Fellows

Ya-Ju Chang is a basic science researcher investigating the cellular and molecular biology mechanism related to pathological progression of cardiovascular diseases. She received her doctoral degree in Basic Medical Science from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and participated in study of mechanistic mining in endothelial dysfunction resulting in vascular neointima formation. During the last two years of her PhD program, she was a Visiting Scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Shu Chien at UC San Diego and contributed to the discovery of functional extracellular small noncoding RNAs involved in atherosclerotic progression. Ya-Ju will work on Basic Science Project with Dr. Dorothy Sears and characterize novel biomarkers associated with sedentary behavior (SB), including small noncoding RNAs, metabolites, and DNA methylation, in plasma and whole blood samples from Clinical Project. Her main interest is identifying SB-related molecular transducers through which sitting time increases cardiovascular disease risk. Mechanistic studies will be conducted with microRNA candidate modulators of sitting time in vascular cells.

Email: ychang@ucsd.edu

Michelle Takemoto graduated from UCSD in 2007 with a bachelor degree in both Cognitive Science and Psychology. She worked at the UCSD Stein Institute for Research on Aging with Dr. Dilip Jeste for a little over 6 years before joining the JDP for Public Health. Through the program, she works with Dr. Jacqueline Kerr and her main research interest involves promoting successful aging in the older adult population through increased preventive health including increasing physical activity and decreasing sedentary behavior.

Phone: 858-822-5423

Email: mblack@ucsd.edu