Team OncoBites

Here at OncoBites, a team of cancer professionals and advocates has gathered to share cutting-edge research with a non-specialist audience.

Manisit Das, PhD, ISMPP CMPP™ (Co-Founder; Co-Manager, Fall 2022)

Manisit is a medical communications professional with a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. He completed his doctoral dissertation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in gastrointestinal oncology therapeutic development, in 2020. He is currently a Medical Communications Manager within Global Medical Affairs at United Therapeutics Corporation. He has previously served as a Senior Medical Writer in a medical communications agency, supporting biopharmaceutical organizations with publication development, publication planning, and other medical communications initiatives. He has been actively involved with the International Society of Medical Publications Professionals (ISMPP) and presented his research on inclusive language in biomedical publishing at the ISMPP Annual Meeting in 2022. Manisit has been an ISMPP certified medical publications professional™ since 2022.

Manisit grew up in West Bengal, India, and moved to the US in 2015. He takes an active interest in hiking and nature photography. He has hiked in all 41 NC State Parks and one day hopes to visit all the US National Parks. He also loves to try new food and experiment in the kitchen.

Find him on Mastodon

Sara Musetti, PhD (Co-Founder)

Sara is an alumna of Wellesley College, Class of 2015, where she studied Biological Chemistry and reveled in being surrounded by strong, brilliant women out to change the world. She grew up in rural Pennsylvania and dreamed of studying science to help bring cures and relief to suffering patients. This dream brought Sara to UNC Chapel Hill and the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, where she worked under Dr. Leaf Huang developing cancer nanovaccines and targeted immunotherapies in pursuit of her Ph.D. She is passionate about science communication and education; her fondest memories of Wellesley include leading Supplemental Instruction in Chemistry. Sara hopes that OncoBites can help people stay informed about current research and encourage young people to see themselves in careers in science. Currently, she is a Medical Writer in Publications at RTI Health Solutions.

Kate Secombe, PhD (Co-Manager, Fall 2022)

Kate is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute (Australia), researching the impact of the gut microbiota on the development of type 1 diabetes. Prior to this role, Kate completed her PhD in the Cancer Treatment Toxicities Group at the University of Adelaide, focused on understanding how the gut microbiota affects chemotherapy-induced gastrointestinal injury. Her research interests lie in understanding immune-microbiota interactions, and understanding how we can use these interactions to develop personalised care, whether that be during cancer treatment, or in lifelong autoimmune diseases. Kate has a background in science communication, and was selected to compete in the worldwide final of Falling Walls Lab in Berlin in 2019.

Core Contributors, Fall and Summer 2022:

1. Colette Bilynsky (PhD student at Carnegie Mellon University, US)
2. Maryann Elizabeth Bowyer (Pharmacy Student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
3. Emily Chan (Biophysics PhD Candidate at Ohio State, US)
4. Rachel Cherney (PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US)
5. Nayela Chowdhury (PhD Candidate at Indiana University School of Medicine, US)
6. Sneha Das (PhD candidate in Microbiology at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, US)
7. Gabrielle Dardis (PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US)
8. Aya Elmeligy (Master student in Molecule Medicine at the University of East Anglia, UK)
9. Susan Egbert, PharmD (Graduate Student at University of Manitoba, Canada)
10. Shreyas Gaikwad (PhD candidate at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, US)
11. Bhavuk Garg, PhD (Postdoctoral Researcher, Cleveland Clinic, US)
12. Pratyusha Ghanta (Doctoral Student at Kent State University, US)
13. Indiwari Gopallawa, PhD (Senior Scientist, Pharmacology at AstraZeneca, US)
14. Hema Saranya Ilamathi, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow at University Quebec Tois-Rivieres, Canada)
15. Deepika Jayaprakash (PhD Candidate at Adam’s School of Dentistry, UNC, US)
16. Prathyusha Konda, PhD (Postdoc at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute & Harvard Medical School, US)
17. Deanna MacNeil, PhD (Assistant Science Editor at The Scientist, Canada)
18. Megan Majocha (Predoctoral fellow at National Cancer Institute [NCI], US)
19. Michael Marand (Researcher at MIT Chemical Engineering, US)
20. Aishat Motolani (PhD Candidate, Indiana University, US)
21. Christina Niavi (PhD candidate & Laney fellow, Immunology and Molecular Pathogenesis at Emory University, US)
22. Namrata Nilavar, PhD (Postdoctoral fellow at Medical College of Wisconsin, US)
23. Ana Isabel Castillo Orozco (PhD Student in Human Genetics at McGill University, Canada)
24. Ifeoluwa Oyelade (Programs and Projects at Haim Health Initiative, Nigeria)
25. Melanie Padalino (Chemistry PhD Student at Vanderbilt University, US)
26. Felicites Rapon (Masters student in Pharmacy, France)
27. Ryan Ripsman (Masters student in Pharmacology at University of Toronto, Canada)
28. Maha Said, PhD (Gustave Roussy, France
29. Sydney Scatigno (Client Manager at Charles River Laboratories, US)
30. Patty Spears (Patient Research Advocate and Scientific Research Manager, Office of Clinical and Translational Research, UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center)
31. Vicky Tan (PhD Candidate, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia)
32. Anthony (Tony) Tao (MD/PhD Candidate at New York University School of Medicine)
33. Sushma Teegala, PhD (Lecturer, Queensborough Community College, US)
34. Payal Yokota, PhD (Postdoctoral Fellow at NYU Langone Health)
35. Hannah Young (PhD Graduate Student at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, US)
36. Daniel Zhong (Accelerated Research Scholar and Honors student attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Past Contributors:

1. Karel Alcedo, PhD (Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School)
2. Darshak Bhatt (PhD Student at University Medical Center Groningen)
3. Larissa Biggers (Senior Communications Specialist at Duke University Health System)
4. Anna Salamero Boix (PhD Student, Georg-Speyer-Haus. Institute for Tumor Biology and Experimental Therapy, German)
5. Emily Bonacquisti (PhD Candidate at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
6. Gabby Budziszewski, PhD (UNC Chapel Hill, US)
7. Alejandra Canales (PhD Candidate, UW-Madison)
8. Ariana Cardillo (PhD Candidate at Purdue University)
9. Chamath Chandrasekera, PhD (Research Scientist II at GenScript)
10. Emily Costa (PhD Candidate, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, US)
11. Leandro de Lima Coutinho (Graduate Student, Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo)
12. Tushar Date, PhD (Senior Business Analyst at AdametNext)
13. Jessica Desamero (Researcher, PhD Candidate at City University of New York, US)
14. Varshit Dusad (MRes student, Systems and Synthetic Biology, Imperial College London)
15. Mahrukh Fatima (Honours Biochemistry Student, McMaster University, Canada)
16. Kaitlyn Felsheim (Senior Account Executive at Spectrum Science) 
17. Aileen Fernandez, PhD (Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University)
18. Tara Fernandez, PhD (Science Communicator, Abcellera)
19. Kate Gavaghan (Writer, Web Publisher, and Research & Policy Analyst)
20. Josh Ghofrani (PhD Candidate, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences)
21. Shaye Hagler, PhD (Science Communicator)
22. Emily B Harrison, PhD (Post-doctoral Research Associate, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
23. Taylor Johnson (Doctoral Student, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University)
24. Garima Khanna (Master Student, Université de Paris)
25. Yitong Li, PhD (Consultant at IQVIA)
26. Brittany Avin McKelvey, PhD (Science Policy Analyst at Friends of Cancer Research)
27. Morgan McSweeney, PhD (Scientist Immunology & Pharmaceutical Sciences)
28. Zina McSweeney, DO (Pediatric Resident)
29. Clare Meernik (PhD Candidate in Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health)
30. Snehal Midge, PhD (Pharmacovigilance Submissions Specialist at ProPharma Group)
31. Suchitra Mitra, PhD (Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins Medicine) 
32. Diana Moreira (PhD Researcher at Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto)
33. Christina Parker, PhD (Postdoctoral Scientist at Eli Lilly)
34. Natalie Patzlaff, PhD (Associate Scientific Publications Manager, Global Medical Affairs at United Therapeutics Corporation) 
35. Taylor Poston, PhD, MPH (Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
36. Kedar Puvar, PhD (Research Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute)
37. Sohini Basu Roy, PhD (Subject Matter Expert, Jove, India)
38. Keighley Reisenauer, PhD (Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Baylor University, US)
39. Bekah Schulz, PhD (Senior Regulatory Affairs Associate at Parexel)
40. Ananya Sen, PhD (Science Writer at Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology)
41. Nisitha Sengottuvel (MD-PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
42. Research Engineering and Applied Collaborations in Healthcare (REACH) Lab (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)
43. Beth Rogoyski, PhD (Senior Lecturer at De Montfort University)
44. Kayla Snare (Undergraduate Researcher, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US
45. Christina Snyder (PhD Candidate, Cancer Biology, Wake Forest University)
46. Sabarish Srinivasan (Student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
47. Swetha Srinivasan (PhD Candidate at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
48. Aishwarya Subramanian (Senior Research Associate at Magenta Therapeutics)
49. Zoey Tang, PhD (Clinical Pharmacometrician, AstraZeneca)
50. Jason A Tetro (Visiting Scientist, College of Biological Science, University of Guelph)
51. Natasha Vinod, PhD (Visiting Fellow, National Cancer Institute)
52. Tamara Vital (PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
53. Chris Wang, PharmD (PGY1 Pharmacy Resident at MD Anderson Cancer Center)
54. Elizabeth Wayne, PhD (Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University)
55. Alex Woodell (PhD Candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)