Dr. Affandi received her BS degree in Chemistry from the University of Michigan-Flint and her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Arizona. She was promoted to Research Associate in the Department of Craniofacial Biology in 2023. Her PhD research focused on characterizing the structure and function of a histidine kinase in Escherichia coli, to determine its role in metal resistance. She started her postdoctoral training with Dr. Mary Reyland at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in 2017.  The goal of the Reyland lab is to understand molecular mechanisms of salivary gland damage with the goal of developing new targets for radioprotection for head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. Dr. Affandi was awarded a T32 cancer biology postdoctoral fellowship in 2018, followed by a F32 fellowship in 2019 from the NIDCR.

Abi Mumme-Monheit, PhD Candidate, Department of Craniofacial Biology. She attended Haverford College where she obtained her Bachelors of Science in Biology in 2020. During this time she performed research in the laboratories of Dr. Jay Lunden and Dr. David Higgins, where she studied the temperature sensitivity in sea anemones, and meiotic drive in maize respectively. She also worked as a research assistant with Dr. Laurie Ozelius at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she studied genetic causes of dystonia. In 2020 she began her PhD at the University of Colorado, and in 2021 she joined the lab of Dr. James Nichols in the Department of Craniofacial Biology. In 2022 she was awarded the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship to support her research. Her current research investigates the mechanisms underlying incomplete penetrance of MEF2C Haploinsufficiency Syndrome. She also investigates the relationship between severity and variation in craniofacial disease.

Tanya Russell, PhD, serves as Curriculum Manager at the Center for Advanced Professional Excellence (CAPE). Her background as a former research scientist enriches her role, overseeing daily curriculum and research activities, leading the CAPE curriculum team, and integrating simulation into healthcare education. Dr. Russell is passionate about addressing health disparities and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in healthcare education. In her prior role as Simulation Education Project Coordinator, she effectively collaborated with faculty to enhance curricula and align CAPE services with evolving healthcare education, emphasizing DEI initiatives. She remains dedicated to advancing educational outcomes and addressing healthcare equity challenges through simulation.

Dr. Tamanna Tiwari is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community Dentistry and Population Health at the School of Dental Medicine and the Associate Director of the Center for Oral Disease Prevention and Population Health Research (COPPR) at the School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Tiwari is a researcher interested in behavioral health, health inequities, the integration of medical and dental care, and health informatics, and she has extensively published her work in this area.

Dr. Kristin Watt joined the Department of Craniofacial Biology as an Assistant Professor in October 2023. She graduated from Iowa State University with a BS in Genetics and worked in the lab of Dr. Jeff Essner where she was introduced to zebrafish research. She then attended the University of Kansas Medical Center for graduate school where she joined the lab of Dr. Paul Trainor. Her graduate work establishing zebrafish models for Treacher Collins syndrome and Acrofacial Dysostosis, Cincinnati type was supported by an F31 fellowship from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. In her postdoctoral work, Dr. Watt continued to investigate zebrafish and mouse models for craniofacial anomalies in the Trainor lab, with an emphasis on syndromes associated with RNA Polymerases I and III. In 2021, Dr. Watt was awarded a K99 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to support her research on RNA Polymerase III in neural crest cell development. Her current research interests include understanding craniofacial birth defects, RNA and neural crest cell biology, and precision medicine.