The SURPAS Leadership Team

The leadership team is a core group of council members who ensure the smooth-running of SURPAS affairs and progress of the postdoc situation at Stanford and nationwide. We work closely with the rest of the SURPAS Council and Committees, as well as Stanford administration (primarily the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA), VPGE, etc.) to make sure the voices and needs of postdocs are well heard and represented.

Leadership positions are yearlong. With the exception of the mid-year co-chair, elections are typically in June for a leadership transition in July. The mid-year co-chair is elected in January with a one year term, to ensure continuity in leadership. To run for leadership positions, you must be a council member, which means you must have attended at least one meeting prior to leadership elections.

Current SURPAS Leadership

Ande Xiaojie Marini
Co-Chair

Dr. Ande Marini is a second-year postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, evaluating optimal mechanical and physical characteristics of collagen scaffolds for treatment of secondary lymphedema. Her eventual goal is to establish better treatments for this disease and others by understanding the mechanobiology interactions between cells and extracellular matrices. Before coming to Stanford University, Ande completed her PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, during which she developed a localizable controlled release system of regenerative extracellular vesicles for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm. In addition to her research during her graduate training, Ande was heavily involved as president of Pitt’s Biomedical Engineering Society Graduate and as president of the Engineering Graduate Student Organization. Through these roles, she was able to advocate for students’ needs and serve as a liaison between the Bioengineering Department and Engineering School and the graduate students.

As the Co-chair of SURPAS, she intends to work with OPA to address the needs of postdocs. Specifically, she wants to create an explicit framework for postdoc job security in unpredictable circumstances and advocate for additional benefits for postdocs. In her free time, Ande enjoys hiking, reading, playing video games, watching anime, and hanging out with friends.

Meryem Talbo
Co-Chair

Dr. Meryem Talbo is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University’s School of Medicine focused on patient-centered diabetes care that integrates automated diabetes technologies with medical nutrition therapy, especially for children and adolescents. Dr. Talbo earned a PhD in Human Nutrition at McGill University in Canada, studying how diabetes technologies shape user experiences and quality of life, and is a registered dietitian with experience across community and institutional settings.

Outside of research and clinical work, Dr. Talbo has held leadership and service roles throughout the duration of her training. Dr. Talbo was the youngest Co-Chair of the Montreal Professional Chapter of Diabetes Canada, leading clinician and volunteer teams to deliver continuing education, including the 2019 “GPS of Diabetes” program and national Train-the-Trainer sessions on continuous glucose monitoring. At her Alma Mater, Dr. Talbo also served as Vice President (2022–2023) and President (2023–2024) of the Macdonald Campus Graduate Student Society, improving communications and engagement, supporting renovation of a graduate students’ dedicate space, strengthening town-hall participation with the Dean’s office, and leading sustainability-certified events. Dr. Talbo also served as co-chair of the Student Initiatives Committee of Quebec’s research network on cardiometabolic health, diabetes, and obesity, where she had the opportunity to work with a diverse team on various initiatives to support graduate and postdoctoral trainees, as well as initiatives to disseminate research to the public during events such as the annual Eureka Festival and La Nuit des chercheuses et des chercheurs in Montreal and via the podcast series “Santé Sans Détour”.

As SURPAS co-chair, Dr. Talbo hopes to build on her previous experience to support the postdoc community through advocacy and representation. Meryem plans to revive the Housing and Transport committee, improve cross-committee coordination and visibility, broaden participation, establish an annual SURPAS town hall with faculty and university leadership, and embed climate action and sustainability into SURPAS activities.

Meghali Aich
Communications Director

Dr. Meghali Aich is a second-year postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Pediatrics where she studies molecular changes in brain development during metabolic stress and investigates how environmental factors contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders. She earned her Ph.D. from CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi, India, with a focus on Genome Engineering and Stem Cell Biology. Alongside her research, Meghali has actively contributed to science outreach, public engagement, workshops, and training initiatives aimed at empowering students and underserved communities through accessible science education.

As the Communications Director at SURPAS (Stanford University Postdoctoral Association), Meghali combines her scientific expertise with strong interpersonal and leadership skills to foster an inclusive and connected postdoctoral community. She envisions SURPAS as a collaborative platform where effective communication strengthens support, engagement, and professional growth among researchers.

Outside academia, Meghali is passionate about Hindustani classical music, science writing, literature, and travel. She enjoys exploring new cultures, discovering diverse cuisines, and seeking experiences that broaden both personal and scientific perspectives.

Parvathy Surendran
Operations Manager

Dr. Parvathy Surendran is a second-year postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Neurosurgery. She did her PhD in Biotechnology from the University of Kerala/Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Kerala, India. During her PhD work, she studied the role of a transcription factor in cerebellar development and its link to autism by integrating anatomical, omics, and behavioral experiments in conditional knockout mice. For her postdoctoral work at Stanford, she investigates the role of a eutherian-specific microRNA cluster in shaping the development of corticospinal motor projection neurons. As Operations Manager of SURPAS, Parvathy’s goal is to run internal operations smoothly, communicate and coordinate SURPAS’s decisions to all its members, and engage with SURPAS to help it become a valuable space for all postdoctoral scholars. She admires SURPAS for all its efforts to make postdoc experience a sense of community, feeling connected, and an incredible resource, and as an operations manager, she is fulfilling her responsibilities and taking an effort to empower SURPAS to exist and function in the same way to serve as a huge asset to present and incoming postdocs.

Parvathy enjoys spending time with her family, reading, listening to music, dancing, gardening, and practicing yoga.

Samuel Montalvo
Finance Officer

Dr. Samuel Montalvo is a Postdoctoral Scholar in Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University, an alumnus of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance Postdoctoral Fellowship, and a current fellow in Stanford’s NIH T32 Training in Myocardial Biology at Stanford (TIMBS) program. A clinical exercise physiologist and sport scientist, he works to advance personalized exercise medicine by integrating nutrition, physical activity, exercise physiology, and multi-omics to explain individual differences in physiological and molecular responses.

He recently received a two-year NIH/NHLBI Loan Repayment Program award (Research in Emerging Areas Critical to Human Health; LRP-REACH). He also received NIH Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) Training Center awards for “Cataloging MoTrPAC and Metabolomics Workbench Data” and “Metabo-Diet: Harmonizing Dietary Patterns, Clinical Phenotypes, and Metabolomics Across CFDE Resources.” He plans to submit an NIH K01 Career Development Award application in the upcoming February cycle to support his transition to an independent research program in personalized exercise medicine.

Dr. Montalvo serves as Financial Officer of SURPAS, Stanford’s postdoctoral association; as a Senior Editor for the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research; and as a Postdoctoral Mentoring Coach with Stanford’s Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA). A first-generation college graduate and Mexican American of Indigenous heritage, he is committed to inclusive mentorship and to expanding opportunities for trainees from underrepresented backgrounds.

Thomas Allard
Advocacy Coordinator

Dr. Thomas Allard is a first-year postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Statistics. He earned his PhD in Mathematics from ETH Zurich, where he developed quantitative measures of the complexity of statistical estimators. His current research applies this previous work to statistical learning, with the goal of better understanding modern AI systems.

As the new advocacy coordinator at SURPAS, Thomas wants to represent postdocs and bring their concerns to the University. He is excited to support new initiatives, outreach, and communication eJorts that strengthen advocacy for postdocs at Stanford.

Pragya Tripathi
Events Coordinator

Dr. Pragya Tripathi is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Dermatology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of skin cancer and rare genetic skin disorders, particularly recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), a severe inherited skin-blistering disease. Her work investigates integrin-mediated signaling in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, the tumor microenvironment in RDEB-associated skin cancer, and the development and evaluation of gene- and cell-based therapies for inherited skin diseases.

Beyond research, she enjoys socializing and has a keen interest in sports and music.

Open position:

Community Engagement Liaison

The SURPAS Leadership Team