Taking Big Swings for Women’s Health and Medicine

I’m Dr. Ell Handy, an award winning, nationally and privately funded chemist and chemical biologist with a PhD.

My educational and research background was built tackling scientific challenges alongside Nobel laureates and leaders in the fields of chemistry, biology, and medicine, working at some of the world’s leading academic research institutions, including: Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Notre Dame. I was recognized by the National Science Foundation (NSF) with a competitive grant, the graduate research fellowship program (GRFP), to support my doctoral studies.

I’ve also consulted at up-and-coming biotechnology start up companies in Silicon Valley, developing novel diagnostic strategies and personalized medicine for rare diseases.

My research specialities are small molecule drug design, diagnostic development, and designing biologics that function as immune modulators and therapies. I have a particular interest in glycans, or sugar structures, a post-translational modification of proteins that serve as a form of cellular communication throughout the body. By utilizing novel biological mechanisms, I work towards establishing new paradigms in medicine as a way to uplift and improve underserved maladies in women’s health. 

Check out my current projects including identifying diagnostic biomarkers for endometriosis and the development of a new class of safer and more effective immunotherapeutics that fight ovarian cancer.