OUR TEAM
inspired by science, fueled by coffee
JENNIFER SRYGLEY SUCRE
Principal Investigator
Jen Sucre grew up in Tallahassee, Florida and graduated from the University of Georgia with degrees in genetics and creative writing (poetry). She graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed pediatrics residency at Washington University in St. Louis and neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship at UCLA. She has been delighted to call Vanderbilt and Nashville home since 2016. Outside of lab, Jen enjoys rowing,writing, and adventuring with her 3 sons and 2 dogs.

CHRIS JETTER
Laboratory Manager
Chris Jetter is a master of learning new methods, and is especially facile with RNA in situ hybridization, organotypic co-culture, and precision cut lung slices. He is without question the glue that holds the lab together. He's also mastered the art of the qPCR mix tape.

NICK NEGRETTI
Post-doctoral fellow
Nick grew up in Eastern Washington and completed his Ph.D. in Molecular Biosciences at Washington State University studying the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. The summary: cook your chicken. Nick moved to Nashville in 2020 to work in the Sucre lab to contribute to big sequencing data analysis and imaging projects. A pile of 3D printed toys can usually be found on his desk along with too many sticky notes.

ALICE HACKETT
Post-doctoral cardiology fellow
Alice grew up in St. Louis and graduated from Washington University. She completed her medical training at St. Louis University and pediatric residency at Rush University. Alice studies pulmonary vasculogenesis and pulmonary hypertension after neonatal lung injury.

MEAGHAN RANSOM
Post-doctoral neonatology fellow

CLAIRE BUNN
Undergraduate researcher
Claire is a senior undergraduate student and Foundation Fellow at the University of Georgia majoring in genetics and minoring in statistics. Aspiring to obtain an MD/PhD, she hopes to combine her love of scientific research with a career in medicine serving patients. At UGA, she serves as a campus tour guide, volunteers as a math tutor for children in the local community, and researches protein kinases and their implications in cancer. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, and running.

JOSEPH HIRSH
Research intern
Joseph lives in Cambridge, MA. He currently attends Gann Academy, where he pursues his interests in computer science, math, and writing. He is fascinated by the interplay of biology and machine learning. With hearty curiosity and a desire to serve, Joe enjoys studying cybersecurity, programming, history, and literature, participating in Model UN, and managing Gann’s student paper. Beyond academics, Joe loves playing piano and soccer, running, reading, and time with family.

SAMUEL HIRSH
Research intern
Sam lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts and attends high school at Gann Academy. He plays two varsity sports and enjoys studying biology, math, and computer science. He is an editor for his school’s newspaper, plays guitar, and likes to spend time with friends. Last summer, he founded and directed an online camp and raised money for the Massachusetts COVID-19 Relief Fund. He also thinks Australian Quokkas (Setonix brachyurus) are super cute

MEREDITH CAMPBELL
Lab alumna: Post-doctoral neonatology fellow
Dr. Campbell is an assistant professor of neonatology at Virginia Commonwealth University. As a neonatology fellow, she was in Dr. Sucre’s lab from 2018-2021. Her research is focused on improving long term cardiopulmonary outcomes for infants born extremely premature through a clinical and translational approach. She uses longitudinal cohort studies and data science to better understand complications of extreme prematurity including bronchopulmonary dysplasia and pulmonary hypertension. Dr. Campbell’s work was supported with an NIH T32 Grant, and the Marshall Klaus Perinatal Neonatal Research Award.
