Faculty & Scientific Staff

Susana earned her BA in molecular and cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduation, she taught middle school science — seventh grade life science and eighth grade physical and chemical science — for two years in Oakland, California, through Teach For America. During that time, she also earned a Master of Arts in education from Alliant International University. Susana then worked as a staff research associate in Dr. Eva Harris’ lab, developing improved animal models to study dengue virus pathogenesis before moving to Seattle to pursue her PhD in molecular and cellular biology at the University of Washington (UW). She completed her dissertation work in Dr. Andrew Oberst’s lab in UW's Department of Immunology, where she studied the immune consequences of inflammatory cell death. Susana joined the Hamerman Lab at BRI as a postdoctoral research associate and is investigating inflammatory hemophagocytes in the context of Plasmodium infection and in a model of macrophage activation syndrome. Susana currently has a joint appointment between the Hamerman Lab and the BRI's Bioinformatics Group. Outside of research, Susana enjoys spending time with her pets, going to hockey games and soccer matches, reading, painting, and doing the occasional triathlon. One of her personal goals is to be fluent in five languages in the next 10 years, although apparently that takes time and actual studying.