Tom Hays, MD, PhD
Tom completed his MD, PhD, and pediatric residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He completed his neonatology fellowship at Columbia University, where is now an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University.
Summer and postbac training fellowships at the NIH were instrumental to his early interest in biology and medicine. He lives in Westchester, New York with his wife, Naomi, a clinical psychologist, and their children, Ella and Matan.
His hobbies include hiking, wristwatch collecting, and training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Aashna Baerjee
Aashna is currently a Junior at Middlebury College, where she has declared her major to be Molecular Biology and her minor to be Global Health, while concurrently pursuing a premed track. At Middlebury she is involved in student government and MiddSafe: an abuse prevention hotline service for students. She is interested in genomic neonatology and women's health research.
Students
Coordinator
Miles Bomback, MPH
Miles graduated Northwestern University in 2022 with a BA in Neuroscience, and obtained his MPH from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. His career goal is to study the role genetic disorders play in health outcomes for vulnerable populations. He is currently a medical student at Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University.
Lindsey Burnham
Lindsey is a current senior at Middlebury College, majoring in biochemistry and statistics. She plans to become a physician-scientist and is interested in pediatrics, particularly how early-life development shapes health outcomes. Lindsey is the captain of the varsity women's squash team at Middlebury. She also loves to run, mountain bike, gravel bike, and root for the Eagles (Go Birds!).
Helen Field, MPH
Helen graduated with a BA in Mathematics from the University of Vermont in 2021. She went on to obtain her MPH at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. There, she developed an interest in using research to understand how the social determinants of health impact disease in adolescents. As a gymnastics coach, she fosters inclusive environments where youth can engage in physical activity. While pursuing a career in medicine, she aims to integrate this background in biomedical research into clinical decision-making in pediatrics.
Alice Kris, BS
Alice is a recent graduate of the prestigious Mount Holyoke College with a bachelor's in Biology and a minor in Chemistry on a Pre-Med track.
Sammy Pickell, BS
Sammy graduated from Stanford University in 2022 with a BS, where she was also a varsity student-athlete on the sailing team. She is currently a medical student at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. She has a clinical interest in pediatrics and is drawn to pediatric research for its potential to improve early-life health and long-term outcomes. At Columbia, Sammy is involved in teaching and harm reduction initiatives, and outside of medicine she enjoys spending time in the mountains or on the ocean!
Chris Cinkus-Rios, BS
Chris graduated from Columbia University in 2024 with a double major in Biology and Ethnicity and Race Studies. During his time at Columbia, he served as a board member for several BIPOC, FLI, and pre-med organizations and was heavily involved in both clinical and wet lab research at various medical institutions. Since graduating, he has been working as a clinical research coordinator for the Columbia University Medical Center's Neonatology and Pediatric Allergy and Immunology departments. He aspires to take this combined experience and passion for the hard and social sciences with him to medical school in the hopes of ultimately bridging the gap between healthcare organizations and marginalized communities.
Eric Kalimi
Emily Zhao
Selin Everett
Collaborators
Former Lab Members
Alex Lyford, PhD
Alex is an Associate Professor of Statistics at Middlebury College. He received a Ph.D. in Statistics in 2017 from the University of Georgia. Alex’s research focuses on machine learning, eye tracking data, and text analysis, with applications to healthcare data and statistics education. Alex teaches a variety of statistics and data science courses, but his favorite is The Mathematics of Board Games.