Dr. Parag Vaishampayan is the Division Chief for the Space Biosciences Division at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. From 2020 to 2022, he served as a Space Biology Portfolio Scientist providing overall scientific leadership and direction to maintain the scientific integrity of projects within the Ames Space Biology Portfolio. He supported over 70 active space biology projects to better understand how spaceflight affects living systems in simulated ground-based experiments, the International Space Station (ISS), and preparing future human exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit (BLO).
Biography

Dr. Cekanaviciute is the Ames Research Center Lead for the NASA Human Research Program (HRP), responsible for managing Ames personnel and budget that support HRP.  She is also a Principal Investigator in the Radiation Biophysics Laboratory in the Space Biosciences Research Branch and the course director of the STAR: Spaceflight Technologies, Application and Research training program. She began her career at Ames as a contractor via USRA in 2017, joining civil service in 2020. Dr. Cekanaviciute holds a BA in Neurobiology from Harvard University and a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University.
Biography

Dr. Shirazi is the Bioengineering Branch Chief. She currently also serves as the Space Biology Vertebrate Portfolio Lead at NASA Ames Research Center, working with interdisciplinary teams across the agency, payload developers, and commercial partners to accomplish mission success for the Rodent Research experiments.  She is also the co-director of the Bone and Signaling Lab in the Biosciences Collaborative Laboratory (BCL, aka N288). Her research focuses on better understanding the effects of the space environment (weightlessness and heavy ion radiation) on skeletal structure and strength, with the goal of reducing/preventing bone loss during spaceflight and promoting maximal recovery upon return to Earth.  She is a Principal Investigator for the Polaris RADREADS project, which aims to develop a novel, end-to-end bleed to read device for personalized biodosimetry to assess individualized radiation exposure and response via quantifying circulating miRNA in the blood and using microfluidic technology. 
Biography

Dr. Leveson-Gower is the Assistant Branch Chief for the Bioengineering Branch in the Space Biosciences Division.
Biography

Amela Zanačić is the Branch Chief of the Flight Systems Implementation Branch in the Space Biosciences Division. Her branch develops, implements, and operates bioscience payloads for the International Space Station and Beyond LEO.
Biography

Elizabeth Pane is the acting Branch Chief for the Flight Systems Implementation Branch at NASA Ames Research Center. Previously, she was the Ames Space Biology ISS Portfolio Manager for Cellular and Molecular, Invertebrate, and Microbial flight missions.

Dr. Christina “CJ” Johnson is Chief of the Space Biosciences Research Branch (SCR). She also currently serves as Project Manager for NASA Open Science 101 and Course Director for NASA’s Spaceflight Technology, Applications, and Research (STAR) training program. Prior to joining NASA Ames Research Center, CJ served as the Complement Scientist for spaceflight analogs and Principal Investigator of the Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA) at NASA Johnson Space Center. CJ’s work in space biosciences and spaceflight analogs provide an ideal opportunity to pursue her interests in the physiological and psychological impacts of space travel, as well as open science, science training and education, scientific leadership, and international collaboration. CJ has a PhD in Physiology & Biophysics, an MBA in Leadership & Project Management, and dual BS in Applied Physics (Medical) and Cell & Molecular Biology. 

Medaya Torres is the Deputy Branch Chief for the Space Biosciences Research Branch at NASA Ames Research Center.

Dr. Amy Gresser is the Space Biology Portfolio Manager at NASA Ames Research Center. She is responsible for managing a portfolio of over 70 active grants focused on development and operations for space biology experiments performed on the International Space Station and other free-flyer platforms or utilizing ground-based analog systems.
Biography

Dr. Jonathan Galazka is the acting Ames Space Biology Portfolio Scientist. Before serving in this role, he was the NASA GeneLab Project Scientist in 2017, joining the Space Biosciences Research Branch in 2015. Before this, he was a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at NASA Ames Research Center studying the genetic and epigenetic response of yeast to microgravity exposure and a Postdoctoral Scholar at Oregon State University, where he studied the mechanisms of heterochromatin establishment and the role of heterochromatin in maintaining genome structure. Jonathan attained his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, studying biomass degradation and conversion by filamentous fungi and yeasts at the Energy Biosciences Institute. In his free time, Jonathan enjoys spending time with his family in nature.
Biography