Hi! My name is Hannah and I’m a scientist, (former) startup founder, and writer. Working at the intersection of AI and science, I focus on systems biology approaches for understanding the human body to improve health and disease. Currently, I am a Member of Technical Staff at Axiom Biosciences and lead data strategy there.
Outside of science, writing is my favorite thing to do. I write science fiction and contemporary novels that explore people trying their best to navigate complex relationships and imperfect value systems. I was recently selected for and am currently in Clarion West’s Novel Writing Workshop. Occasionally, I also blog, which can be found here.
I think timelines are a good way to get the sense of who someone is. You can find a few key events that shaped who I am today and how I got here below:
2025 – Started at Axiom. Hired to lead data strategy. Super exciting AI platform focused on predicting therapeutic toxicity without the need for animal models. I truly think this company could change not only how drugs are made, but how research is conducted at its very core.
2020/1 – Became co-founder and CEO of Interface Biosciences. We were a drug discovery engine focused on mining microbial derived metabolites as drug scaffolds to treat inflammatory disease. We started this during my last year of graduate school and ran for 5.5 years before winding down. One of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
2021 – Graduated from Stanford with my PhD in Bioengineering. I worked in Justin Sonnenburg’s lab and published a pretty cool Cell paper about how fermented foods improve the microbiome and decrease inflammation. It’s been cited 1,000+ times and was featured by the New York Times.
2017 – Graduated summa cum laude from University of Delaware with a B.S. in biochemistry. Really learned the foundations of science and research here. Worked in Catherine Grimes lab focused on protein-protein interactions.
2013 – Graduated from high school. Won best in category in Cellular and Molecular sciences at Intel ISEF (international science fair) and was invited to the Nobel Prizes. Attended the Nobel Prizes and it completely changed my life.
2011 – Started volunteering at the Penn State Medical Center because it was close to my house and my mom thought it would look good on my college application. Brewed a lot of coffee and washed a lot of dishes before asking to work on a research project of my own. Looking back, it’s mind blowing they let a high schooler run her own project with so many western blots unsupervised.
1995 – Born in Jiangxi province in China. Adopted and brought to America. Grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. Was very into dragons, dinosaurs, and sharks. Parents are Polish/Ukrainian and I grew up eating a lot of sausage.
Thank you for visiting! Feel free to get in touch through any of the links on the contact page.