Board Members

Danielle received her Ph.D. from the University of Leeds U.K. and has been a volunteer with a number of AWIS chapters since moving to the US in 2010. She has held various board positions in that time including being Vice President of the Sacramento Valley chapter and has served on the Board of AWIS-East Bay since 2018. Her goal is to increase active participation in chapter activities by finding innovative ways of adding value to chapter membership. Her background is in neuroscience and in understanding how events and illnesses during pregnancy shape developing brains. Making the switch from academia to industry in 2018, Danielle is now a Technical Scientist at BioMarin, a world leader in developing and commercializing innovative biopharmaceuticals for rare diseases driven by genetic causes.

Sandhya received her Bachelor's degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from U.C. Berkeley and MBA from Santa Clara University. She has been involved with leading and organizing resource groups at Santa Clara University and in her professional career over the last several years. She has over 20 years of pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry experience in progressing roles of responsibility at LifeScan (a J&J company), Abgenix, Amgen, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Abbvie-Stemcentrx, Dermira, Omniox, and now at Revance Therapeutics as Director of Program and Project Management for drug development. 

During her time at Boehringer-Ingelheim, Sandhya became passionate founded the site chapter of the Women's Leadership Initiative and started working with AWIS-East Bay as a partner. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion efforts and enjoys mentoring and coaching the next generation of leaders. Sandhya also enjoys hiking, biking, reading, and spending time with family.

Roxanne received her Ph.D. from U.C. Santa Barbara and recently joined the East Bay Chapter. She is a native of the East Bay and is passionate about science education and bringing opportunities to underprivileged youth. She was a member of Women In Science and Engineering (WiSE) during her graduate and post graduate studies and participated in many outreach programs introducing young women to the power of stem cell biology and promoting women empowerment. Her background is in retinal and lung biology, focusing on cellular therapies to treat disease. Since 2016, she has worked for 4D Molecular Therapeutics in the Human Cell and Disease Modelling group, continuing her work with stem cells and helping create effective treatments for those affected by genetic diseases.

Katie Sullivan received her Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University, and a Masters in Translational Medicine from UC Berkeley & UC San Francisco. She started her career at Merck in the Philadelphia area, working in vaccine and biologics manufacturing process development and operations. Katie currently works at 4D Molecular Therapeutics in Emeryville as a Manufacturing Supervisor, applying skills learned at Merck to the growing gene therapy space. She first got involved with AWIS by tagging along with Roxanne to monthly happy hours, and was motivated to volunteer after meeting so many interesting and encouraging women. Katie currently manages this website, so please give her feedback on what you’d like to see! Katie enjoys reading (happy to give & receive recs), rock climbing (always on the lookout for a belay buddy), and planning trips near & far with family and friends.

Dr. Daneida Lizarraga is a Staff Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific.  She holds a PhD in Biotechnology from University of Barcelona and completed her post-doc training from Maastricht Universiteit. She has joint ownerships of two patents and authored numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals on molecular biology and epigenetics. Her passion is product development, she enjoys bringing precision medicine products from scratch to life. She loves to read and dance after a long day at work.  Dr. Lizarraga joined East Bay AWIS three years ago.  In the past three years, Dr. Lizarraga organized and participated in several ebAWIS events.  She is a true believer in AWIS mission to support women in science.

Sara is a skin scientist and consumer product toxicologist with multi-disciplinary experience in personal care and consumer products. She is currently a Sr. Toxicologist at Clorox where she leads the safety program for a diverse portfolio that includes the specialty business and fragrance program, works with state regulators and trade associations, and leads external strategic communications. She is the founder of a Clorox Employee Resource Group for employees with interest, roots, and background in the Middle East and North Africa. She has worked as a Regulatory Toxicologist/ Safety Manager at P&G, Avon, Georgia Pacific and Living Proof, Inc. Sara held two postdocs at UCSF and University of Cincinnati, and earned her doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Tehran, Iran. 

Sara has a strong passion in mentoring and providing professional development opportunities for young professionals and minority groups. She joined AWIS as a volunteer in 2019 and leads the webinar committee to provide personal and professional development resources for women in STEM fields. 

Eptisam received her BS in Chemistry with an emphasis in Biochemistry from Dominican University of California. She is currently finishing her Masters in Biological Sciences and completing her thesis at BioMarin. She started her biomedical research career investigating terrestrial and marine-derived natural therapies for treating cancer, inflammation and neurobiological disorders. At BioMarin, she is applying analytical pathology to investigate disease models for targeted therapeutics, and has a keen interest in neuroscience. Though she is a burgeoning research scientist, she has a passion for medicine and is on her path to becoming a future physician. She first got involved with AWIS after hearing about its mission to support women in science, and was motivated to join the mentorship committee. Her goal is to provide mentorship resources for young professionals, especially minority groups, and to see them flourish in their respective fields.

Slesha received her Bachelor's degree in Biology from Saint Mary’s College of California. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Biological Sciences from Dominican University of California and industry partner, BioMarin. Before joining BioMarin, Slesha completed her post-baccalaureate program at UCLA's  School of Medicine. 

Slesha started her research career studying the molecular and cellular biology of neurodegenerative diseases. At BioMarin, she’s applying analytical histopathology to characterize gene therapy models. She gets excited about  growing advanced biotechnology ideas into discovery and then therapeutics for unmet patient needs. Slesha’s interests lie at the intersection of medicine, neuroscience, and social justice. Her passion for mentoring led her to join AWIS. Her goal is to provide support and resources for womxn, especially those who are underrepresented in the sciences. She’s excited to join the AWIS community of professional womxn in the East Bay who share similar visions. 

Atefeh received her BSc and MSc in Analytical Chemistry from Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. She earned her PhD in Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University, and then worked as a postdoc at UC Davis. She started her first industry position as product developer for Clorox, though is now working Chevron Oronite Company as of July 2019 as a lead research chemist. In her current role, she works with R&D teams across the globe for production of lubricants and fuel's additives. 

Atefeh is one of Richmond Pride leaders, a Chevron ERG, aimed to provide an impactful and inclusive environment for all LGBTQ+ employees. She is an executive committee member of  the American Chemical Society, California section. She is also a partner in the FUTURE program at UC Davis aimed to assist PhD students and postdoctoral researchers pursuing non-academic careers. Atefeh has been an AWIS member since 2019 and organized multiple joint events between ACS California section and ebAWIS. Atefeh is an avid skier and a runner.