Joaquin Vega completed his undergraduate work at California Baptist University in Riverside, California. He works collaboratively with the research teams on the PHIS+ Shunt Infection Prevention and CLIMB clinical studies of children with hydrocephalus. Joaquin is interested in improving the quality of care for children with medical complexities and working with communities where healthcare resources are not readily available. He enjoys working with the diverse communities CHLA serves and hopes to assist these families by participating in the research projects in the Simon Lab.

Amberly completed both her undergraduate and master’s degree at the University of California, Irvine. She joined the Simon Lab in 2023 and works as a Clinical Research Coordinator and collaborates with the research teams for the CLIMB study of children with hydrocephalus. She assists in data collection, consenting and other related research project tasks. Amberly is interested in identifying ways to improve quality of care for children of medical complexities and how to better serve underserved communities.

Katie Whitlock (New Harmony Statistical Consulting LLC) supports Simon Lab research initiatives as its Biostatistician, Data Manager and general analytic Jack-of-all-Trades. Driven by a passion for improving patient care and medical and psychosocial outcomes through research, Whitlock has worked in academic- and hospital-based biomedical research for over a decade. Her expertise covers frequentist modeling techniques, including generalized linear mixed models, parametric and non-parametric survival techniques, and quality improvement techniques.

Dr. Hodor is responsible for the bioinformatics analysis of data from the microbiota project, as well as for progress reporting for team projects. He has a longstanding interest in deriving knowledge from data in the life sciences. His current interests are in developing computational tools based on big data technologies and the reconstruction of microbial genomes from clinical samples. Past focus areas include building scalable solutions for the storage of human genomic data and machine learning models and biomarker discovery for pharmaceutical research.

Shailly Pandey is a current fourth year medical student at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She has been working with the Simon lab for the last four years as a study lead for Aim 1 of the CLIMB study. She has worked with other members of the lab to organize, analyze, and evaluate data that aims to characterize the microbiota present in the cerebrospinal fluid of children with hydrocephalus at the time of first surgical intervention. Ms. Pandey is an aspiring internal medicine resident.

Evan Heller completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Utah, where he collaboratively supports the Simon lab with the PHIS+ Shunt Infection Prevention study. He assists in the collection of essential data elements, cleaning and verifying the integrity of collected data, and managing communications with the local institutional review board. He is currently the study lead for Aim 2.2 of the PHIS+ Shunt Infection Prevention study. His research interests include improving care for children with common and uncommon infectious diseases, as well as accelerating the translation of research to bedside practice.

Stacey Podkovik is a 6th year neurosurgery resident at Riverside University Health System who is planning on pursuing a fellowship in pediatric neurosurgery. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, followed by medical school at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. He became part of the Simon Lab in 2021 after completing his pediatric neurosurgery rotation at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He currently is a study lead for Aims 1.1 and 1.2 of the PHIS+ Shunt Infection Prevention study, where he offers a neurosurgical perspective on shunt practices and pathologies. His professional interests include pediatric brain tumors, craniofacial abnormalities, and of course, hydrocephalus (any pediatric neurosurgeon’s favorite).

Sabrina Sedano completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Riverside. She joined the Simon Lab in 2020 and worked collaboratively with the research teams on the PHIS+ Shunt Infection Prevention and CLIMB clinical studies of children with hydrocephalus. During her time in the Simon Lab, she worked closely with families participating in the research projects, oversaw data workflow and archiving, as well as assisted in grant preparation and submissions. Sabrina has recently matriculated to the UCSF School of Medicine where she will be part of the PRIME-US cohort. She is interested in helping improve the quality of care for children with medical complexities and promoting research among marginalized communities.

Jeremy Tam is an enthusiastic sophomore in high school who has shown a keen interest in scientific research. His primary focus has been on the study of hydrocephalus, particularly regarding infections in VP shunts. Jeremy's contributions have been recognized in the "Climb" study, where he played a pivotal role in the Aim Two analysis, aiding in the description of the evolution of the shunt microbiome. Jeremy began his collaborative efforts with the Simon lab in May 2023 and is now returning to school to continue his academic pursuits.