Meet our leadership team!

Maggie Steiner

Director

Maggie Steiner is a fourth year PhD Candidate in the Department of Human Genetics. Her doctoral research focuses on the development and application computational methods to study evolutionary processes in human genetics. Outside of COMBO, she serves on the Organizing Committee of Expanding Your Horizons Chicago, the Steering Committee of the UChicago Biotechnology Association, and as a Student Representative for the UChicago Medical and Biological Sciences Alumni Council.

Jennifer Blanc

Head of Outreach

Jennifer Blanc is a PhD student in Human Genetics at the University of Chicago. Her work focuses on developing methods that utilize genetic data to better understand complex trait variation. Jennifer is passionate about teaching and is an active member of the departments DEI committee. As head of outreach, she works with other committee members to reach out to local schools and plan the logistics of COMBO workshops.

Ethan Zhong

Volunteer Coordinator

Ethan Zhong is a PhD student in the Department of Human Genetics. His research focuses on leveraging computational methods to study the genetic bases of complex diseases, in particular asthma. Ethan enjoys working with teenagers from diverse background. He is constantly seeking better pedagogical approaches to deliver complex technical concepts to his audiences, hoping to attract more fresh young minds to the exciting field of computational biology.

Liz Gibbons

Head of Scientific Content

Liz is a PhD candidate in the Committee on Genetics, Genomics, and Systems Biology at the University of Chicago. She is interested in the genetic mechanisms shaping human gut microbiome ecology and host-microbe interactions. Liz is passionate about making science fun and accessible. As head of the COMBO content team, she works with other volunteers to create workshops that focus on biology, math, and computer science to illustrate new ways of solving problems.

Marida Ianni-Ravn

Communications Officer

Marida is a PhD candidate in Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, where she develops methods to distinguish genetic causes of traits from inherited environmental factors. Marida is passionate about making complex scientific concepts accessible to a broader audience, both through scientific illustration and by participating in outreach events. Additionally, she is having a great time mentoring at a local high school through the iMentor program.

John Novembre, Phd

Faculty Advisor

I got my start in this field through a combination of enjoying computer programming as a hobby and thinking about evolution as one of the world’s most fascinating natural processes. Now, my main research tackles statistical and theoretical problems to help enable discoveries about evolutionary processes and the nature of disease variation. Much of that work is in the context of human genetic variation, which is doubly fascinating because of the connections to fields like linguistics, archaeology, and history.