Executive Summary
Kimmai Phan is an Associate Project Manager on The Bracken Group’s Consulting team, supporting business development. She reviews contracts and proposals and keeps engagements between Bracken consultants and their clients on track through to completion, bringing nearly a decade of biomedical research and engineering experience to the work.
From 2019 to 2024 Kimmai was a graduate research assistant in Emory University’s Davis Lab, which focuses on cardiac regeneration and preservation after injury. She led efforts to identify novel therapeutic gene targets for heart disease, designing protocols for cell culture, sequencing, RNA extraction, and RT-PCR assays, contributing data to research grant supplements, presenting at national conferences, and training junior scientists.
At UC Irvine, working with CHOC Children’s, she co-invented Move-D, a mechanical elbow brace that stabilizes upper extremity tremors, and oversaw its 3-D printed fabrication and validation testing. Earlier research spanned stem cell imaging in UC Irvine’s Downing Laboratory, a nanopore membrane device for graft versus host disease, and computational models of cancer stem cells. Throughout, she has mentored first-generation and underrepresented students in STEM.
Areas of Expertise
Project & Contract Management
Reviewing contracts and proposals and keeping consulting engagements between Bracken consultants and clients on track to completion.
Cardiac Research
Identifying novel therapeutic gene targets for heart disease within a lab focused on cardiac regeneration after injury.
Molecular & Cell Biology Methods
Cell culture, sequencing preparation, RNA extraction, RT-PCR assays, and rigorous statistical analysis.
Stem Cell & Imaging Research
Human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell culture, fluorescence lifetime imaging, and confocal microscopy.
Medical Device Design
CAD, 3-D printing, prototyping, and validation and user testing for a pediatric movement disorder brace.
Scientific Communication & Mentoring
Figures and presentations for national conferences, protocol documentation, and training junior scientists and students.
