Precision Medicine and Data Sciences Team
Frederick J. Meyers, M.D., MACP
Director, Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences
Dr. Frederick Meyers is the director of the Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences and distinguished professor of hematology and oncology at UC Davis School of Medicine. He has a long-standing interest in cancer biology, clinical trials and palliative care with a focus on advanced and metastatic malignancies. In the 1980s he founded one of the first palliative care centers in the country. He was part of the leadership team that helped achieve the nationwide status of UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. His service to the university has included 12 years as chair of the Department of Internal Medicine followed by seven years as executive associate dean and vice dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine.
As of 2016, with the advent of the United States Precision Medicine Initiative, Meyers was asked to lead and integrate precision medicine across all the colleges and schools at UC Davis and the communities it serves. He wrote the education chapter for the California governor’s precision medicine action plan. He has developed a network among the University of California sister campuses, the state and other partners, making the UC Davis Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences a leader in precision medicine.
"His enduring passion is to find precise, targeted and individualized cures for cancer and other diseases to achieve population health."
Meyers is strongly committed to the career development of junior, MD and PhD, pre-and postdoctoral scholars. He has a distinguished record of education and workforce development. He is nationally known for leading innovative research career development training programs for physician scientists and pre-and postdoctoral fellows. He has served as the director of research education and career development in the UC Davis Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) since its inception and has been the principal investigator of several training grants. The award of the Arline Miller Rolkin Professorship in Clinical Effectiveness underscores his commitment to take science to the bedside. His appointment as associate director for cancer education, training and workforce development unites the CTSC and Comprehensive Cancer Center research education efforts.
In 2018, he founded the UC Davis School of Medicine Academic Research Careers for Medical Doctors (ARC-MD) program. Its goal is to provide medical students with the foundational skills and professional development that promote a successful career as a physician scientist.
Meyers is the immediate past president of the Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS), a national organization. He was recently appointed president of CARES, Center for Aids Research Education and Services in Sacramento. In sum, he is a very well-respected internist, oncologist, expert in precision medicine and academician with outstanding record of mentoring and representing the UC Davis School of Medicine.
Christopher J. Wang, MBA, CRA
Chief Administrative Officer, Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences
Christopher Wang serves as the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences. He oversees personnel, finance, contracts, agreements, marketing and other aspects of daily operations, as well as the various areas of research support for precision medicine. He has 15 years of experience in research administration. He served as a research manager in various departments at the UC Davis Medical Center and worked at UC Davis Office of Research reviewing and negotiating various contracts and agreements. He has been involved in many research committees at UC Davis Health and holds a national certification in research administration. He has bachelors degrees in both Finance and Media Arts and Animation. Chris is a graduate of the Sacramento State MBA program.
Mayra Hernandez, MPA
Administrative Officer II
Executive Assistant to Fred Meyers, M.D., MACP, Director
My career at UC Davis Health began in July of 2020, when I joined the institution as the Fellowship and Medical Student Coordinator in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. In this role, I supported medical students completing a rotation in the department, as well as fellows completing one of the five fellowship programs offered by the department. I have more than seven years of experience working with diverse groups in higher education institutions. Prior to moving to Sacramento, I lived in Los Angeles, California where I held a position at a higher education institution as a Student Services Advisor supporting students earning a Master of Science Degree. My educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in Justice, Ethics & Policy from California State University, Chico and a Master of Public Administration Degree from San Diego State University.
Jennifer Sanchez
Program Coordinator, Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences
Jennifer Sanchez is the program coordinator for the Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences as well as the Precision Nutrition Program. She is responsible for assisting in the implementation of the Center’s strategic plan, organizing and tracking program initiatives, providing support for research administration and developing and executing the Center’s marketing and social media plans. Jennifer has ten years of project coordination and marketing experience from previous startup and state association positions. Jennifer recently completed the Project Management Certificate Program online through UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education.
Aniket Alurwar, M.S.
Data Science Officer
Aniket Alurwar is a clinical informatics specialist at the Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences. He has 10 years of experience in data analytics and provides expertise in designing, creating, deploying and managing the data for clinical research projects at UC Davis. His passion includes creating artificial intelligence/machine learning models and their application in the healthcare industry.
Aniket has a master’s degree (MS) in computer science from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Prior to joining UC Davis Health, he worked at various FORTUNE 500 companies implementing the complete data analytics life cycle starting from acquisition of data from heterogeneous sources, organizing and integrating those data sources in a central data lake, to creating various reports, dashboards and portals which those companies use to run their businesses.
Carole Ly, M.S.
Sustainability & Data Sciences Analyst
Carole is the Sustainability & Data Science Analyst for the Center and splits her time between data science in precision medicine research projects and working with the Food and Nutrition Services Department on data science projects that focus on sustainability of the hospital food service program. Prior to joining the CPMDS team, Carole oversaw the school meals program at a public school district in Southern California for nearly eight years, during which time she transformed its cafeterias into full-scale scratch-cooking operations characterized by plant-forward, globally inspired lunches and higher quality sourcing standards. Carole earned her MA in Education from UCLA and MS in Nutritional Biology from UC Davis. Her longtime love for statistics and research recently led her to start learning data science. With a background in teaching and curriculum development, nutrition education, and institutional food service, Carole is interested in leveraging the power of data science to make meaningful contributions to the community.
Enkhmaa Byambaa, M.D., Ph.D., M.A.S.
Precision Nutrition Scientific Officer
Dr. Enkhmaa Byambaa is a researcher and educator with a background in medicine, molecular biology, and laboratory, clinical and population sciences. Dr. Byambaa’s research is focused on biomarkers and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in different ethnic/racial and health risk groups. Current projects include studying the effect of dietary saturated fat reduction consistent with current dietary guidelines on molecular properties of lipoprotein(a)—a genetically regulated causal risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Dr. Byambaa holds dual appointment as a Precision Nutrition Scientific Officer in the Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences and as an Associate Adjunct Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, at the UC Davis School of Medicine.
Dr. Byambaa received her M.D. in general medicine from the Mongolian National Medical University, Ph.D. in Human Ecology in Biochemical and Molecular Actions of Nutrients from Shimane Medical University and M.A.S. (Master of Advanced Study) in Clinical Research from UC Davis.
Rajiv Donde
Chief Data Science Officer
Rajiv Donde serves as the chief data science officer in the Center for Precision Medicine and Data Sciences. He is leading the Center’s data science program on developing a precision medicine platform, as well as other data science projects.
Rajiv is presently the President of Laru Technologies, a software company that provides risk management solutions to financial institutions nationwide. He is also an Executive MBA educator of Technology Management and Entrepreneurship since 2007. In addition, Rajiv’s 30 plus years work experience includes C-Level roles in leading technology based, multi-million dollar revenue and growth initiatives in banking, healthcare and supply chain industries.
He co-founded AnyTime Access, an e-Commerce Banking Company and managed its IT organization from inception, enabling it to serve over 150 financial institutions nationwide and contributing to its successful acquisition for $140MM. He has also restructured an IT organization to develop and deliver five core healthcare software products to meet the needs of 7,000 physicians nationwide, enabling the company to be profitable for the first time in its history. Further, he has worked internationally with US based clients and software teams in India to ensure accurate design, development and delivery of Software products.
Early in his career he developed an early warning system (EWS) for the Department of Commerce in Ohio to track the financial performance of state chartered financial institutions and identify balance sheet weakness to prioritize onsite audits. Rajiv has been highlighted as a keynote speaker on banking and technology related topics at conferences throughout his career.
Rajiv is an avid learner and was recently awarded certification in AI Strategies for leading Business Transformation by Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business.
Kyoungmi Kim, Ph.D.
Biostatistician
Dr. Kim is a professor of Biostatistics in the UC Davis School of Medicine with expertise in biostatistics and bioinformatics methods for biomedical research, with particular focus on statistical genetics/genomics and high-throughput -omics research. Her research interests include the use of statistical methodologies and bioinformatics tools to identify disease-related genes and small molecules to understand disease mechanisms by integrating different types of -omics data with clinical characteristics. She focuses on computational and statistical approaches to disease biomarker discovery, including early detection of disease and predictions of responses to therapeutic interventions and risk stratification. She has considerable preclinical research experience with rodent models and multifactorial traits and clinical therapeutic studies for neurodevelopmental disorders, cancer, aging, diabetes, and heart disease. Dr. Kim has participated in interdisciplinary team science projects addressing the genetic and gene-environment interaction components of multi-factorial complex disorders. She is also the Director of the Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, and Research Design core of the P50 MIND Institute Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center and the Biostatistics cores of the P30 Environmental Health Science Core Center and a NIA-funded P01 Program Project.
