People

 

 

 

Bridget Ostrem
Principal Investigator

 

Bridget Ostrem is a pediatric neurologist and neuroscientist. She completed her M.D. and Ph.D. at UCSF in the laboratory of Arnold Kriegstein, residency in Pediatric Neurology in the Partners Neurology Program in Boston, Massachusetts, and fellowship in Women's Neurology at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Paola Arlotta at Harvard. Bridget is the recipient of an NIH-NINDS Child Neurology Career Development Program K12 award. She also takes care of babies, children, adolescents, and young adults with neurological problems in the clinic and in the hospital at UCSF. Bridget enjoys running, cooking, and spending time at Ocean Beach and in Golden Gate Park with her partner and two children. 

Janah Oclaman
Medical Student

 

 

Janah joined UCSF as a medical student in 2021 after graduating from UC Davis with a degree in Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. She is working on neuroimaging biomarkers to predict developmental outcomes in babies affected by newborn brain injury. Outside of her current medical training, she works closely with Student for Organized Medicine, San Francisco Marin Medical Society, and California Medical Association in policy advocacy. During her free time, she enjoys singing, painting, travelling, and spending time with her family. 

Emily Taketa
Medical Student

 

 

Emily Taketa is from Thousand Oaks, California. She earned a B.S. in Biology and Child Study & Human Development at Tufts University. After graduation, she conducted research with the UCSF Children’s Communication Center, as well as taught preventative hearing health lessons to local SFUSD fourth-grade classes. Her research interests include investigating health disparities and promoting accessible care for pediatric populations with neurodiversity and hearing differences.

Lena Odell
Specialist

 

 

Lena Odell graduated from Connecticut College in May 2022 with a bachelor's degree in Neuroscience. Her academic interests include behavioral neuroscience, biopsychology, immunochemistry, and psychological disorders and dysfunctions. Outside of academia, Lena enjoys spending time with her rescue dog, Elijah, reading and writing poetry, and outdoor activities with her friends and family.

Nora Jabassini
Specialist

Nora Jabassini graduated from UCLA in 2020 with a degree in Biochemistry. Since then, she has been working in neurology labs at UCSF with a focus on developmental myelination. Outside of lab she enjoys exploring the bay area on her bike and baking.

Tiffany Ho
Undergraduate

 

Tiffany Ho is an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley studying Molecular and Cell Biology with a focus on Neurobiology. She holds a deep passion for research and hopes to pursue graduate and medical degrees in neuroscience and neurology. Outside of school, Tiffany enjoys singing, piano, volleyball, weight lifting, hiking, and exploring the Bay Are

 

 

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 the laboratories of Drs. Stephen Fancy, Jonah Chan, Ari Green, and Bridget Ostrem. 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.


 

 

The Ostrem laboratory is part of the Neuroprotection and Myelin Repair lab group, pictured above from bottom left: Sonia Nocera, Lahin Lalani, Wendy Xin, Sarah Raissi, Monique Lillis; top left: Bridget Ostrem, Jonah Chan, Lena Odell, Albert Zhang, Nora Jabassini.