Our Team

 
 

Giancarlo Valiente, M.D., Ph.D.

Founder and President

Giancarlo is an internal medicine resident at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He completed his MD/PhD training at the Medical Scientist Training Program of The Ohio State University. He was born in southern California and raised by his mother. Before his medical and graduate training, Giancarlo attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). As an undergraduate, Giancarlo was fascinated by immunology and it is no surprise that he worked in Drs. Ronald Falk and Gowthami Arepally laboratories at UNC and Duke University, respectively. He found his clinical passion early in life after an extended preceptorship under premier rheumatologist, Dr. William (Bill) St. Clair. Giancarlo's long term goals are to be a rheumatologist immunologist and to continue to develop and innovate ways to improve the black physician scientist pipeline. Giancarlo always enjoys building upon his musicianship. Since middle school he has learned to play drums, guitar, bass, piano and mix music as a DJ. Most recently, he is focused on mastering the signature bass sound of Motown.
 
 

Tiffany King, M.D., Ph.D.

Vice President and Interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Tiffany is a pediatrics resident at Baylor College of Medicine. She completed her MD/PhD training in the Medical Scientist Training Program at The Ohio State University. She is from Charlotte, NC and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) where she received a B.S. in Mathematics and B.A. in Chemistry. Tiffany was always drawn to the field of medicine, but became interested in proteins and their role in disease mechanisms through research experiences as an undergraduate. Tiffany  completed her dissertation work, where she studied the role of the attachment glycoprotein of respiratory syncytial virus at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in downtown Columbus. In the future, she hopes to be a well-funded pediatric-scientist who mentors and advocates for her students and patients. Tiffany was awarded The NIH F31 Pre-doctoral Fellowship from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to fund her PhD work. Tiffany is a proud North Carolina native who enjoys fitness and following her favorite sports teams.
 
 

Shane Scott, M.S.

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

Shane Scott, B.S., M.S. is a fourth year MD/PhD trainee in the Medical Scientist Training Program at The Ohio State University. He received his M.S. degree in the Medical Sciences from Boston University School of Medicine and B.S. degrees in Biochemistry and Chemistry from Brandeis University. As an undergraduate, he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Jason Pontrello, PhD, developing biopolymers for treatment HIV/AIDS, and his postbaccalaureate training at the National Institutes of Health under Dr. Barry B. Kaplan, PhD and Dr. Susan Amara, PhD. He recently completed his second year of medical school and is currently studying for USMLE STEP 1. He enjoys drinking tea, intramural and recreational sports, photography, writing poetry and listening to jazz by the fireplace.
 
 

Jude Tunyi

Chief Information Officer (CIO) and interim Secretary of the Board

Jude is a 3rd year MD-DPhil trainee at The Ohio State College of Medicine and NIH Oxford-Cambridge Program (NIH OxCam). He received his B.S. degree in Biochemistry with a minor in Chemistry from the University of Washington-Seattle. He then trained as a postbaccalaureate at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. He worked the labs of Dr. Richard Pastor, PhD and Dr. Alan Remaley, MD/PhD, computationally designing protein mimetics for HDL (the good cholesterol) and then testing these mimetics in experiments. He then completed a Fulbright in Tampere, Finland where he studied as part of a Master’s in Biotechnology with a specialization in Bioinformatics. He will be joining the labs of Dr. Bruno Averbeck, NIH and Dr. Nils Kolling, Oxford to study dopamine pathways in reinforcement learning. In his free time, Jude enjoys playing sports, cooking new recipes and participating in trivia.
 
 

Aaron Thomas

Director of Administration

Aaron serves as the Program Coordinator of the ASPIRE Medical Research Experience in the College of Medicine Office for Diversity and Inclusion at The Ohio State University. His work allows him to support and champion the educational, professional, and interpersonal well-being of historically excluded populations. He is a champion of integrating Anti-racist frame work in every aspect of his work as a key tool to diminishing the effect of White supremacy throughout our institutions. He also serves in several community and bridge-building capacities around campus and Greater Columbus. In his free time he enjoys volunteering at Kaleidoscope Youth Center, creative writing, all things music, art, and cooking.
 
 

Sylvia Edoigiawerie

Director of Outreach

Sylvia Edoigiawerie is a 4th-year MD/PhD trainee at the University of Chicago. She received her B.S. degree in Biological Sciences with a minor in Biomathematics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 
As an undergraduate and a Meyerhoff Scholar, she was always interested in research. She was later drawn to translational neuroscience through her summer research experiences studying the underlying mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases at both the Life Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Program and the UM-SMART program. Currently, she is a graduate student in the Van Drongelen lab at UofC. Her project leverages signal processing and machine learning to develop algorithms for monitoring the brain activity of critically ill newborns. In addition to lab work, she enjoys painting, short-distance running, memes, and kettlebell workouts.
 
 

Melissa Bonner

Undergraduate Liason

Melissa Bonner is a 4th year MD/PhD trainee at Case Western Reserve University’s Medical Scientist Training Program. She was born and raised on the southside of Chicago where she developed a strong interest in becoming an oncologist and treating those afflicted with cancer. In 2016, Melissa graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience and minors in Health Care Studies and Forensics and Criminality. During her years at USC and gap years after, she also become interested in studying cancer from a scientific perspective. She now studies the role of calcium signaling in tumor-associated macrophage polarization under the guidance of her PI, Dr. Alex Huang. In the future, Melissa hopes to continue her fight against cancer, as a physician, scientist, and patient advocate. Melissa has two twin cats named Tia and Tamara whom she spoils. Additionally, she plays dodgeball competitively, keeps up with all things true crime, and frequents concerts and music festivals.