Ashley Bohn – aoneill2@student.gsu.edu
President
Ashley grew up in Atlanta and received her B.Sc. is Biotechnology from Kennesaw State University and M.Sc. in Biology from Georgia State University. She is a 4rd-year PhD student in Dr. Jian-Dong Li’s lab where she studies innate immune signaling pathways and is joint enrolled in the School of Public Health. Ashley lives in Kennesaw, GA with her husband and pets: a very energetic border collie (Chio), six cats (Cleo, Carbon, Jewel, Samantha, Luna, and Piper), and aquatic turtle (Shelldon). Ashley is also a registered veterinary technician in Georgia (hence the collection of furbabies). Ashley served as an event coordinator on the BGSA for the previous two years. She is passionate about BGSA’s mission and has worked to facilitate unity and build friendships among the students as well as develop the career seminar series with the great help of the BGSA committee and graduate student body.
Joe Madden – jmadden3@student.gsu.edu
President
Joe is a Ph.D. hopeful working in Dr. Brinton’s lab. Born and bred in Atlanta, GA. Research interests include plus strand viruses, noncoding RNAs, and eukaryotic gene regulation. Propensity for dressing up as his PI and then cooking veggie burgers. Can perform a successful forward flip.
Hesong Han (Sam) – hhan6@student.gsu.edu
Vice President
 
Venice DuPont – vdupont1@student.gsu.edu
Secretary
Venice is a Graduate Research Assistant in Dr. R.K. Plemper’s Lab and a PhD student for Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry with a focus in Virology.
Kyle Gabriel – kgabriel4@student.gsu.edu
IT Specialist
Kyle is a Ph.D. candidate under Dr. Sidney Crow. His research involves microbial control, with focus on treatment and prevention of Pseudogymnoascus destructans infection, the fungal pathogen responsible for white-nose syndrome in bats. He also teaches Microbiology and Public Health Laboratory (BIOL2310) to undergraduates. He earned his B.S. in Biology from Florida Atlantic University in 2010 and his M.S. in Biology from GSU in 2013. He worked as GSU’s Radiation Safety Specialist before returning to pursue hos PhD in 2014. Kyle is also enjoys motorcycling through foreign countries, picking wild berries, sleeping outside in a hammock, and barefoot running.
Mary Schneider – mschneider5@student.gsu.edu
Events
Mary is a fourth-year Ph.D. student working in the Bartness Laboratory. She is very interested in energy homeostasis and body weight regulation. She has a Masters in Nutrition, and finds micronutrients particularly fascinating in their ability to regulate gene expression, enzymatic function, etc. When she is not being the ultimate nerd reading one of her all-time favorite books (“Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease”– LOVE it!!!!) or working in the lab, she spends her time doing super fun things like wearing a bad wig at the BGSA Fall Fest, hanging out with her fur child, Chewbacca, putting on fancy pants and going to big girl meetings for the BGSA, laughing with her girlfriends, traveling to the west coast with her boyfriend, and daydreaming about ruling the world one day, naturally.
Courtney Barlament – cbarlament1@student.gsu.edu
Events
 
Josh Renfroe – jrenfroe5@gsu.edu
Treasurer
Josh is a Ph.D. student under Dr. George Pierce. After studying analytic philosophy at UCLA, he attended Georgia State University’s School of Public Health to study epidemiology and work as a field research interviewer in an HIV network study. In the MPH program, he worked with community stakeholders and at-risk prisoner communities and established a peer-mentoring program for HIV-positive released prisoners with financial contribution from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Josh is currently in the Ph.D. program for Applied and Environmental Microbiology at Georgia State University and is working to characterize a flexible recombinant adjuvant vaccine carrier for quick industrial-scale production and distribution. He is currently teaching Critical Thinking Through Writing for Molecular Cell Biology and enjoys working with undergraduates who share passion for problem-solving and commitment to serving communities. Josh and his wife like to travel and spend time in Burma each year.
Jennifer Miles-Brown – jmiles7@student.gsu.edu
Marketing
Jennifer was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. After graduating from Grambling State University (the real GSU) with a degree in Chemistry, she relocated to Atlanta GA and worked as a Chemist as well as a Behavioral Biology Research Specialist at Emory University Yerkes National Primate Research Center. Currently, Jennifer is a PhD candidate in the lab of Andrew Gewirtz where she studies the role of the gut microbiota in intestinal inflammation. In her spare time, Jennifer loves cooking, traveling, craft beer and being a wife and mom.
Dan Cui- dcui1@student.gsu.edu
International Representative
 
Vidhi Thakkar – vthakkar2@student.gsu.edu
International Representative
Vidhi is a third-year Ph.D candidate in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry concentration at GSU. She is working in Dr. Richard Plemper’s Laboratory from the Institute of Biomedical Sciences and deals with the complex replication machinery of Paramyxoviruses. She is also very excited to learn more about the molecular functions of its proteins. Vidhi has also served as the Cultural Secretary for the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) in her undergraduate B.Pharm degree from India. She loves to explore new and different places and has a passion for dance (mostly on the classic Bollywood songs!!). ‘Work hard, Party hard (er?)’ is her motto!
Daisha Steadman – dsteadman1@student.gsu.edu
Master’s Student Representative