Support Staff Directory

Office of the COO

Melissa Gentile, CRA, CPA, Interim Chief Operating Officer

Jarrod Cunningham​, Manager
Phone: 312.503.7099
Mailing Address: Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute,
225 E. Chicago Ave., Box 205, Chicago, IL 60611

Express/Courier Address: 303 E. Superior St., 10th Floor, Chicago, IL 60611
Office Location: Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute, Administration, 10th Floor, Room 10.334.02

Information Management

For IM support, please call 312.227.3445, or email SQBCRhelp@luriechildrens.org.

Research Business Operations

Melissa Gentile, Senior Director, Research Business Operations
Phone: 312.503.7062

Diana Favela, Senior Administrative Assistant
Phone: 312.503.7117

Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP)

For the Department/Division & Research Program that each of the following
is responsible for, please reference this listing:

The fax number for any member within the Office of Sponsored Programs is 312.503.7059.

Robin Lewis, MPA, CPRA, CRA, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Phone: 312.503.7063

Diana Favela, Senior Administrative Assistant
Phone: 312.503.7117

Kris Martens-Ackeret, JD, Associate Director, Sponsored Programs
Phone: 312.503.7079

Kai Jackson, MS, Assistant Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Phone: 312.503.7047

Maura Carroll, BA,CRA Senior Sponsored Programs Administrator
Phone: 312.503.7341

Karen Dziedzic, BS, CRA, Senior Sponsored Programs Administrator
Phone: 312.503.7046

Sharon Feldman, Senior Sponsored Programs Administrator
Phone: 312.503.7085

Research Support Office 

Amanda Schall, Assistant Director, Research Support Office
Phone: 312.503.7004

Diana Abdi, Research Adminstrative Coordinator
Phone: 312.503.7319

Nancy Dudek, Research Adminstrative Coordinator
Phone: 312.503.7431

Denise Lilly, Research Administrative Coordinator
Phone: 312.503.7656

Gary Mayberry, Research Administrative Coordinator
Phone:  312.503.7599

Victoria Ramos, Research Administrative Coordinator
Phone:  312.503.7602

Kaiji Evans, Research Grants Specialist

Suswara Rayabandla, Research Grants Specialist
Phone:  312.503.7045

Sponsored Research Finance Office (SRFO)

Christine Sorensen, Director, Sponsored Research Finance Office
Phone: 312.503.7065

Diana Favela, Senior Administrative Assistant
Phone: 312.503.7117

Cristina Goldsmith, Assistant Director
Phone: 312.503.7005

Christianne Montgomery, Research Financial Portfolio Manager
Phone: 312.503.7006

Kavishka Munaretto, Research Financial Portfolio Manager
Phone: 312.503.7682

Rashad White, Research Financial Portfolio Manager
Phone: 312.503.7008

Viridiana Santillan, Financial Specialist
Phone:  312.503.7017

Ruben Galvez, Financial Speciliast
Phone: 312.503.7037

Benetta Thomas, Financial Specialist
Phone: 312.503.1422

Alexander Oehmke, Research Accountant
Phone: 312.503.7021

Sarry Chavannes, Research Accountant
Phone: 312.503.7033

Elizabeth Lozano, Accounts Receivable Manager
Phone: 312.503.7009

Diane Neals, Accounts Receivable Specialist
Phone: 312.503.7002

Julia Zhu, Quality Assurance Compliance Manager
Phone: 312.503.7034

Virginia Lu, Data Analyst, Quality Assurance & Compliance
Phone: 312.503.7021

Research Financial Operations

Colleen Garbe, Senior Project Manager
Phone: 312.503.7033

Wiley Shapiro, Senior Financial Analyst
Phone: 312.503.1423

Office of Research Development (ORD)

Yekaterina Baker, MA, Director, Office of Research Development
Phone: 312.503.7119

Beatrice Apikos-Bennett, Program Coordinator

Michelle Corbett, MS, Associate Director, Learning & Development
Phone: 312.227.7484

Lucia De Almeida, PhD, Research Scientist Navigator, Basic and Preclinical Science
Phone: 312.503.7563

Daniella Espinoza, Research Educator, Basic and Preclinical Science

Melissa Gesbeck, PhD, Research Scientist Navigator, Community, Population Health, and Outcomes 

Eric Goodwin, Commuications Specialist
Phone: 312.227.7043

Erin Lynch, Lead Research Educator
Phone: 312.503.7025

Karen Nachay, Science Writer

Priya Tripathi, MS, Research Educator, Human Subjects Research

Office of Research Integrity & Compliance (ORIC)

Jessica Huening Poppenk, JD, Director, Office of Research Integrity & Compliance
Phone: 312.503.7120

Tricia Eifler, MBA, CIP, Associate Director, Office of Research Integrity & Compliance
Phone: 312.503.7077

Kaleigh Sands, MS, CIP, Assistant Director, Office of Research Integrity & Compliance
Phone: 312.503.7058

Carol Macpherson, CCRC, Clinical Research Quality Assurance & Improvement Specialist
Phone: 312.503.7028

Allison Harris, MPP, CIP, Senior Research Compliance Coordinator (Single IRB Coordinator)
Phone: 312.503.2657

Jennie Thai, Senior Research Compliance Coordinator, IRB/IBC
Phone: 312.503.7027

Kristen Brown, MS, Research Compliance Coordinator 
Phone: 312.503.7641

Khrystyna Helner, MA, LPC, Research Compliance Coordinator
Phone: 312.503.7663

Amber Kofman, MS, MPH, Research Compliance Coordinator, IRB/IBC
Phone: 312.503.7016 

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

For general and Cayuse-related IRB inquiries, please contact: irb@luriechildrens.org 

Jennifer Rubin, MD, IRB Chair

Denise Rizzo, PharmD, IRB Vice Chair
Phone: 312.503.7088

Rachel G Robison, MD, IRB Vice Chair

Sara Katsanis, MS, IRB Vice Chair

Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)

General IBC Inquiries: IBC@luriechildrens.org

Vamshi Rao, MD, IBC Chair

Clinical Trials Office (CTO)

Ashley Hoambrecker, Director
Phone: 312.503.7122

Eric Gasber, Associate Director
Phone: 312-503-7011

Katie Amsden, Research Project Manager
Phone: 312.503.7173

Theresa Oswald, Clinical Research Operations Manager
Phone: 312.503.1854

Anna De Sonia, Clinical Research Coordinator, Lead
Phone: 312.503.6238

Christian Johnson, Clinical Research Coordinator III

Akhil Aerra, Clinical Research Coordinator I
Phone: 312.503.7013

Lab Operations

Greg Taborn, Assistant Director, Basic & Preclinical Sciences
Phone: 312.503.7096