Mentorship Philosophy
To me, an ideal mentor is someone who’s walked a version of the path I hope to take, and seen enough of it to help me navigate the parts that aren’t obvious. Someone who can point out challenges before they trip you up, highlight opportunities you might overlook, and believe in what you can become—even before you fully see it yourself.
It’s not always easy to find such mentors, but I’ve been fortunate to learn from people who came close. Their support shaped my values, and it’s the kind of mentorship I now strive to offer in return.
I’ve worked across six labs on three continents—from small teams to large, interdisciplinary groups. Navigating language barriers, cultural gaps, and the challenges of being a minority taught me that no two people enter science with the same background, confidence, or needs. Effective mentorship must reflect this diversity.
That’s why I don’t believe mentorship is one-size-fits-all. Every mentee brings their own aspirations, temperament, and learning style, while each mentor brings their own philosophy, strengths, and blind spots. When the fit is right, the experience can be transformative.
To continually improve, I’ve grounded my approach in Sarabipour et al. (2023), which outlines mentorship traits that trainees find most impactful. I’ve adopted these—genuine support, intellectual trust, structured guidance, respect for personal identity, and proactive career development—as benchmarks. I’ve developed a feedback survey to align my mentorship with what trainees actually need. In my lab, mentorship isn’t something I deliver; it’s something we build together.
At its core, mentorship in my team means helping trainees become independent thinkers: confident, generous, and thoughtful in how they grow with others. I work toward this by shaping environments where critical thinking, mutual respect, and personal growth are not just encouraged, but expected and supported. Who we become is shaped not only by our traits and aspirations, but by the spaces that challenge us, support us, and give us room to grow. I aim to create spaces that are more than just research labs—places where people from all backgrounds feel welcome, trusted, and encouraged to stretch their thinking, share generously, and grow together.
If you want to understand what kind of mentor I am, look at the people who mentored me—and the students I’ve mentored in return.
My Mentors
Dr. Kristen Brennand
Since 2021, I’ve been mentored by Dr. Kristen Brennand, the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Genetics at Yale School of Medicine. A leader in neurogenomics, she combines stem cell models, genomic engineering, and neuroscience to study brain development and psychiatric disease. After training with Douglas Melton at Harvard and Fred Gage at the Salk Institute, she launched her independent lab at Mount Sinai in 2012 before joining Yale in 2021.
Without any doubt Kristen’s mentorship had profound impact on me and shaped how I think about science, leadership, and risk. I’ve learned more than I can list, but what I admire most is her ability to lead with intellectual intensity and emotional generosity—someone who expects rigor but never loses sight of the human being behind the work. I’ve learned to ask sharper questions, take meaningful risks, and that science thrives on collaboration, not ego.
Her commitment to inclusive, equitable science is something she actively models. Being mentored by her has raised my expectations—not just for what science can achieve, but for the environments in which it should happen.
Dr. Michael Caplan
Since 2023, I’ve had the privilege of being mentored by Dr. Michael Caplan, CNH Long Professor and Chair of the Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology at Yale School of Medicine, through the Yale Postdoctoral Association’s independent mentorship program. As an external mentor with no direct stake in my career trajectory, Dr. Caplan has offered unfiltered and deeply thoughtful guidance. His structured, deliberate way of thinking, and his clarity in articulating his thought process, has had a profound impact on me.
He models a style of mentorship that is rigorous, generous, and humble. Despite his extensive leadership responsibilities, including his roles as editor of Physiology, member of the American Physiological Society (APS) Board of Directors, and advisor to several institutions and foundations, he is always available and makes time to meet—demonstrating that one can be a respected scientist across disciplines while offering sincere attention to mentees, including those outside their own lab.
Dr. Caplan was the inaugural recipient of Yale University’s Award for Postdoctoral Mentorship and a recipient of the Bohmfalk Prize for teaching—recognitions that reflect his deep commitment to fostering a culture of mentorship at the institutional level. His influence continues to shape how I think about the responsibility we have to create environments where scientists can grow.
Dr. Laurence Bindoff
From 2012 to 2018, I had the privilege of being mentored by Dr. Laurence Bindoff, Professor of Neurology at the University of Bergen and a pioneer in mitochondrial disease. Until his retirement in 2021, he led the Mitochondrial Medicine & Neurogenetics group and made foundational contributions to our understanding of mitochondrial disease, including LHON and PolG-related disorders.
Laurence taught me that translational research begins with the patient, is refined in the lab, and must return to the clinic with answers that matter. His packed academic and clinical schedule pushed me to take initiative and become independent early on, but it was his trust in my ambition that gave me the confidence to help establish one of the first hPSC labs in Norway.
Through his example, I learned the power of deep collaboration between clinicians and scientists, across institutions and generations. He reminded me constantly: never forget the question you started with. Tools will tempt you, data will distract you—but without purpose, the work loses direction. He once told me the story of a man searching for his keys under a spotlight, not because he lost them there, but because the visibility was better. That image stays with me. It’s a reminder to widen your vision, question your assumptions, and remain mindful of bias in every result.
My Mentees
I've mentored more than 15 trainees to date. Below are brief introductions to mentees with whom I've worked for longer than a year. For a complete list of students under my mentorship, please refer to my academic CV.
Esther Lee (2022–2023, Undergraduate, Yale) contributed significantly to our neurodevelopmental research by mastering stem cell culture, co-staining, and helping establish FACS-based protocols still in use today—an impressive feat for someone in her first lab position. Her intellectual precision, and ability to translate feedback into action made her stand out immediately; she is now continuing her path toward becoming a clinician at Chicago Medical School.
Sydney Benson (2022–2025, Undergraduate, Yale) played a key role in establishing and optimizing cardiomyocyte differentiation protocols—an ambitious task that became foundational for our studies of how genetic variants shape early human cardiogenesis. What stood out most to me was her uncommon focus and persistence: despite joining the lab early in college and having no prior bench experience, she approached each failure as a puzzle to solve rather than a setback. Admitted early to Mount Sinai’s FlexMed program during her second year of college, a recognition that matched the level of maturity and determination she consistently brought to the lab.
Isabel Wood (2022–2024, Postgraduate, Yale) was instrumental in generating and characterizing multiple CRISPR-edited stem cell lines, as well as optimizing NGN2-based neuronal differentiation—foundational tools now used across several ongoing studies in the lab. What stood out most was her exceptional maturity and poise under pressure. She brings a rare mix of critical thinking and compassion—equally comfortable troubleshooting complex assays and supporting peers with clarity and care. These qualities made her a natural mentor to junior trainees. Izzy began medical school at UMass Chan in the summer of 2024.
Vivian Tong (2023–2025, Undergraduate, Yale) quickly became a reliable contributor in our stem cell lab, mastering immunostaining, and neural progenitor differentiation despite having no prior wet lab experience. What stood out most was her quiet diligence and sense of responsibility—stepping in to cover for peers, asking thoughtful questions about research beyond the bench, and steadily growing into someone I could trust to work independently. Vivian is now continuing her scientific training in the Stegmaier Lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as she prepares for medical school.
Jaspreet Kandola (2023–2025, Undergraduate, Yale) played a key role in establishing and optimizing neural crest differentiation protocols—foundational for investigating how rare genetic variants contribute to craniofacial aspects of severe NDD. What stood out most was her resilience and willingness to take on unfamiliar, technically demanding tasks with courage and curiosity. She had an intuitive grasp of when to go deep and when to move on—consistently producing work that was both efficient and well-executed, a reflection of her maturity and sound judgment. Her dedication to community well-being shaped her decision to pursue an MPH at Yale.
Andre Luiz Teles E Silva (2024–2025, PhD student, Yale) was instrumental in establishing pooled CRISPR screens across diverse libraries (30–1,500 genes). He studied LoF of NDD risk genes on neuronal differentiation using pooled and arrayed screens combined with FACS and transcriptomics. Andre is exceptionally hardworking yet, he manages to have so much fun outside the lab— a rare combination for a scientist. He is also genuinely collaborative, always willing to support colleagues, and a true team player. He returned to Brazil to complete his PhD in São Paulo.
Jenny Liu (2024–2025, Postgraduate, Yale) was instrumental in establishing a novel pipeline pairing multi-electrode array (MEA) electrophysiology with RNA sequencing from the same cell population, an approach that required extensive optimization and is now central to our functional genomics work in neurodevelopmental disorders. What stood out most was a scientific maturity well beyond her career stage: she designed experiments with genuine critical thinking, troubleshot failures systematically rather than asking for answers, and naturally became someone junior trainees turned to, because she could teach with clarity and knew when to let them figure things out on their own. Jenny began her PhD in the Human Genetics program at the University of Chicago in 2026.