Meet the Tewari Lab Team

As Dr. Tewari settles in to his new space at the University of Michigan, Tewari Lab 2.0 will be growing and expanding. Here are the incredible individuals that currently work in our lab.

Post-Doctoral and Research Fellows

Ryan Spengler, Ph.D.

​Ryan is a former Tewari lab post-doc who recently started as an assistant scientist at University of Wisconsin, where he plans to continue collaborating with the Tewari Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from The University of Iowa in 2013 and joined the lab in 2015. Ryan is interested in using a combination of computational and molecular techniques to study non-coding RNA biology in human biofluids. 

David Warner, M.D.

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Originally from Salt Lake City, David did his undergraduate and medical school at the University of Utah. During that time, he worked in a lab that focused on iron metabolism. He then completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Wake Forest University and is currently a fellow in hematology/oncology at the University of Michigan, joining the Tewari Lab in 2018. David's interest is in identifying biomarkers for immune related adverse events in patients receiving checkpoint inhibitors for cancer treatment. Additionally, he is interested in early prediction of cytokine release syndrome in patients receiving CAR-T therapy. He hopes to include patient care, translational research, and teaching into his career after fellowship. David also enjoys trail running, skiing, and fly fishing whenever he has a chance. 

Chris Flora, Ph.D.

Christopher joined the Tewari lab as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2018 after earning his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Toledo.  He is interested in how human consciousness (emotional state) influences the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy (e.g. CAR-T).  In addition, Christopher is exploring bioelectromagnetic fields (bioEMFs) as a possible biomarker for disease and how bioEMFs affect growth and development.

Amy Chang, M.D.

Amy joined Tewari lab in 2018. She studied preclinical models of breast and pancreatic cancers in translational labs before attending medical school. She completed medical school and internal medicine residency at the University of Washington. She is currently a fellow in hematology/oncology division at the University of Michigan. Her research interest is in exploring ways to manipulate microbiome to optimize immune checkpoint inhibitors therapy to treat cancers.

Chandan Bhambhani, Ph.D.

Chandan joined the Tewari lab as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2019 and comes with varied experiences in academia and industry.  A former University of Michigan graduate, Chandan earned his Ph.D. from the Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology department, with research focused on transcriptional regulation of Wnt signaling targets.  He then worked at Thermo Fisher Scientific for 6 years, leading various recombinant anitbody development programs (ABfinity & Superclonals). Based on his interests in next-gen sequencing, molecular genetics and translational medicine, his research in the Tewari lab is focused on developing liquid biopsies with the key projects being:
  • Evaluating circulating tumor DNA for early detection during disease manifestation and recurrence, in the context of different cancers using circulating biomarkers like KRAS and HPV.
  • Addressing fundamental questions about properties of cell free DNA and circulating tumor DNA (size, degradation, fragmentation etc.) in biofluids, mainly plasma and urine.
Chandan also enjoys playing tennis, table tennis and chess. 

Staff

Erin Sandford, Ph.D

Erin joined the lab in 2016.  She is a Research Lab Specialist in the Tewari Lab serving roles of lab manager and staff scientist. She received her B.S. in Animal Science from Michigan State University and her Ph.D. in Genetics from Iowa State University in 2011. Erin oversees our students and technicians, is in charge of specimen management, development of sample collection protocols, and assists post-docs and other staff in day-to-day lab tasks and experiments.  In her free time she enjoys being outside, playing games with family, and hanging out with her husband, their 2 cats, and 2 dogs.

Kirk Herman

Kirk is a Clinical Research Project Manager for the Tewari Lab. He received his B.S. in Healthcare Administration from Eastern Michigan University in 2011. In 2015, Kirk joined the lab to work with study design and as liaison between study participants, physicians, and principal investigators.

Alexander Johnson-Buck, Ph.D.

Alex is a research assistant professor in the Tewari lab. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Michigan in 2013 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School. Alex officially joined the lab in 2016.

​Credit to Michigan Photography for the photo

Annika Goicoc​hea

Annika joined the lab in 2016 and is a Clinical Research Health Coordinator in the Tewari Lab. She co-manages the sample collection process with Kirsten by recruiting participants and interacting with other study coordinators. She received her B.S. from Willamette University in Oregon. 

Kirsten Tuck

Kirsten is a Clinical Subjects Coordinator in the Tewari Lab. She works with Annika by managing the sample collection process, particularly on our Lynch syndrome study. This study primarily focuses on stool collection for analysis. She joined the Tewari Lab in 2017.

Brittnie Cannon

Brittnie is a Clinical Subjects Coordinator for the Tewari Lab and joined in 2019. She co-manages the sample collection process and recruits participants. She received her B.S. from the University of Michigan-Flint in Molecular Biology/Biotechnology. ​

Michelle Rozwadowski

Michelle joined the research team in October of 2019. She works as the data manager for Dr. Choi and Dr. Tewari. She received her B.S. in Neuroscience from Michigan State University in 2018, and has previous research experience in neuropharmacology and in human cognition. She hopes to one day go back to school to get a higher degree in the medical or research fields (or both). In her free time, Michelle enjoys being outdoors, playing the saxophone, and spending time with her fiancé, friends, family, and two cats.

Jenny Barabas

Jenny is a Research Lab Technician Intermediate in the Tewari Lab who joined the lab in 2018.  She transports and processes biofluid specimens collected for biomarker detection, along with updating databases and other lab tasks. Jenny received her bachelor's degree from Michigan State University in Biomedical Laboratory Science. 

Mary Olesnavich

Mary is a Research Lab Technician Intermediate who joined the lab in 2018.  She transports and processes biofluid specimens collected for biomarker detection, along with updating databases and other lab tasks. Mary received her B.A. from Swarthmore College in Biology. 

Bridgette Robinson
Bridgette is the Administrative Assistant for the Tewari Lab who joined our group in 2019.  

Students

Anna Bowie

Anna joined the lab in 2016 and is currently a graduate student in the School of Public Health studying Health Behavior Education. She works with the lab by assisting with data management for various studies, including work in pediatric bone marrow transplants. Anna is looking to continue her interests by pursuing a career in public health and program evaluation.
Don't forget to check out the Tewari Lab Alumni!