
Dr. Riley Bove - principal investigator
Riley’s first academic passion was anthropology, which she pursued at Harvard College (Phi Beta Kappa), and through a Fulbright grant in Mali. She obtained her MD from Harvard Medical School in 2007, completed her residency in the combined Massachusetts General Hospital – Brigham and Women’s Hospital Neurology program, a clinical research fellowship at the Partners MS Center, and a Masters Degree through Harvard Medical School’s Clinical Investigator Training Program. She has received research support from the NIH and the National MS Society, among others. Riley is board-certified in Neurology and joined the UCSF Faculty in 2015. Her publication record can be found here and here.
Fellows
Dr. Valerie Block – fellow
Dr. Block trained as a physical therapist (PT) in Barcelona (Spain) at the Ramon Llull University. She practiced as a neuro PT clinician till 2013, then completed her doctorate from UCSF/SFSU in 2016. She is now a postdoctoral scholar at UCSF. Dr. Block and Dr. Gelfand piloted a longitudinal observational study (FITriMS), using continuous physical activity monitoring in people with MS. They have also set up a STEPSCore for acquisition, storage and analysis of remote physical activity data currently being used in a large international clinical trial (SPI2 study). Dr. Block is collaborating with Dr. Bove and Dr. Gelfand on digital health projects that will lead to improved ability to monitor, evaluate and treat patients in their own homes.
Dr. Wan-Yu Hsu – fellow
Wan-Yu received her PhD in Brain Science in 2014 and did her post-doctoral training in Neuroscape lab at UCSF. Before joining the Bove Lab in 2019, she was a clinical scientist at Halo Nuroscience, Inc. She’s interested in neuromodulation and developing novel neuro-technology-based approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of people living with MS. Her research work can be found here.
Graduate Students
Arpita Gopal - graduate student
Arpita received a BS in Physiology and Neuroscience from UC San Diego, and a DPT from UCSF/SFSU. She's pursuing a PhD in Rehabilitation Science with a focus on Clinically Informed Neurosciences. Her research interests are to identify new strategies and technology to improve rehabilitation and functional outcomes in people with MS. Outside of the lab, She enjoys baking, running, and yoga.
Helga Taylor, MD - graduate student
Dr. Taylor trained as a clinician in Romania at the University Of Medicine And Pharmacy of Tirgu-Mures. After receiving her MD degree, she is now pursuing her Master’s degree in Clinical Research at UCSF. Dr. Taylor joined the Bove Lab in August 2020. She is working with Dr. Bove on a pilot study exploring the influence of exogenous hormones, menstrual cycle, and birth control on Multiple Sclerosis symptoms in women (MenseS). She is also involved in various other projects within the Bove Lab that aim to improve clinical care while developing her skills in research design, statistical analysis, and leadership.
Data and Development Team
Nicolette Miller - programmer
Nicolette received her BS in Computer Science from UC Santa Cruz in 2019. She joined the Bove Lab in 2020 and is currently working on the Open MS BioScreen application, as well as BRIDGE. Nicolette is interested in the intersection of healthcare + technology, and loves working on such impactful applications.
Shane Poole - bioinformatics programmer
Shane studied computer science at 42 Silicon Valley, finishing in 2020 after working as a chemist with the EPA for three years. He completed his undergrad with a BS in Biotechnology from the University of Houston. Shane joined the Bove lab in December 2020 and is working on projects in clinical data management and exploration. He is interested in the application of computational techniques to increase clinical understanding, novel therapeutic targets, and patient outcomes for genetic diseases.

Erica Schleimer - lead software engineer
Erica received her BS in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University. Erica joined the Bove lab in January 2017 and is the technical lead for Open MS BioScreen and BRIDGE. In addition, she advises the MS group on a number of technical solutions. Erica is interested in digital health innovation and developing applications that can help improve care accessibility, delivery, and patient outcomes. Erica was recently recognized with the School of Medicine STAR Achievement Award.
Specialists
Annika Anderson - research coordinator
Annika received a BA in Neurobiology and Gender and Women’s Studies from UC Berkeley in 2018. She joined the Bove Lab in the summer of 2018 and is currently working on projects in hormone and gender-based approaches to care in the MS community. She is interested in the intersections of gender and health.
Kira McPolin – research coordinator
Kira received her BA in Psychology from the University of San Diego in 2019. She joined the Bove Lab in 2020 and is currently working on transferring clinical MS data to BRIDGE, as well as being a coordinator for the EPIC and ORIGINS MS studies. She is interested in the importance of impactful healthcare through innovative research and positive patient experiences.
Will Rowles - research coordinator
Will received his BA in Neuroscience with a focus in neuropharmacology and computational drug design from Pitzer College in 2017. He joined the Bove Lab summer 2017 and is currently working on projects in digital health. Will is interested in the integration of technology and humanistic medicine to better understand, diagnose, and treat patients with neurological diseases.
Former Lab Members
Tanya Krishnakumar - bioinformatics programmer
Chelsea Chen
Alyssa Li
Kelsey Rankin - assistant specialist
Gitanjali Das - intern summer 2017
John Morrissey - research coordinator 2016-2017
Priya Garcha - research coordinator, 2016-2018
Léa Bourgade - intern summer 2017
Mia Carleton
Jason Dierkhising - intern summer 2016
UC Berkeley Students
MTM Students
Four talented Masters in Translational Medicine Program students (2016-2017) worked on Open MS BioScreen as their Capstone project. Christine Rachel Joseph focused on ethical and social implications. Zian 'Zane' Liu focused on regulatory compliance and IP, identifying strategies that would mitigate regulatory burden. Stephanie Nemec's focus was enhancing user interaction. And Arash Nourian tackled architecture development.
Fung Fellowship Students
Four UC Berkeley students with diverse backgrounds were embedded in our group as part of the Fung Fellowship for Wellness and Technology Innovation: Apollo Jain, Megha Majumder, Alankrita Dayal, and Joshua Price (left to right). They share a collective vision of leveraging technological advancements to improve diagnosis and treatment processes for patients and are each individually committed to applying their particular skillsets to push this vision into reality.