Andrew Levin, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer /
Chief Scientific Officer
897Andrew Levin, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer /
Chief Scientific Officer
Andrew Levin founded Kephera Diagnostics in 2016. Before that, he spent over 20 years in the development and commercialization of diagnostic test products for emerging infectious diseases including HIV, HTLV, Lyme disease, Cysticercosis, Hydatid Disease, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, SARS, Anthrax and others, and brought five assays through clinical trials to FDA clearance as in vitro diagnostics. Andrew received his A.B. in Biochemistry from Princeton University and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin. He carried out research at the Centre de Génétique Moléculaire in France under a NATO grant, and completed postdoctoral training at Harvard University prior to founding his first company, Immunetics.
Nadya Karaseva, M.S.
Senior Scientist and R&D Manager
902Nadya Karaseva, M.S.
Senior Scientist and R&D Manager
Nadya Karaseva received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biology with a major in Immunology from St. Petersburg State University in St. Petersburg, Russia. She was a project leader at a biotech company in Russia responsible for development of ELISA kits for infectious diseases prior to moving to the U.S. She subsequently worked as a scientist and project leader for a point-of-care diagnostics company in the Boston area, developing microfluidics-based immunoassays. Prior to joining Kephera, Nadya held a position as Senior Scientist at Immunetics in charge of developing a variety of infectious disease point-of-care assays.
Jeremy Schonhorn, Ph.D.
Director of Product Development
907Jeremy Schonhorn, Ph.D.
Director of Product Development
Jeremy Schonhorn received his B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University, and his Ph.D. from Boston University. He brings more than 20 years of experience as a developer of commercial RUO and IVD products. He was a Principal Scientist at Jana Care, where he led the development of a quantitative lateral flow test to measure NT proBNP, and was a key contributor to a unique lateral flow cassette for the Aina reader. Before Jana Care, Dr. Schonhorn was Principal Scientist at Diagnostics For All, where he was responsible for development of point-of-care devices to assess vaccination status in children, and paper-based microfluidic devices to assess fever of unknown origin and sepsis. Dr. Schonhorn also worked at Genzyme Diagnostics, where he developed an FDA-approved immunochromatographic assay for C. difficile, and at Hemagen.
Alicia Majeau, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
912Alicia Majeau, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Alicia Majeau is a Research Scientist focused on parasitic disease diagnostic development. She received her B.S. from Hofstra University, with research focused on molecular development in a model Streptomyces species. After an internship in Uganda, she realized her passion for interfacing microbiology research and global public health and pursued her M.S. in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, conducting research as part of a team in the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute. Alicia received her PhD. in Tropical Medicine from Tulane University and completed her post-doctoral training as a Fogarty Global Health Fellow at Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán in Mérida, México. Throughout her doctoral and post-doctoral studies, she focused on various aspects of Chagas Disease, particularly diagnostic development, and was excited to join Kephera and continue to pursue development of improved diagnostics for neglected and emerging diseases.
Santosh George, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
913Santosh George, Ph.D.
Research Scientist
Santosh George is a Research Scientist with expertise in developing innovative immunological and molecular tools to screen for various neglected parasitic and viral diseases. He has a PhD in Veterinary Sciences (Molecular Parasitology) from Universiteit Gent, Belgium. Prior to joining Kephera Diagnostics, he worked at Yale School of Medicine as a postdoctoral fellow where he was involved in developing novel molecular tools to monitor for emerging drug resistance in human STH infections, and establishing a molecular laboratory to screen for the presence of the tick-borne pathogen Babesia. To further his passion for molecular research in the field of infectious diseases, he joined Kephera Diagnostics where he continues to work on developing diagnostic tools.
Hetali Shah, M.S.
Senior Research Associate
914Hetali Shah, M.S.
Senior Research Associate
Hetali Shah received her B.S and M.S. in Biotechnology from University of Mumbai and her second M.S. in Biological Sciences-Project Management for Life Sciences degree from University of Massachusetts Lowell. While at UML, she worked as graduate assistant in Biochemistry and Molecular techniques laboratories focusing on recombinant protein production and purification in E. coli cultures. Her work in hematopathology laboratory in Kokilben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital gave her an exposure to work with patient blood samples and different diagnostic laboratory testing including diagnostic tests for leukemia and Malaria.
Yevgeniy Studentsov, M.D.
Senior Research Associate
915Yevgeniy Studentsov, M.D.
Senior Research Associate
Yevgeniy Studentsov is a Senior Research Associate involved in development of diagnostic tools for emerging viral and parasitic diseases. In 1994, he received his MD from the I. I. Mechnikov State Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. He studied HPV serology and pathogenesis during his postdoctoral research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He later became an Instructor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he worked on several initiatives, including infectious disease treatment and diagnosis. He has extensive experience in infectious disease test design, development, and manufacturing in both industrial and academic settings.
Amy Songvilay
Research Assistant
916Amy Songvilay
Research Assistant
Amy Songvilay earned her B.S. in Human Biology from the University of California, San Diego in 2022. During her time at UC San Diego, Amy worked as an Undergraduate Instructional Assistant and Tutor for the School of Biological Sciences where she taught genetics, general biology, cell biology, and physiology courses to over a thousand students. As a UCSD ScienceBridge intern, she gained experience in biotechnology by producing ELISA, protein purification, and bacterial transformation kits for instructional use in high school classrooms throughout Southern California. Amy is excited to be continuing her career at Kephera as she contributes to the development of various infectious disease point-of-care assays.
Addison Deisher
Research Associate
917Addison Deisher
Research Associate
Addison (Addi) Deisher received her BA in Biology from Pepperdine University in 2021. During her time at university, she TA'd multiple biology classes and participated in a summer research program in drug discovery through Keck Graduate Institute. Additionally, she participated in Pepperdine's Kenya program which sparked her passion for global health issues, particularly emerging and neglected infectious diseases. Before coming to Kephera, she worked as a lab manager/research assistant in the Jiang Lab where her main project was characterizing B cell clonal development post vaccination.
Pankti Thakkar
Research Associate
1401Pankti Thakkar
Research Associate
Pankti Thakkar attained her B.S and M.S degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Purdue University, Indiana. During her thesis, she focused on developing a signal enhanced lateral flow assay for early HIV detection. This revealed the remarkable potential of point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases, sparking her determination to make meaningful contributions in this field. Prior to her master's pursuit, she engaged in diverse research endeavors such as non-invasive glucose measurement through deep lung air and working in a startup dedicated to antibiotic susceptibility testing.
