Dr. Chao graduated with honors from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.S. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and received her M.D. from University of California, Irvine. As a Howard Hughes Scholar at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), Dr. Chao specialized in genomic technologies and cancer genetics. More recently her research has focused on novel methods for interpreting DNA variants. Dr. Chao completed her training in Clinical Molecular Genetics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and prior to joining Ambry, served as Associate Director of the Genetic Diagnostic Lab at the University of Pennsylvania.
Clinical Directors
Wenqi Zeng, M.D., Ph.D.
Laboratory Director
Dr. Zeng received his M.D. from Xiangya Medical School of Central South University and practiced in Neuropsychiatric specialty in China. After subsequently earning a Ph.D. in Molecular Pathology at Otago Univerisy, New Zealand, he accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and discovered SLC19A3 gene defective in biotin-responsive basal ganglia disease under mentorship of Dr. James Gusella. Dr. Zeng completed the Clinical Molecular Genetics Fellowship Program at Harvard Medical School and served as Co-Director of Clinical Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory at City of Hope National Cancer Center and Associate Medical Director at MEDomics prior to joining Ambry in 2011. Dr. Zeng is certified in clinical molecular genetics by the American Board of Medical Genetics. Additionaly, Dr. Zeng holds lab director licenses in California and New York and has earned a Certificate of Qualification in both molecular genetics and molecular oncology.
Sharon Mexal, Ph.D.
Director of Clinical Operations
Dr. Mexal graduated with honors from the University of New Mexico with a B.S. in Biology and with a Ph.D. from the Human Medical Genetics Program at the University of Colorado Medical Campus. Dr. Mexal completed her post-doctoral research at the University of Colorado at Boulder Institute for Behavioral Genetics. Prior to joining Ambry in 2009, she worked as a senior scientist at Cenomed Biosciences, a start-up pharmaceutical company, where she screened novel compounds for anti-psychotic and anti-emetic drug activity. Dr. Mexal has been active in medical genetics research for over a decade and has published numerous articles on the genetics of schizophrenia and tobacco addiction.
Sha Tang, Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Clinical Genomics
Dr. Tang graduated from Wuhan University with a B.S. in Biochemistry and received her M.S. in Molecular Genetics from Chinese Academy of Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. degree in Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics studying mitochondrial genomics in nematodes from University of California, Riverside. Dr. Tang then worked at University of California, Irvine as a postdoctoral scholar sponsored by a two-year Research Fellowship with a focus on elucidating molecular etiology for a number of genetic disorders, including cystinosis and optic atrophy. Dr. Tang completed her training in Clinical Molecular Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine prior to joining Ambry where she currently specializes in molecular genetics and diagnosis of mitochondrial disorders.
Chai-Ling Gau, Ph.D.
Laboratory Director
Dr. Gau is certified in clinical molecular genetics by the American Board of Medical Genetics. She graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Molecular Cell Biology and obtained her Ph.D. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She remained at UCLA for her post-doctoral fellowship studying potential gene therapy vectors for treating arginase deficiency. Dr. Gau completed her training in clinical molecular genetics from Cedars Sinai / UCLA Medical Center prior to joining Ambry.
Brigette Tippin Davis, Ph.D.
Technical Laboratory Director
Dr. Tippin received a B.S. in biological sciences and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Southern California where she received an NIH-NIA fellowship to research defects in DNA replication and repair mechanisms leading to human disease. She completed her post-doctoral training as an NIH Fellow in Clinical Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) / Cedars Sinai Medical Center and is certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics. Prior to joining Ambry, Dr. Tippin was on the faculty at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in the Division of Medical Genetics where her research focused on the development of novel molecular therapeutics for rare-genetic disorders, including lysosomal storage diseases and inherited forms of colon cancer.
Shareef Nahas, Ph.D.
Technical Director
Dr. Nahas graduated from the University of California, Irvine with a B.S. in Biological Sciences. He received both his M.S. in Physiological Sciences and his Ph.D. in Molecular Toxicology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Following completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Nahas was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UCLA, where he specialized in the molecular genetics of DNA repair / immunodeficiency disorders. Prior to Ambry, Dr. Nahas completed his post-doctoral training as an NIH Fellow in Clinical Molecular Genetics from Cedars Sinai / UCLA Medical Center and is certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics.