Meet The Lab
Graduate Students
Jacob Blaukovitch
Jacob is a PhD student in the Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health program at Virginia Tech. His work is focused on the epidemiology of primary immune disorders (PIs) in rural America, unique rural health disparities that this population faces, and advancing PI education in rural spaces.
Roxanna Farzad
Roxanna is a PhD student in the Translational, Biology, Medicine & Health (TBMH) program who joined the CHILI Lab in 2024. Her research interests focus on identifying health disparities among patients with Primary Immunodeficiency (PI) and leveraging Large Language Models to forecast patient clinical journeys. Through her work, Roxanna aims to reduce healthcare inequities and advance the diagnosis and treatment of patients with PI, ultimately improving outcomes for patients within the healthcare system.
Liangying Liu
Initially trained as an engineer and later as a cognitive neuroscientist, Liangying has now developed a fascination for using AI tools like NLP, LLM and GNNs to explore human health and wellbeing.
Tia Parrish
Tia Parrish has a robust background in Entrepreneurship, Business Management, and Project Management. She serves as the Program Coordinator at the Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF), where she is passionately dedicated to advancing the foundation's mission. As an Analyst with the CHILI group, Tia provides valuable insights into the challenges faced by the Primary Immunodeficiency (PI) community and works to enhance awareness and education about PI.
Medical Students
Taral Jella
VTCSOM medical student with a BA in Sociology. Interested in quantitative research using large public health databases and committed to advancing understanding of social determinants as they impact health and healthcare on a national scale.
Anne Phillip
VTCSOM student trained as a biostatistician with experience in bioengineering research and project management. Focused on developing computational tools to map clinical disease trajectories and identify novel diagnostic strategies to improve patient outcomes.