Alyssa Gimenez

Featured on July 2, 2023

Can you believe we’re halfway through the year?

To kick off the second half of 2023, we’re joined by Alyssa Gimenez, a PhD student in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California Berkeley.

Alyssa graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences – Community Health Education, Minor in Gerontology from California State University Long Beach. There, she worked on projects involving the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which causes the disease toxoplasmosis. She also examined the feasibility of constructing an adult daycare health center on university grounds.

Alyssa then took up a Master of Science in Biology – Cellular and Molecular Biology as well as a Certificate in Data Science from San Francisco State University, where her research explored the impact of a green space intervention on premature aging among the Pilipinx community in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Currently, Alyssa serves as the pod coordinator and liaison of GradMAP Philippines (Graduate Mentorship and Assistance Program), a STEM mentorship network that helps Pinoy Scientists get through the graduate application process. She is also a mentor of Leave A Nest’s TSUNAGU Research Project, which aims to provide middle and high school students with cross-border research experience.

Some fun facts about Alyssa:

1. She leash trained her cat and takes him on walks with her partner and dog.
2. She helps edit episodes/SFX for the Hi Nay Podcast. –
3. There are posters of her all over San Francisco! She helped her alma mater San Francisco State University with an enrollment campaign and is featured on their advertisements for the next few years.

Let’s all say hi to Alyssa in the comments!

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This Balik Scientists takeover is made possible in collaboration with GradMAP PH.