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St. Jude Family of Websites
Explore our cutting edge research, world-class patient care, career opportunities and more.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Home
- Fundraising
Paul G. Thomas
Following his postdoctoral training with Nobel laureate Dr. Peter Doherty, Dr. Paul G. Thomas joined the faculty in the Department of Immunology in 2009. His work has been instrumental in generating new understanding of T cell receptor specificity and defining key elements of innate and adaptive immune responses that determine clinical outcomes to viral infections. Dr. Thomas leads several complex institutional programs including human influenza surveillance efforts and virtual repository development, and currently serves as PI for the 7-year, 12 institution DIVINCI consortium. In addition to his scientific achievements, Dr. Thomas is widely regarded for his mentorship and empowerment of junior scientists.
Meet the Team
Paul G. Thomas, PhD
Principal Investigator
- Member, St. Jude Faculty
- Samir Adhikari, PhD
- Senior Scientist
- Hiroyasu Aoki, PhD
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Walid Awad
- Lead Researcher
- Velmurugan Balaraman, DVM, PhD
- Senior Scientist
- Mark Brimble, PhD
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Brandi Clark
- Lead Researcher
- Jeremy Chase Crawford, PhD
- Principal Bioinformatics Research Scientist
- Jessica Gaevert
- Graduate Student
- Mohamed Ghonim, PhD
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Amanda Green, MD
- Instructor, St. Jude Faculty
- Allison Kirk
- TIRTL Lead Researcher
- Smrithi Sugumaran Menon, PhD
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Robert Mettelman, PhD
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Anastasia Minervina, PhD
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Nicolas Peterson
- Graduate Student
- Mikhail Pogorelyy, PhD
- TIRTL Dir. Computational Sciences
- Jia-Hua Qu, PhD
- Senior Bioinformatics Research Scientist
- Terino Retic
- Researcher
- Stefan Schattgen, PhD
- Senior Scientist
- Zachary Scott
- Lead Researcher
- Emma (Kaity) Sliger, PhD
- Director of Laboratory Operations
- Deryn St. James
- Graduate Student
- Balaji Sundararaman, PhD
- Senior Bioinformatics Research Scientist
- Ricky Tirtakusuma, PhD
- Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Lee Ann Van De Velde
- Manager of Lab Operations
- Kasi Vegesana, PhD
- Senior Data Analyst
- Tara Walhart, PhD
- Scientist
Lab Alumni
David Boyd, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Post-lab experience: Assistant Faculty at University of California Santa Cruz
Matthew Calvery, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Tenure: 2013-2015
- Post-lab experience: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Roswell Park Research Institute, NY
Ching-Heng Chou, PhD
- Role: Lead Researcher
- Tenure: 2020-2022
- Post-lab experience: Scientist at Janssen Pharmaceuticals
Pradyot Dash, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Scientist
- Tenure: 2007-2017
- Post-lab experience: Senior Scientific Director-Cell and Gene Therapy at Miltenyi Biotec (previously, Scientist at Kite Pharma)
Susu Duan, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Tenure: 2012-2017
- Post-lab experience: Senior Scientist at Sanofi
Tim Flerlage, MD
- Role: Clinical fellow
- Tenure: Clinical fellow
- Post-lab experience: Assistant Professor at University of Rochester
Xi-zhi (Johnny) Guo, PhD
- Role: Graduate Student
- Tenure: 2013-2019
- Post-lab experience: Scientist at Takeda (previously, Postdoctoral fellow in the HHMI Steve Elledge Lab)
Hyunjin Kim
- Role: Bioinformatics Research Scientist
- Tenure: 2020-2022
- Post-lab experience: Principal Scientist in Bioinformatics at Regeneron
Tomas (Trey) Oguin, PhD
- Role: Technician and Graduate Student
- Tenure: 2008-2015
- Post-lab experience: Virology Unit Manager at The Duke Human Vaccine Institute (previously, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at NIEHS, NIH)
Christine Oshansky, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Tenure: 2009-2014
- Post-lab experience: Chief, Pandemic Influenza Vaccines and Adjuvants, IEIDD, BARDA/ASPR
Resha Sisti
- Role: Clinical Research Associate III
- Tenure: 2012-2022
- Post-lab experience: Clinical Research Associate II in BMT
John Rutigliano, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Tenure: 2006-2013
- Post-lab experience: Technical Application Scientist at Biolegend
Catherine Sanders, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Tenure: 2008-2014
- Post-lab experience: Senior Research Scientist at Battelle
Melissa Sessions
- Role: Lab Operations Manager
- Tenure: 2005-2023
- Post-lab experience: Director of Research Operations for Hematology at St. Jude
Shalini Sharma, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Tenure: 2011-2014
- Post-lab experience: Assistant Professor at Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences
Heather Smallwood, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Tenure: 2009-2015
- Post-lab experience: Associate Professor at University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center
Aisha Hegab Souquette, PhD
- Role: Graduate student and Postdoctoral Research Associate
- Tenure: 2015-2023
- Post-lab experience: Research Assistant Professor at University of Maryland School of Medicine
Oliver Sturm, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Tenure: 2007-2012
- Post-lab experience: Assistant Professor at Rhodes College and now Assistant Professor at Lane College
Taylor Wilson
- Role: Graduate Student
- Tenure: 2018-2022
- Post-lab experience: Medical school at University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center
Anthony Zamora, PhD
- Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow
- Tenure: 2015-2019
- Post-lab experience: Assistant Faculty at Medical College of Wisconsin