biomedical Engineering graduate group is pursuing a Master's with Prof. Felipe Godinez.
Greg Wheeler, PhD
PhD student, Biomedical Engineering (2020-2024)
During his Ph.D. with the FAN Lab, Greg developed vascular magnetic resonance fingerprinting tools and techniques to dynamically investigate brain function and cerebrovascular diseases. His work was funded by an NIH TL1 fellowship with the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center.
Greg is passionate about STEM outreach and education and works with local undergraduates and high school students with interest in pursuing STEM related fields. Greg is currently a Scientist at Roche in Personalized Healthcare Solutions.
Anahita Tavakoli
Undergraduate researcher (2021-2023)
Anahita graduated from UC Davis, majoring in Cognitive Science with an emphasis in Neuroscience and a minor in Computer Science. She is interested in connecting machine learning/ artificial intelligence principles to help improve imaging analysis.
In Fall 2023, Anahita joined the Biomedical Engineering graduate group is pursuing a PhD in PET modeling research with Prof. Guobao Wang.
Alique Momjian
Undergraduate researcher (2020-2023)
For her research, Alique performed computational fluid dynamics research in patients with intracranial stenosis using advanced imaging. She graduated from the Biomedical Engineering program with her B.S. in 2023. In her spare time, Alique loves to re-read her favorite books.
She joined Stryker Neurovascular R&D in 2024 and currently segments and designs printed neurovascular models for device testing.
Siriluk (Ice) Thammasart
Visiting PhD Student (2022), Biological Engineering
Siriluk graduated from King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), Thailand, with a B.S. in microbiology in 2016. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Biological Engineering from KMUTT (Graduation: 2023). She studies low-level light therapy for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) treatment and works in mammalian cell culture techniques, chemical analysis, and molecular biology.
KMUTT cooperated with the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) Thailand, providing a scholarship to train with high-quality labs from the leading countries. Siriluk got a chance to learn about improving the robustness of brain imaging technologies to understand physiological deficits and study brain function in the FAN Lab for one year.
Parmida Pajouhesh
Undergraduate researcher (2021-2022)
Parmida earned a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior on the pre-medicine track. with a pre-med emphasis. She is interested in exploring the effectiveness of different imaging agents and how they can be used efficiently to promote early diagnosis of neurological disorders. Parmida is an advocate for brain health and the link to lifestyle habits in patients of older age.
After graduating, Parmida was a Junior Specialist at UC Davis Health. She is now pursuing an MD / MBA at Loyola Stritch School of Medicine (starting July 2024).
Matthew Kim
Undergraduate researcher (2020-2022)
Matthew earned his Biomedical Engineering undergraduate degree at the University of California, Davis. He became interested in Biomedical Engineering after a mentor figure, a research professor at USC, discussed their career in Immunology and grew Matthew's interest in cellular and tissue engineering. Matthew has joined the UCSF MD Class of 2028 and will utilise the engineering principles he has learned in his path towards becoming a potential oncologist.
Denise Zhong
Undergraduate researcher (2020-2022)
Denise earned a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering with a pre-med emphasis. During her free time, she enjoys making video games, playing billiards, and listening to music.
In Fall 2022, she started a Master's program in Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania.
Corinne Donnay
Junior specialist (2020-2021)
Corinne earned her B.A. in Neuroscience from Scripps College (2020) and has experience with intracranial EEG data. During her time in the FAN Lab, she used arterial spin labeling MRI to study perfusion in vascular lesions of patients with cognitive impairment.
Corinne has been professionally involved in the Public and Global Health Sector. In Fall 2021, she embarked on her PhD studies in advanced neuroimaging with applications in multiple sclerosis, through the NIH-Oxford Scholars Program.