Our Team

Curiosity carried her from the Allegheny Mountains to the Sangre de Cristos of Santa Fe, where she studied the great books of the Western canon at St. John's College. In love with both the high desert and science, she began her career at Los Alamos National Laboratory, then earned a Ph.D. at Rockefeller University, studying the neuro-evolutionary origins of social bonding. Midway through, she became first a mother (planned), then a single mother (not planned - whoops). The thesis refused to stay at the lab bench: social attachment became a living experiment.

Motherhood also grounded her in an everyday reality: biomedical science advancing at a dizzying pace while healthcare for most Americans has been getting worse. Every chapter since has sought to close that gap - a company developing a fentanyl vaccine to prevent overdose, a machine-learning tool for RAINN helping stalking victims anticipate danger. Spending the pandemic in the South Bronx zip code hit hardest by COVID-19, she asked the obvious question: if Amazon can deliver anything in 48 hours, why can't we get PCR results that fast? Her company, Wellstand Health, made it happen - affordably, anywhere in America.

Post-pandemic, she returned to academia as Associate Dean of Health Sciences at Fordham University, building critical workforce pipelines for a hemorrhaging healthcare system. In 2026, Sarah Lawrence recruited her to lead the Institute for Genomics - bringing her recombinant career to build an engine of innovation, and to show that technology can build trust between patients and providers rather than erode it.

Agility should be Carli's middle name. Her first role out of graduate school dropped her in the deep end. As an inpatient pediatric genetic counselor, no two days looked the same. It was there she first saw what can happen when multiple disciplines actually collaborate and what happens when they don't. She became particularly fascinated watching how rapid genome sequencing transformed how quickly families could get answers and how much depended on whether the right people knew what to do with those answers. That fascination led her to make a move into industry as a Medical Science Liaison where she worked across commercial, clinical, and scientific teams. It opened her eyes to how results move from sample to healthcare provider to patient and what can get lost along the way. She became fluent in translating genomic science for the people that actually have to deliver it. Spotting the gap between what's possible and what's actually happening, then moving it forward is her throughline. That is exactly what brought her back to Sarah Lawrence. Now she listens to problems, builds pathways, and connects people to the right corners of the field. The gap will move. She never lost sight of it so she will be there.

Claire likes to build structures that become new spaces for novel learning experiences. She first learned her trade as a cancer genetic counselor at Mount Sinai, working with people learning to navigate the impact of their own genetic information, then as an educator in genetic counseling training programs supporting future healthcare providers to develop their own craft. In every encounter, you can expect Claire to mix it up, add a twist to the plan to keep you on your toes and asking questions. She melds perspectives and combines methods to make something different and engaging for anyone involved, so everyone feels included and invested in the cause or the charge or the challenge at hand. She loves being on a crew; she can't get enough of the comradery, the collective effort, the jobs made easier by working with others. She loves the projects that recruit all of the crew's minds and muscles, all our ideas and efforts, projects like collaboratively designing a new master's program in Genome Health Analysis with New York University. Yep, with Claire, you can bet we'll be getting our hands dirty together as we dig deeply into the issues, assumptions, goals, and intentions of the present scenario. She fixates on what's real and right in front of us while constantly comparing the work in progress with the blueprint of success, the schematic of what's possible as we break new ground and establish a footprint, a foundation of an outpost in a new space, maybe even a stronghold in strategic territory.

Armed with a Master's in Medicinal Chemistry and a PhD in Biochemistry, she moved through Medical Affairs at Bayer and Shire in Italy - where she worked at the intersection of clinical science and commercialization - a medical writing collaboration in Sweden, and an operational and administrative role at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Every institution she has worked with - across basic science, pharma, and academic medicine - has shared one underlying goal: the well-being of patients. That thread has followed her across every border and role change, and it still guides how she approaches her work today.

Working across such different environments gave Debora an ability to see problems from multiple angles at once, and to narrow the distance between them. Clear communication, transparency, and a positive attitude characterize how she works - with anyone, at any level, in any setting.

Today, as Executive Administrative Assistant at the Institute for Genomics at Sarah Lawrence College, she brings that same orientation to her daily work - keeping operations running, supporting the people around her, and making sure nothing important gets lost.

Her training in genetic counseling gave her the clinical language. Her lived experience gave her something harder to teach: a precise understanding of where the system exhausts the people inside it and what it means to have someone in your corner who can carry some of that weight. She became that person. First for herself. Then for others.

At the Institute, she builds relationships across the patient advocacy landscape, connects with patients and communities directly, and ensures the patient and advocate voice is present in everything the Institute creates and delivers.

Her throughline is simple: listen to the people navigating the system; then make sure someone acts on what they say. In her experience, there is always a way forward.

• Gillian Hooker
• Eric Dishman
• Diane Baker - Emerita