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Current Students

Yesica Landaverde Rodriguez

IDEAS Student--Vetter Lab

Camille Reynoso Fernandez

IDEAS Student--Zelikowsky Lab

Jason Ortega

IDEAS Student--Zelikowsky Lab

Josue Cuero

IDEAS Student--Heys Lab

Chandler Peterson

IDEAS Student--Williams Lab

Cayli McEvoy

IDEAS Student--Wilcox Lab

Post-Bacc Student Activities

IDEAS students and mentors
IDEAS students and mentors at Red Butte Gardens, part of the University of Utah, in July 2024. Chandler Peterson, Camille Reynoso Fernandez, Lauren Naatz, Yesica Landaverde Rodriguez, Cayli McEvoy, and Josue Cuero
IDEAS and IM-Prep Students and Mentors
IDEAS and IM-Prep students with some of their mentors after the University of Utah Post-Baccalaureate Symposium, May 2024
student presenting research at NITG
IDEAS student Yesica Landaverde Rodriguez presenting her research at the Utah Neuroimmunology Trainee Symposium, April 2024
Jason Ortega, photo
IDEAS student, Jason Ortega, presenting his research at the Post Baccalaureate Symposium, May 2024
students in front of fall foliage
IDEAS and IM-Prep students with Dr. Keke Fairfax after hiking to Willow Heights, Big Cottonwood Canyon, October 2024
2 students in front of a poster, Skaggs Building

Program Directors

Wilcox Lab

Ryan O'Connell, PhD

Associate Chief, Division of Microbiology and Immunology

Karen Wilcox, PhD

Distinguished Professor and Chair, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Faculty Mentors

Faculty mentors for the IDEAS program are included below. Before arriving on campus, students will choose five faculty mentors they would like to rotate with. When they arrive at the University of Utah, students will attend orientation, and then complete 3 one-week mini rotations in three different labs, eventually choosing a lab to join. 

KC Brennan, MD

Professor, Neurology

Jessica Brown, PhD

Associate Professor, Pathology

Sophie Caron, PhD

Associate Professor, Biology

Clement Chow, PhD

Associate Professor, Human Genetics

Ana Beatriz DePaula-Silva, PhD

Assistant Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Richard Dorsky, PhD

Professor, Neurobiology and Anatomy

Brian Evavold, PhD

Professor and Chief, Division of Microbiology and Immunology

Jim Heys, PhD

Assistant Professor, Neurobiology and Anatomy

David Krizaj, PhD

John Frederick Carter Professor in Ophthalmology & Visual Science

Tracey Lamb, PhD

Associate Professor, Pathology

Nichole Link, PhD

Assistant Professor, Neurobiology

Ryan O'Connell, PhD

Associate Chief, Division of Microbiology and Immunology

Sungjin Park, PhD

Assistant Professor, Neurobiology and Anatomy

Stefan Pulst, MD

Professor and Chair, Neurology

June Round, PhD

Associate Professor, Pathology

Michelle Schober, MD

Associate Professor, Pediatrics

Jason Shepherd, PhD

Associate Professor, Neurobiology

Dean Tantin, PhD

Professor, Pathology

Monica Vetter, PhD

Professor and Chair, Neurobiology

Matt Wachowiak, PhD

Professor, Neurobiology

Karen Wilcox, PhD

Distinguished Professor and Chair, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Megan Williams, PhD

Associate Professor, Neurobiology and Anatomy

Moriel Zelikowsky, PhD

Assistant Professor, Neurobiology