Team

Yixuan He
Principal Investigator

Yixuan started the group in January 2025. Before moving to Houston, Yixuan lived in Boston where she pursued her PhD in Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics at Harvard Medical School in Dr. Chirag Patel’s group and received post-doctoral training with Dr. Alicia Martin and co-mentorship from Dr. Alexander Gusev and Dr. Jordan Smoller.

Yixuan is particularly interested in understanding the distinct and shared genetic architecture between chronic diseases for precision medicine. For a more formal account of Yixuan’s academic work, please see her CV. In her free time, Yixuan loves to bake, draw, and play with her dog Mido.

Jiawei Tu
PhD Student
Jiawei is a Ph.D. student in the Epidemiology Department at UTHealth Houston. Her research focuses on understanding how genetic and environmental factors influence individual health outcomes and precision medicine. In her free time, Jiawei enjoys playing badminton and tennis.

Siqi Yang
Masters Student
Siqi is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health (MPH) with a concentration in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Boston University School of Public Health. She is passionate about conducting research that applies statistical modeling to predict disease risk and outcomes in areas such chronic diseases and infectious disease. Siqi enjoys working with clinical, genetic, and real-world data to better understand health outcomes in diverse populations

Maihediya Maihemuti
Masters Student
Maihediya is a Master’s student in the Biostatistics Department at UTHealth Houston. She is interested in lung cancer among never smokers and aims to enhance risk prediction through statistical modeling. In her free time, she enjoys cycling and baking.

Muhammad Rehan
Masters Student
Muhammad recently graduated with a degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and is now pursuing a Master’s in Bioengineering at Rice University. His current research focuses on lung cancer in never-smokers, using multi-omic approaches to uncover key biomarkers and risk factors. Muhammad is passionate about the intersection of medicine and engineering, aiming to develop innovative, data-driven solutions for cancer detection and treatment. In his free time, Muhammad enjoys playing soccer, traveling, and playing the guitar.

Alethea Nagahara
Undergraduate Student
Alethea is a junior at University of Southern California, majoring in Computer Science. Her research interests lie at the intersection of artificial intelligence and healthcare, with a particular focus on using computer vision and multi-omic data to improve cancer diagnostics. She is passionate about developing accessible, AI-driven tools to advance precision medicine and address healthcare disparities. In her free time, she loves playing tennis and baking!