Brains Across the Bay: Paths to a PhD
Curious about what it takes to earn a PhD, conduct groundbreaking research, and build a career in academia?
Join NSBE SF Bay Area for an evening featuring two Stanford researchers who will share their educational journeys, research experiences, and advice for students and early-career professionals interested in graduate school, research, biotechnology, healthcare, and engineering.
The event will be moderated by Doug Purcell, Programs Chair of NSBE SF Bay Area and Technical Writer at Supermicro. Following the presentations, NSBE mentees will participate as panelists and lead a live Q&A session with the speakers.
Whether you're considering graduate school, exploring a research career, or simply curious about how scientific discoveries become life-changing therapies, this event is for you.
Moderator
Doug Purcell
Technical Writer at Supermicro and Programs Chair, NSBE SF Bay Area
Speakers
Shivesh Anand, PhD
Talk Title: Breaking into Academic Research as an Engineer: Tech-Inspired Solutions for Human Health
Dr. Shivesh Anand is an NWO Rubicon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University, specializing in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. He completed his PhD at the MERLN Institute (Maastricht, Netherlands), where he applied biomaterials, biofabrication, and biomodulation strategies to develop nano-engineered scaffolds for tympanic membrane regeneration. His global research trajectory is highly multidisciplinary, including research appointments at Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (United States), A*STAR (Singapore), IBEC Barcelona (Spain), and Aarhus University (Denmark). Currently focused on active regenerative engineering, he investigates how physical forces and environmental cues can be leveraged to modulate cellular response and promote tissue regeneration.
Claudia Del Toro Runzer, PhD
Talk Title: Building a Research Career in Medical Science: Developing Therapies that Change Lives
Dr. Claudia Del Toro Runzer is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University, specializing in gene therapy and regenerative medicine. Originally from Mexico, she earned her bachelor’s degree in biotechnology at Tec de Monterrey before discovering a passion for advanced therapeutics during a six-month internship at the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (United States). She subsequently pursued a master’s degree in Regenerative Biology and Medicine at the Dresden University of Technology (Germany), completing her thesis on islet transplantation for diabetes treatment at the MERLN Institute (Netherlands). She remained at the MERLN Institute to earn her PhD, where she focused on combining messenger RNA with novel biomaterials to promote bone regeneration in difficult-to-heal fractures. Currently, she leverages her interdisciplinary expertise to advance durable, clinically relevant precision gene engineering.
Event Details
📅 July 8, 2026
🕡 6:30 PM–8:00 PM PT
💻 Virtual | Google Meet
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