果冻传媒

Daniella Gamboa Pabon was an exceptional colleague, a tremendously talented and aspiring scientist, a caring friend, and overall, a very happy person. She was the person who I talked to prior to joining the ASAN lab, helped with my Biochemistry course work that I was struggling in, explained to me the wet lab techniques that I could not easily comprehend, helped me work through the struggle of graduate school life, and was lent a kind ear. I helped her with her statistical analysis needs, helped her write papers, helped understand complex statistical models, work on IT issues, and bioinformatic analysis. She mentored one of the undergraduates in the Translation Neuropsychiatric Patient issue I am coordinating, and she helped me run the Polygenic Risk Team. She bought me dinner while I was working on my F31 grant and brought me power aide while I was sick. We planned on publishing papers and going to conferences together, going to be Dr. Andari鈥檚 post-docs after our graduation, and were planning a big surprise party for Dr. Andari after she got tenure. Both of us, with Dr. Andari and with our research coordinator Gwen, worked together to push the boundaries of autism spectrum disorder and COVID-19 research. I even gave Dani advice about how to work on her trigger finger issue she was having while analyzing animal videos. Dani was like my big sister in the ASAN lab (despite the fact I was slightly older than her). We both worked together and knew that we could rely on each other to help the other out, even outside of work when she would look after my pet bird, Eggbert, while I was out of town.

Just 20 minutes prior to receiving the devastating phone call from Dr. Andari, I just called her cell phone and sent her a text message asking about how much storage she needed for the animal model footage she needed to analyze. I just stood there in disbelief after learning that she had died in a tragic accident 鈥� I was simply stunned and at a loss of word. All I could think of was this quote from Former Chief Justice Earl Warren at JFK鈥檚 state funeral 鈥� 鈥渨e are saddened; we are stunned; we are perplexed鈥�our whole world is poorer because of [her] loss鈥�. As my department chair, Dr. Smith told me, there is simply nothing to say after a loss like this, there are not words that can enumerate how I feel right now to lose my close coworker and friend Dani.

Daniella was going to graduate before I was, and her loss left an ever-gaping hole in our entire intellectual family. Now as Dr. Andari鈥檚 sole Doctoral Student, it falls to me alone to carry on the legacy of Daniella, however I can, by continuing my work she cherished so much, supporting the lab and Dr. Andari the best I can, assisting with finishing her projects as I am able to. To honor her memory, I will continue to dedicate my life to pushing forward the frontier of Autism Spectrum Disorder I know she would want me to do.

I will make you proud Dani 鈥� I promise.

Loving yours,
Chris 鈥淕abby鈥� Vento 鈥� Bioinformatics Ph. D. Candidate, Department of Psychiatry 听
Laboratory of Autism and Social Affective Neuroscience (ASAN)听

To Dani 鈥�

鈥淗ow are you, boss?鈥�, 鈥淚 came to give you an update and talk about the animals,鈥� 鈥淗ow do you do it, boss? You are so nice, your prediction error is 0, you are scary, boss, because you can predict the future and you can tell what someone is thinking about,鈥� 鈥淚 need to schedule my committee meeting and discuss my graduation,鈥� 鈥渢hank you lab mom,鈥� 鈥淚 want to continue working with you, but as a post-doc so my salary is a little better,鈥� 鈥淐an鈥檛 you think of a more complex brain region to look at?鈥�, 鈥淵ou look so nice, boss, can I help with anything, Dr. A?鈥� Dani would ask these questions or would say these kind statements that were full of life, energy, and gratitude, something that I will not have the chance to hear anymore. I can still feel her intellectual vivacity vibrating through the walls of silence and her positive energy and smile filling the room with joy and excitement.听

Daniella was my first Ph.D. student that I was very proud to have her in my lab after her rotation. She was rotating with two other labs who are experts on animal research, and I was worried she wouldn鈥檛 be able to join my lab, given that I work primarily in human research. This didn鈥檛 stop her in believing in me and my ideas to push frontiers forward on COVID-related research and autism research. I will always be grateful for Dani for trusting in me, for choosing my lab, for pushing animal research in my lab, and for driving autism research forward in the scientific field. I have been so lucky to have worked with her for the last few years.听

Dani, today you are an author on at least three papers, in which you found a potential new treatment for COVID-related diseases, a potential new treatment for reducing anxiety during social听听learning and found the role of a brain region in social learning, novel findings that will be published in scientific journals and cited a thousand times. Your work is exceptional and remarkable! You will survive by these manuscripts and by the love that听听your family, friends, and I have for you. You opened the road for years of new lines of research in the autism field.听

Dani, I am remembering you and will always do every time someone calls me (Dr. A). I will remember your kindness and respectful gratitude towards me during easy and tough times. I will remember your flexibility to change every time I need to update an aim or a project. I will remember your work integrity, independence, and exceptional talent setting the bar very high every time I want to recruit a new student or a post-doc. And I will remember your love, passion and determination for science every time I am facing a rejection or a challenge.听

You will be missed dearly and with a tear from my heart and with big sadness, I sign this statement by wishing you a thousand blessings in your new world of piece and serenity.听

Until we meet again my Cherie, my first Ph.D. student that I loved as my daughter 鈥μ�

With love,
Dr. A.

鈥� Dr. Elissar Andari, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry
Laboratory of Autism & Social Affective Neuroscience (ASAN)

Daniella was as brilliant a student as I have ever had the opportunity to meet. As one of her advisors, we worked together every day, pushing forward the boundaries of what we understand about the science of empathy and social learning. And every day, she would impress me with her creativity, her effortless ingenuity, and above all, her lightness. She brought a levity, a straightforward attitude, and a passion, to everything she did. And it seemed like there was nothing she could not do.

There was something special about Daniella from the very first moment we interacted. I had been on her interview panel for the Neuroscience Ph.D. track and saw right away her enormous potential and casual intelligence. I recommended her very strongly and invited her to rotate in my laboratory. When she came to my lab to do a rotation, I offered her the moon; and when she decided to join the laboratory of Dr. Andari instead, I was enormously jealous. But then I found out that she wanted to work with both of us as a collaboration, and I realized that for Daniella, the moon wasn鈥檛 enough. She wanted the sun as well.

Daniella鈥檚 sudden loss has left a large hole in our hearts that may never be filled. Every day was an adventure to see what she would do next, and to wonder what she would do in life. She was a constant source of joy and fire to those who knew her. She will never be forgotten.

鈥� Dr. James Burkett, assistant professor in the Department of Neurosciences