Our Team

Karen Mestan

Principal Investigator

Dr. Karen Mestan is now the Division Chief of Neonatology at UC San Diego/Rady Children's Hospital after spending nearly 20 years at Northwestern University teaching, researching, and building a biorepository of placenta and cord blood. She received her B.A. in Human Biology from Stanford University and her M.D. from Chicago Medical School and completed her residency and fellowship at University of Chicago. In her free time, Dr. Mestan has run marathons and triathlons and likes to travel and spend time with her husband, two daughters, and dog.

Erika Lin

Lab/Data Manager

Erika graduated with a B.S. in Biological Sciences from UC Irvine and a M.S. in Biomedical Informatics from the University of Chicago. Erika has been with Dr. Mestan since 2019 and transitioned to UC San Diego in September 2021. Her dream is to become a Physician Scientist studying pediatric diseases. Otherwise, Erika enjoys trying different cuisines, running, and cooking for friends and family.

Janu Newar

Staff Research Associate IV

Janu completed her Bachelor's in Biotechnology from St. Edmund College, Shillong, Meghalaya in 2012 and her Master's in Biotechnology from KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha in 2014. She successfully defended her Ph.D. work at KIIT University in July 2022 which focused on the isolation, characterization, and purification of adhesive proteins from gastropods and their use in developing biocompatible wound-healing adhesives hydrogels. She is from a beautiful town situated in the North Eastern part of India called Tezpur, Assam. Apart from doing research, Janu loves capturing moments with her camera, traveling and exploring new places, watching movies, gardening, and spending quality time with her loved ones.

Lillian Blank

Staff Research Associate I

Lillian graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.S. in Microbiology and Minor in Chemistry from UC San Diego in Spring 2022. She aspires to be a physician specializing in Obstetrics & Gynecology or Neonatology and is currently in the medical school application cycle. Fingers are crossed! When she's not in the lab, Lillian is the vocalist and pianist in an indie band and loves staying active and cooking for her friends.

Rebecca Gin

Undergraduate Assistant

Rebecca is currently a third-year undergraduate student studying Human Biology at UC San Diego. She is interested in understanding maternal health and child development. She is the Co-President of the Biological Sciences Student Association and a BioSci Peer Mentor on campus. She enjoys trying new restaurants, hiking, reading, and watching the sunset with friends in her free time.

Rekha Karuparthy

Summer 2022 Research Medical Student and Former Clinical Research Coordinator

Rekha graduated with a B.A. in Global Health and MSW in Health from Washington University in St. Louis in 2019. Rekha has been with Dr. Mestan since 2020 and helped out at the lab during her summer break from medical school at UC San Diego. Her goal is to continue bridging social work and medicine as well as build her research skill set to one day be a Neonatologist herself. Outside of academics, Rekha loves to hang out with her friends/family and play board games!