Lab Members

Lena Winestone, MD, MSHP (she/her)

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor

Blood & Marrow Transplant; Pediatric Malignancies

Dr. Winestone is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Allegy, Immunology, and Bone & Marrow Transplant at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. Winestone received her MD from Stanford University School of Medicine with a focus in International and Community Health. Her research explores racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in access to care and outcome of leukemia and lymphoma treatment. She studies access to care across the continuum of pediatric cancer from diagnosis and clinical trial enrollment through treatment and relapse to salvage therapies.

Maria Castellanos, MD (she/her)

HS Asst Clinical Professor

Pediatrics

Dr. Maria Castellanos is Assistant Clinical Professor in the Division of Pediatric Hematology Oncology at University of California, San Francisco. She earned her Bachelor of Sciences degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and her MD degree from Howard University College of Medicine. She completed her Pediatrics Residency at Stanford University and her Pediatric Hematology Oncology Fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital at Baylor College of Medicine. Her research interests are in evaluating geospatial disparities in pediatric cancers, with a specific focus in pediatric leukemias.

    Earl Chism, MD (he/him)

                                     Pediatrics Resident

Dr. Earl Chism (he/him) is a resident physician training in Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a member of the Pediatric Leaders Advancing Health Equity (PLUS) program, wherein his interests include research aimed at eliminating racial inequity in healthcare and supporting initiatives to increase Black representation in medicine. He earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed undergraduate training at Yale University, earning a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

  Angelina Lo, MD (she/her)

                              Pediatrics Resident 

Angelina Lo is a pediatrics resident at the University of California, San Francisco. She earned her medical degree from the University of California, Irvine. She completed undergraduate and graduate training at Stanford University, earning a Bachelor’s in Biology and Master’s in Sociology. She is interested in researching disparities in pediatric cancers, with a focus on how socioeconomic factors can influence cancer outcomes.

 Maria Gonzalez, BS (she/her)

                               Medical Student

Maria is a medical student and Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved (PRIME-US) scholar at the University of California, San Francisco. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Physiological Science and minor in Global Health from the University of California, Los Angeles. Maria is interested in researching cancer health disparities, specifically pertaining to race, ethnicity and socioeconomic factors affecting access to care. Through her Summer Explore research project she will explore how language discordance is associated with caregiver-reported barriers to care and presentation acuity for pediatric patients with leukemia.

  Tom Byrne, BA (he/him)

                                   Medical Student

Tom is a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology at Pomona College. His research focus is exploring disparities in access to clinical trials. His current work is investigating how sociodemographic factors affect access to a compassionate use therapy for children with neuroblastoma.

Chynna Swift, BS (she/her)

Medical Student 

Chynna is a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of California, Los Angeles where she studied microbiology, immunology, and molecular genetics. Her research interests surround exploring racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare treatment and outcomes. Her current research focuses on the ways in which neighborhood socioeconomic status is associated with illness acuity and outcomes in pediatric leukemia. 

  Cristina Acosta Navarro, BS (she/her)

                                     Clinical Research Coordinator

Cristina is a CRC in the department of pediatrics at UCSF. She earned degrees in Environmental Health and Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Before working in Clinical Research, Cristina worked at a local environmental justice organization where she helped Spanish speaking community members learn more about air quality issues. Her time working in environmental justice peaked her interest and goals to work in research, specifically cancer research.

 

 

    Nadia Bourdoud, MPH (she/her)

                                     Clinical Research Coordinator

Nadia is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. She earned her Master’s in Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before transitioning to clinical research, Nadia worked at a local family resource center, conducting needs assessments to identify help bridge gaps in unaddressed social determinants of health. This experience deepened her commitment to advancing health equity and sparked her interest in cancer research, particularly in addressing disparities in care.

  Jessica Meza (she/her)

                                        Clinical Trial Navigator

Jessica supports the COMPRENDO study as the a clinical trial navigator. She provides our Spanish speaking families support through enrollment in clincal trials.