About Heather

I am an RNA biologist studying how RNA-binding proteins regulate mRNA stability to shape cancer cell fate. I completed my PhD at UC Irvine in the laboratory of Dr. Sha Sun, where I studied lncRNA biology and X chromosome inactivation and published a first-author featured article in the Journal of Molecular Biology.

I then joined the laboratory of Dr. Hani Goodarzi at UCSF as a postdoctoral scholar, where I helped build a transcriptome-wide mRNA stability profiling platform, identified RBMS3 as a metastasis suppressor in breast cancer, and developed a high-throughput CLIP-seq platform for systematic RBP-RNA interaction mapping.

I am currently a Research Affiliate at UCSF and the Arc Institute, where I am finalizing manuscripts and preparing for the 2026-2027 faculty market.

Outside the lab, I founded HK Advisory, where I teach and design AI-integrated workflows for scientific research, writing, and operations. I am also active in science communication and community organizing, including my current role on the Steering Committee of Bio By The Lagoon in Foster City.

I am a first-generation college student and Latina scientist. I care deeply about building a lab culture that is rigorous, inclusive, and attentive to the patient populations the science is meant to serve.