Director, STEM Graduate Career Development and Postdoctoral Affairs
Amy Hark, Ph.D.
The Director of STEM Graduate Career Development, Dr. Amy Hark oversees myCHOICE programming and develops and administers externships and treks.
Before the merger of UChicagoGRAD and myCHOICE, Amy played a key role in helping the myCHOICE program develop seminars and mini-courses, including the “Understanding the Landscape of Business Careers” course in Winter 2024. Since joining UChicagoGRAD in 2022, Amy has supported STEM PhD students and postdocs via professional development programming and one-on-one advising services. Prior to joining UChicago, Amy worked as a postdoctoral researcher in a neuroscience lab that investigated decision-making. Amy received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Neuroscience, where she studied sex differences in learning and memory.
Associate Director, myCHOICE at UChicagoGRAD
Elahe Ganji, Ph.D.
The myCHOICE Associate Director, Dr. Elahe Ganji, leads the development and administration of exploratory and educational myCHOICE programming (i.e., seminars and mini-courses). Collaborating closely with UChicago partners, Elahe designs and administers program curriculum, policies, and procedures while serving as the myCHOICE program liaison with internal and external stakeholders.
Elahe blends her multi-disciplinary doctoral and postdoctoral training with her academic administration experience to create and administer programming that is tailored to fostering the professional growth of trainees across BSD, PME, and PSD. Prior to joining myCHOICE, Elahe earned her doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware and distinguished herself as a Beckman Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. Her leadership in initiatives such as Women in Engineering, the Perry Initiative, and 21st Century Scientists Working Group at the University of Illinois, underlines her unwavering commitment to empowering doctoral and postdoctoral trainees.
Abby Stayart, Ph.D.
Dr. Stayart has been associated with the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division for more than a decade, first as a graduate student in the Rothman-Denes lab, followed by postdoctoral training in the lab of Laurens Mets. Her breadth of experience at UChicago made her uniquely suited to launch and develop the myCHOICE program from 2014-2024 as a valuable resource for the graduate and postdoctoral communities.
Inaugural myCHOICE Program Advisors
The myCHOICE Program Advisors are responsible for the oversight of the myCHOICE program and provide key structural and organizational inputs to programmatic development and implementation.
Erin Adams, Ph.D.
Joseph Regenstein Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Dr. Adams is an expert in molecular immunology; her lab uses structural, biochemical and cellular approaches to understand how the immune system distinguishes healthy tissue from diseased. Her exposure to a highly entrepreneurial environment during her graduate and postdoctoral training in the California bay area stimulated her interest in alternative career opportunities for trainees at the University of Chicago.
Victoria Prince, Ph.D.
Professor
Dept. Organismal Biology & Anatomy
Dean of Graduate Affairs,
Biological Sciences Division
Dr. Prince is an expert in developmental biology, using the zebrafish model to understand embryonic development of the brain and pancreas. She has held the position of Dean and Director of the Office of Graduate Affairs for the Biological Sciences Division (BSD) since 2010. This position provides her with a comprehensive view of all eighteen graduate programs within the BSD.
Julian Solway, M.D.
Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics
Director, Institute for Translational Medicine
Dr. Solway founded and chairs the Committee on Molecular Medicine, and is Dept of Medicine Vice Chair for Research and Dean for Translational Medicine. An engineer turned physician-scientist and practicing pulmonologist, Dr. Solway is an authority on asthma known for his breadth of knowledge and experience ranging from respiratory mechanics to cell and molecular physiology.
Ellen Cohen, MPP
Executive Director, Center for Health and the Social Sciences
Ms. Cohen directs CHeSS which is comprised of 100 faculty affiliates across all University of Chicago schools and divisions and staff who write and manage federal and non-federal grants, develop and oversee training programs for Ph.D. students, post-doctoral researchers, fellows and junior faculty, and sponsor seminars, workshops and lectures. As former Dean of Students at Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, she oversaw training of all masters and Ph.D. students, worked with faculty on curriculum development, course offerings, research, and applied learning opportunities. Ellen received her MPP degree with honors from the Harris School and her BA degree in economics from Brown University.