People | Jonah Chan Lab @ UCSF

Chan and Ostrem Labs: L-R: Sonia Nocera, Lahin Lalani, Wendy Xin, Sarah Raissi, Monique Lillis, Nora Jabassini Top row: Bridget Ostrem, Jonah Chan, Lena Odell, Albert Zhang

Jonah Chan

principal investigator

Jonah received his BS in Biochemistry and a PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University with Professor Eric Shooter. Jonah is currently the Debbie and Andy Rachleff Distinguished Professor of Neurology. Jonah is a member of the Program in Neuroscience, the Biomedical Sciences Program, is Vice Chief in the Division of Neuroimmunology and Glial Biology, and Co-Director for the Innovation Program for Remyelination and Repair at UCSF.

Trung Huynh

lab manager

Trung received his BS in Microbiology from UC Davis in 2001. He joined Dr. Samuel Pleasure's lab at UCSF in 2007 as a lab manager and has since expanded to managing Dr. Stephen Fancy's lab in 2013 and Dr. Jonah Chan's lab in 2017. Over the course of time in the Pleasure lab he has worked with graduate students and post-docs on various projects focusing on forebrain development. Currently, he is part of a collaborative effort to identify novel auto-antibodies that contribute in non-infectious autoimmune encephalitis within the UCSF Center for Next-Gen Precision Medicine Diagnostics. He has previously been a lab manager for Dr. Noelle L'toile and Hwai-Jong Cheng labs at the Center for Neuroscience, UC Davis and as an EH&S technician at UNLV.

Sarah Raissi

postdoc

Sarah received her BS in Neuroscience from Brandeis University, where she studied hippocampal synapse development in the lab of Dr. Suzanne Paradis. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from Harvard University, investigating chemotherapy-induced degeneration of peripheral sensory neurons in the lab of Dr. Rosalind Segal. Sarah joined the Chan lab in January 2017 and is interested in cell-cell interactions that regulate oligodendrocyte maturation and myelination.

Wendy Xin

postdoc

Wendy received her BSc from the University of Toronto and her PhD in Neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she studied functional astrocyte and oligodendrocyte heterogeneity in the adult brain. Wendy joined the Chan lab in March 2019 with plans to study how myelination shapes circuit development and function. Besides science, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and sleeping.

Monique Lillis

graduate student

Monique is a graduate student in the Neuroscience Program and joined the Chan lab in 2020. She received her BA in Neuroscience at Bowdoin College. Upon graduating she worked as a research assistant in Max Heiman’s lab at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard University studying protein localization in neurons. Monique is interested in cell-cell interactions during early development and is planning to study how Schwann cells interact with neurons. Outside of lab Monique likes to try new recipes, sing, and go hiking!

Albert Zhang

postdoc

Albert graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Biology. He then received his PhD in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University, where he studied glial development in C. elegans with Dr. Dong Yan. Albert joined the Chan lab in 2021 and is interested in how myelination patterns are formed in the nervous system. Outside of the lab, Albert enjoys cooking and fishing.

Sonia Nocera

postdoc

Sonia received her MSc in Neurobiology from Pisa University and her PhD from the School of Medicine at Castilla-La Mancha University. During her Phd she studied the role of Sonic Hedgehog during myelination and remyelination. She loves meeting new people, traveling, diving, and cooking.

Lahin Lalani

graduate student

Lahin is a graduate student in the Neuroscience Program and joined the Chan lab as a co-mentorship with Mazen Kheirbek in 2022. She received her B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan in 2019. After graduating, she worked as a research assistant for the Animal Behavior and Physiology Core at Boston Children's Hospital, directed by Dr. Mustafa Sahin and Dr. Alexander Rotenberg, studying autism and epilepsy disorders and testing novel pharmacological interventions. For her graduate work, she is interested in studying the effect stress has on myelination. Outside of the lab, Lahin likes hiking, baking, and watching lots of reality TV!

Irvin Bhangal

research assistant

Irvin joined the Chan and Kheirbek labs as a junior specialist in 2022. She graduated from UC Davis in 2022 with a BA in Psychology. During her time at UC Davis, Irvin worked as a research assistant in the lab of Dr. Brian Trainor investigating the effect of stress on the activation of neurons in mice in the ventral hippocampus. She plans on attending graduate school for her Ph.D. in the coming years. Outside of the lab, Irvin enjoys watching The Office on repeat, going to the gym, and baking.

Eric Garcia

graduate student

Eric is a graduate student in the neuroscience program and joined the Chan lab in 2024. He graduated from Pomona College in 2021 with a BA in neuroscience. Upon graduation, he was a postbac student through Harvard’s PiNBAC program in Beth Stevens’ lab at the Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard where he studied glia-immune mechanisms of remyelination. Eric is excited about glia and brain-border biology and intends to explore these topics during his PhD. Outside of the lab, Eric enjoys dancing, going to farmers markets, and spending time outdoors.

Jun Yup Lee

postdoc

Jun graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science, majoring in Neuroscience and Biochemistry, and earned his PhD in the lab of Prof. Anthony Don at the University of Sydney. There, he studied neurodegenerative diseases and the ageing brain by leveraging mass spectrometry-based omics, with a particular focus on lipid biochemistry. In March of 2025, Jun moved to San Francisco to join the Chan lab, with intentions to study glial lipid metabolism and its interaction with myelin membrane dynamics. Besides science, Jun enjoys playing the guitar, listening to music, and reading.

Ari Green

collaborating principal investigator for clinical trials

Ari Green, MD, MCR is a Professor of Neurology and Ophthalmology at UCSF. He received his MD from Duke University during which time he spent 2 years as a Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellow. He completed medical internship and Neurology residency followed by fellowship training in Neuroimmunology and Neuroophthalmology at UCSF before joining the faculty. Dr. Green was awarded the first AAN/NMSS Early Career Award and an NIH sponsored K award from the UCSF Clinical-Translational Science Institute. He received an early career award from HHMI and was named a National MS Society Harry Weaver Neuroscience Scholar. He currently holds the title of Debbie and Andy Rachleff Distinguished Professor in Neurology.

Bridget Ostrem

collaborating principal investigator

Bridget Ostrem, MD, PhD, is a Pediatric Neurologist with expertise in Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Neurology. She completed the Medical Scientist Training Program at UCSF in the laboratory of Dr. Arnold Kriegstein, followed by residency in Pediatric Neurology in the Mass General Brigham Program in Boston, Massachusetts, and clinical fellowship in Women's Neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Paola Arlotta at Harvard. Bridget's research focuses on developing novel strategies for neuroprotection and repair in the fetal and neonatal brain, and understanding how maternal factors impact brain development.

Stephen Fancy

collaborating principal investigator

Stephen P.J. Fancy, D.V.M., Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology at UCSF. He was trained in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and held a Postdoctoral fellowship in Pediatrics at UCSF. His research focuses on a variety of human white matter diseases including MS and newborn brain injuries (Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy and Periventricular Leukomalacia) that cause cerebral palsy and cognitive disabilities.

Riley Bove

collaborating principal investigator

Dr. Bove graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College, with a summa cum laude within Anthropology. She then took several years to travel the world on a Fulbright grant, learning from patients and families through ethnographic and film work. She returned to Harvard, where she obtained her MD, then completed her residency in the combined Massachusetts General Hospital - Brigham and Women’s Hospital Partners Neurology program, and her clinical research fellowship at the Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center. She obtained a Masters Degree through Harvard Medical School’s Clinical Investigator Training Program and has received research support from the National Institutes of Health and the National MS Society, among others. Dr. Bove joined the UCSF Faculty. Her research interests lie in seeking new strategies and targets to promote neurological recovery, including through emerging technologies and hormonal modulation. In her clinic, she is dedicated to providing comprehensive care for women (including during childbearing and menopause) and men with MS.

Edward Wahyu

financial analyst

Edward Wahyu received his BS in Finance from California State University, Los Angeles. He received his MS in Finance from Woodbury University in Burbank. Edward started working at University of California, San Francisco in 2005. He is the post-award analyst for the Department of Neurology. He is an honorary member of the Chan lab and supports all administrative and financial issues. In his free time he enjoys traveling around the world!

Innovation Program for Remyelination and Repair

Faculty in Program: Stephen Fancy, Jonah Chan, Ari Green and Riley Bove

We are a committed group of scientists and clinicians that are passionate about contributing to MS patients. It is our collaborative spirit and innovative approach that place us in a unique position to carry forward over vision for remyelination and repair. It is our hope to restore function and protect axons from degeneration--improving the quality of life for all MS patients--and beyond.

Former Lab Members

Benjamin K. Ng, PhD

2005-2007, postdoc

Carl Zeiss Microimaging, Inc

Sheila S. Rosenberg, PhD

2005-2010, graduate student

senior data scientist, ChromaCode

Eve E. Kelland, PhD

2006-2008, postdoc

associate professor, University of Plymouth

Asia R. De La Torre, MD

2007-2009, research assistant

physician, Los Angeles

Kathryn A. Lewallen, PhD

2007-2009, research assistant

postdoc, University of Michigan

Eleonora Tokar, MD

2007-2008, research assistant

physician, Los Angeles

SY Christin Chong, PhD

2008-2011, graduate student

principal, Chong Consulting

Bridget E. Ostrem, MD, PhD

2009-2009, research assistant

assistant professor, UCSF

Angela T. Hahn, PhD

2009-2012, postdoc

teacher, Morristown-Beard School

Seonok Lee, PhD

2011-2013, postdoc

associate director, Neurona Therapeutics

Aya Abounasr, MD

2013-2014, clinical coordinator

clinical instructor, Stanford University

Feng Mei, MD, PhD

2013-2016, postdoc

professor, Third Military Medical University, China

Ainhoa Echeverria, PhD

2010-2016, postdoc

senior scientific researcher, Genentech

Stephanie Redmond, PhD

2010-2016, graduate student

senior data scientist, Insitro

Yun-An Shen, MS

2008-2017, lab manager

senior scientific manager, Genentech

Kelsey Rankin, BS

2016-2019, resesarch assistant

resident, UCSF

Simon Pan, PhD

2016-2020, MSTP graduate student

resident, UCSF

Sonia Mayoral, PhD

2012-2021, postdoc

assistant professor, Brown University

Lindsay Osso, PhD

2014-2021, graduate student

postdoc, University of Colorado

Kae-Jiun Chang, PhD

2014-2022, postdoc

assistant professor, University of Texas, Medical Branch, Galveston

Maggie Yeung, PhD

2018-2022, postdoc

scientist, BioArctic

Nora Jabassini, BS

2022-2024, research assistant

MSTP student, UCSD