The UC San Diego Shu Chien - Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering Alumni Board connects the vibrant community of UC San Diego bioengineers—past, present, and future. Guided by a shared passion for innovation, mentorship, and lifelong learning, our alumni board amplifies the achievements of graduates, fosters collaborative opportunities, and helps shape the next generation of engineers who will tackle the world’s most pressing health and technology challenges.
Through regular events, networking programs, and strategic initiatives, the board serves as a bridge between industry leaders, academic researchers, and students, creating a dynamic ecosystem where ideas thrive and careers blossom. Whether you’re an alumnus eager to give back, a current student seeking guidance, or a partner looking to engage with top talent, the BENG Alumni Board welcomes you to become part of a legacy of excellence and impact.
Our goal is to build a strong alumni network to benefit our current students and alumni, please fill out our survey.
Bioengineering Alumni Survey
BENG Alumni Board Members
Contact: bioe-alumniboard@ucsd.edu
- BENG Alumni Board Leadership
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PJ Loury, B.S. 2013
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: President
Current Position: Product Manager, NVIDIA
Bio: PJ Loury loves finding new and innovative ways to give back to his alma mater. While at UC San Diego, PJ started our department’s Engineering World Health chapter before earning his Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering in 2013. PJ also serves as Vice President of Alumni Engagement on UC San Diego’s university-wide Alumni Board of Directors. He is passionate about strengthening UC San Diego’s alumni network through community building, volunteerism, and philanthropy. PJ began his career in fitness tracking and wearables before transitioning into software product management. He holds a Masters degree in Translational Medicine from UC Berkeley/UCSF and an MBA from Stanford University.
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BENG Alumni Engagement Committee
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Jennifer Kiang, B.S. 2010, M.S. 2012
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Co-chair, Alumni Engagement Committee
Current Position: VP of Corporate Affairs & Development, Daré Bioscience
Bio: Jennifer Kiang is a life sciences professional committed to advancing improvements in women’s healthcare. Prior to joining Daré Bioscience, she previously held roles at the company in strategic planning and product development and has helped identify opportunities and manage strategic and commercial partnerships in women’s health. Jennifer received her BS and MS degree in bioengineering from the UC San Diego and began her career in the biotechnology industry as a product and process engineer at Illumina.
Michelle Franc Ragsac, B.S. 2017, PhD 2022
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Co-chair, Alumni Engagement Committee
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Amariuta Lab | Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute
Bio: Michelle is a dedicated doctoral-level scientist and apt scientific communicator with a multifaceted background and solid foundation in bioinformatics and data science developed through experiences in occupational training courses, academic research, and industry. Michelle is also a Triple Triton! She completed both her B.S. in Bioengineering: Bioinformatics in 2017 and her Ph.D. in Bioinformatics & Systems Biology in 2022 at UC San Diego, and is now a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute. Michelle brings extensive expertise in applying data-driven approaches to complex biological questions, as well as experience in leadership roles and management.
Rohit Sabnis, B.S. 2013
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Alumni Engagement Committee
Current Position: Manager, Process Engineering, Heartflow
Bio: Rohit Sabnis is a process engineering professional with extensive experience in medical devices and manufacturing. In addition to his experience at Heartflow leading process development, validation, and quality initiatives, Rohit has also worked at Thermo Fisher Scientific, DSM Biomedical, and Genentech, focusing on systems design, production optimization, and GMP-compliant process improvements. At UC San Diego, he served as the Vice President External and Lab Expo Chair for the Biomedical Engineering Society. He holds a M.Eng in Bioengineering from Cornell University and a B.S. in Bioengineering: Biotechnology from UC San Diego.
Art Wong, B.S. 1984
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Alumni Engagement Committee
Current Position: Independent Consultant
Bio: Art Wong graduated from UC San Diego with a BS in Bioengineering in 1984. He received his MS in mechanical engineering from Stanford in 1986, and an MBA from UCLA in 1994. He currently works as an independent consultant and project manager. Skilled in project management, product management, business analysis, research, and marketing, Art has worked on projects in robotics and industrial automation, medical visualization and simulation, digital photography, consumer electronics, e-commerce, and books and literature. Software and systems have been a common thread throughout his career. Recent experience includes website optimization, and IoT (Internet of Things) data collection and analysis.
- BENG Alumni Philanthropy Committee
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Riam Badr, B.S. 2024, M.S. 2025
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Co-Chair, Philanthropy Committee
Current Position: Medical Device R&D Engineer at ClearPoint Neuro
Bio: Riam Badr is a Medical Device R&D Engineer at ClearPoint Neuro, where she leads the research, design, and development of neurosurgical devices. She brings hands-on engineering experience across the design control process, applying data-driven problem solving to the challenges of regulated medical device development. Her graduate research at UC San Diego focused on electrochemical biosensors for point-of-care diagnostics, deepening her passion for translating research into practical technologies that address unmet clinical needs and improve patient care.
She earned her B.S. in Bioengineering: Biotechnology in 2024 and her M.S. in Bioengineering in 2025 from UC San Diego. She also completed the microMBA program at UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management in 2025. As Philanthropy Committee Co-Chair on the Bioengineering Alumni Board, she is committed to strengthening alumni connections and advancing philanthropic initiatives that expand educational and professional opportunities for the next generation of bioengineers.
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Aishwarya (Sparky) Mitra, B.S. 2023
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Co-Chair, Philanthropy Committee
Current Position: PhD Research Fellow, Brown University
Bio: Sparky is a scientist, writer, and activist graduating from UC San Diego (BS) in 2023 and Columbia (MS) in 2025. While at UC San Diego, she was active in The UCSD Guardian and at the J. Craig Venter Institute. She has undertaken internationally-syndicated editorial pursuits and pushed science and housing policy as a former non-profit leader at Our Time to Act. She believes in fostering dialogue over division and focusing on bold, systemic impact. She is currently developing protein engineering and neurobiology tools at Brown University.
Darby Chan, B.S. 2006, M.Eng 2007
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Philanthropy Committee
Current Position: Partner, Foley & Lardner
Bio: Darby J. Chan is a patent attorney specializing in patent prosecution and counseling for healthcare and life sciences companies. He has developed and implemented patent strategies for startups and growth enterprises, supporting companies involved in over $1 billion in venture financing and acquisitions since 2019. Darby also contributes to the life sciences ecosystem through guest lectures and mentoring at Stanford BioDesign and Stanford Bioengineering programs. He holds a J.D. from George Washington University Law School and both an M.Eng. and B.S. in Bioengineering from UC San Diego, and is admitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Thomas Chew, B.S. 2013
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Philanthropy Committee
Current Position: Biotech Investor, Millennium
Bio: Thomas Chew is a biotech investor at Millennium, with prior experience in public and private biotech investing at Boxer Capital Management. He holds an M.D. and Ph.D. in Biophysics from Stanford University School of Medicine and dual B.S. in Bioengineering and B.A. in Economics degrees from UC San Diego. Thomas combines scientific expertise with investment acumen to evaluate and support innovative therapeutics, advancing companies that improve patient care and outcomes.
- BENG Alumni Student Engagement Committee
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Wilbur Braulio, B.S. 2000
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Co-Chair, Student Engagement Committee
Current Position: Senior Systems Engineer, Philips
Bio: A passion to #DesignToCompete in medical devices - leveraging skills and expertise to create innovative and competitive products that enable healthier outcomes, better customer experience, and drive corporate organic/inorganic growth. Wilbur (“Bur”) has a proven record in delivering high-impact results as a team leader on challenging projects focused on advancing biotechnology technologies and improving healthcare. Accomplished B.S. Bioengineering alumnus with a dynamic 25-year career in the medical device industry, blending hands-on engineering acumen with leadership in Systems Engineering, Quality, Project Management, and Lean Six Sigma methodologies.
Nadine Rosete, B.S. 2024
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Co-Chair, Student Engagement Committee
Current Position: R&D Engineer, Balt
Bio: Nadine Rosete is a biomedical engineer with an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Yale University and a B.S. in Bioengineering from UC San Diego. Her past undergraduate and graduate research lies in soft tissue continuum mechanics and mechanobiology. At UC San Diego, she served as the Vice President External and Outreach Chair for the Biomedical Engineering Society. Furthermore, Nadine is the 2024 recipient of the Shu Chien - Gene Lay Bioengineering Departmental Award for Excellence. She is passionate about the medical device and biotech sectors and advocates for translational medicine, focusing on streamlining the “bench-to-bedside” process. Nadine brings a collaborative, action-oriented approach to advancing innovation and optimizing medical technologies.
Trisha Ahuja, B.S. 2023
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Student Engagement Committee
Current Position: Senior Project Engineer, Project Farma
Bio: Trisha Ahuja is a project engineer with experience in medical device development, validation, and health data analysis. Prior to her current role at Project Farma, a biotech consulting firm where she leads engineering projects and process validations at Amgen, Trisha worked at two startup companies, Cooler Heads and Invoy. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from UC San Diego, where she was Vice President of Engineering World Health, and active in Project RISHI and the IDEA Scholar program.
Deepakshi Kasat, M.S. Bioengineering 2023
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Student Engagement Committee
Current Position: Senior Scientist, GSK
Bio: Deepakshi earned her M.S. in Bioengineering from UC San Diego, where her graduate research in the Bui Lab focused on Type I interferon signaling in tumor progression and immune cell function. Her career spans wet lab research, RNA therapeutics safety screening at Creyon Bio, and clinical medical writing at Gilead Sciences, experience that now grounds her work at the intersection of experimental biology and machine learning. She currently works as a Senior Scientist and AI Champion at GSK where she builds predictive toxicity models for oligonucleotide therapeutics and automated scientific workflows that compress days of analysis into minutes. She also founded The BioTalk Magazine, which has grown to 120+ authors and 4,000+ readers worldwide. When she's not doing biology, you can find Deepakshi playing pickleball, traveling, or at the beach!
Iris Zaretzki, B.S. 2024, M.S. 2026
Bioengineering Alumni Board Role: Student Engagement Committee
Current Position: Ultrasound systems engineer, Phillips
Bio: Iris graduated from UC San Diego with her B.S. and M.S. in bioengineering in 2024 and 2026, respectively. Her graduate research focused on the development and translation of wearable ultrasound for non-invasive diagnostic and therapeutic applications. She also has an interest in intravascular applications, and previously interned at both Philips (Volcano) and Dragon Vascular. During her M.S., she served as a teaching assistant for 2 years, supporting bioinstrumentation, senior design, and M.D.E. capstone courses. With the alumni board, she hopes to build meaningful connections between students and industry alumni. When she’s not working, you can find Iris shooting film photography, cooking, or playing pickleball.