BCH Green Labs (est. 2020) is made up of scientists passionate about reducing their impact!
Meet the team
Tracy Zhang
Tracy is a research assistant in Dr. Joel Hirschhorn and Dr. Nada Kalaany's lab at Boston Children's Hospital/ HMS studying cancer metabolism and metabolic syndromes. She loves working with the Green Labs team to find solutions to infuse sustainability into research operations and culture.
Chuck Blanchette
Chuck Blanchette is a leader in sustainability at Boston Children’s Hospital, serving as Co-Chair of the Environmental Sustainability Employee Lead Group (ELG) and leader of the BCH Green Labs program. In his role, Chuck drives innovative energy-saving initiatives, such as the hospital's award-winning participation in the I2SL and My Green Lab International Freezer Challenge, where BCH won the Top Clinical Award in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Chuck is a My Green Lab Accredited Professional and serves on the I2SL Northeast Chapter Board, contributing to regional sustainability advancements in laboratory operations. Currently pursuing a DBA, he focuses on inspiring the next generation of sustainable leaders. His work emphasizes energy efficiency, recycling innovation, and achieving BCH’s ambitious climate goals.
Dariana Mota
Dariana Mota is a research assistant at Margaret Stefater-Richards’ laboratory at Boston Children’s Hospital. Margaret's lab focuses on understanding mechanisms behind effective treatments, more specifically bariatric surgery, for obesity and obesity-related comorbidities, such as Type 2 Diabetes. In her free time, Dariana enjoys exploring new workout studios around the city with friends. Do not hesitate to reach out if you would like to join her for a class!
Haley Ohlson
Haley is a research assistant in the Chiarle lab at BCH and studies cancer immunotherapy in neuroblastoma and non-small cell lung cancer. Currently she is involved with investigating dual CAR-T cells and how they can be applied within a 3D tumor microenvironment simulation. She joined the Green Labs team to advocate and educate about more sustainable practices in science and research
Riley Brook
Riley Brook is a Research Assistant in the Kanarek Laboratory at Boston Children's Hospital, studying metabolic adaptations of migrating cells. Her focus in the lab is metabolomics and liquid-chromatography coupled mass-spectrometry method development. She is passionate about sustainability and identifying green alternatives to current research practices.
Valen Lagomarsino
Valen recently earned her PhD in Biological Biomedical Sciences from Harvard Medical School. She is formally from the Rao Lab and has moved to California to pursue her career in her field. She is our former leader and has been a driving force at BCH Green Labs for over two years.
Denise Klatt
Denise is a postdoc in the Brendel Lab where she develops novel gene therapies for non-malignant blood disorders. Her current work focusses on engineering novel tools for genome editor delivery into blood stem cells and on developing an in vivo gene therapy to treat sickle cell anemia. She joined BCH Green Labs to reduce the environmental footprint on our planet.
Julia Ehrmann
Julia Ehrmann is a Postdoc in the Lencer Lab at Boston Children's Hospital and studies intestinal epithelial membrane biology. She joined the Boston Children's Hospital Green Labs initiative to spread awareness about how greener practices, such as minimizing waste and energy usage, can lead to more efficient healthcare delivery. Her goal is to contribute to a healthier future, both for patients as well as the planet.
Stephanie Ragland, PhD
Steph is one of our co-founders of the BCH Green Labs. She is a postdoc in the Kagan lab and still supports the BCH Green Lab Program today.
Emily Hickey
Emily Hickey is a Research Laboratory Supervisor in the Division of Genetics and Genomics. She has been working in the laboratory of Dr. Alan Beggs since 2013, studying congenital myopathies and other rare diseases. She recently joined BCH Green Labs because, as an employee of Boston Children’s Hospital as well as a parent, she feels that we have an obligation to be responsible stewards of the planet our future generations will inherit.
Andrew Castro
Andrew is a Research Manufacturing Engineer in Dr. Martha Murray’s Lab and the Center for Orthopedic Research Translation at BCH. His experience is in developing medical devices (class II and III) from concept development all the way through manufacturing validation leading to commercialization. In his experience, manufacturing medical devices leads to a large amount of waste that is not sustainable, like research labs. He joined BCH Green Labs to help labs become more sustainable for the environment.