Skip to main content

Current Students (2023-2025 Cohort)

Yesica Landaverde Rodriguez

IDEAS Student--Vetter Lab

Jordan Muehlberger

IDEAS Student--Bortolato Lab

Jason Ortega

IDEAS Student--Zelikowsky Lab

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. 

Marco Bortolato, MD/PhD

Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology

KC Brennan, MD

Professor, Neurology

Jessica Brown, PhD

Associate Professor, Pathology

Sophie Caron, PhD

Associate Professor, Biology

Clement Chow, PhD

Associate Professor, Human Genetics

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

Kristen Keefe, PhD

Professor, Pharmacology and Toxicology

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