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About Us

About the Office of Staff Scientists

The Office of Staff Scientists is a new group that exists to foster an informed and engaged community that serves, develops, empowers, and promotes career scientists and advances research across Emory. The board of the Office of Staff Scientists is a completely volunteer group. If you're interested in working with us, please let us know!

Melissa Murphy, PhD Director

Dr. Murphy is a developmental psychologist with a PhD in Educational Psychology who is passionate about empowering individuals and teams to reach their potential. She is an Associate Scientist in the Department of Human Genetics (DOHG) and serves as the co-chair for the DOHG Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Her work understanding the experiences of staff scientists at Emory led to establishing the Emory Staff Scientist Office.

After finishing her doctoral work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dr. Murphy completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She was on faculty in the School of Education at Notre Dame of Maryland University prior to moving to Atlanta. In 2017, she joined Emory as part of the 3q29 Project. In her free time, she loves playing tennis.

Melissa headshot

Thais (Federici) Buchman, PhD Associate Director (Content & Operations)

Dr. Buchman is a scientist with a degree in Veterinary Medicine and a background in Neurosciences, as well as Gene and Cell Therapy.  From pilot experiments to GLP studies, Dr. Buchman has been managing projects involving preclinical animal research for over fifteen years.  Dr. Buchman is currently the leader of the Translational Large Animal Research team in Dr. Boulis’ laboratory, as well as the Director of the Translational Neuroscience Core (TNC). She has worked at Emory University since 2007.

Thais headshot

Pritha Bagchi, PhD Associate Director (Communications & Outreach)

Pritha Bagchi received her Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology. As a graduate student, she joined Dr. Christoph Fahrni’s lab, where her major contribution was characterization of a novel set of colorless, water soluble, air-stable Cu(I) affinity standards with varied binding affinities. After her Ph.D., Pritha worked with Dr. Melissa Kemp for a year to develop assays to selectively detect redox-sensitive proteins from cellular extracts using Redox-DIGE. She then received the ORISE fellowship and moved to CDC, where she measured urinary metabolites of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using UPLC-MS/MS to assess national exposure levels to VOCs originating from tobacco smoke and other sources. Pritha is currently the Core Director (Analytical Services) in EIPC, where she oversees the daily operations including sample management, sample processing, data analysis and reporting. Additionally, she provides pre-consultation to clients and helps them interpreting the results. In 2018, Pritha was elected as the Sponsor Coordinator for the Southeastern Association of Shared Resources (SEASR). She is also the Program Coordinator of the Atlanta Athens Mass Spectrometry Discussion Group (AAMSDG).

Candela Manfredi, PhD Associate Director (DEI Advocacy)

Dr. Manfredi  received a bachelor’s degree in biology in Argentina, and  graduated as Ph.D in Molecular Biology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, in Spain. As a doctoral student, she   was trained in protein purification, biochemistry, and microbiology techniques focused on DNA repair mechanisms in bacteria.

Candela was a visiting postdoctoral fellow at National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, where she got involved with a colon cancer research project and she gained expertise in human cellular and molecular biology techniques.

Dr. Manfredi joined Emory University in 2013 and was appointed as Assistant Research Scientist in early 2018. She works in the Pediatrics Department in cystic fibrosis research, under the supervision of Professor Eric Sorscher. Her research is focused on the understanding of rare mutations of CFTR gene that causes cystic fibrosis, and the relevance of these molecular defects to regulatory approval and patient access to CFTR modulators. Also, she is part of a multidisciplinary team of researchers working on high-throughput screening platforms for discovery and validation of potential new therapies for the disease. 

During her free time, Candela enjoys jogging and hiking with her dog Max, and kayaking, cycling and camping with her husband.

Candela Manfredi Headshot

Rich Johnston, PhD Associate Director (Technology)

Rich is the core director of the Emory Integrated Computational Core (EICC). He'd rather be playing ultimate frisbee.

Rich headshot
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