Alumni
Varun Sudunagunta, MD MS
Varun obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked in the laboratory of Dr. Mortimer Poncz at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and investigated the fundamental mechanism of thrombocytopenia in patients with familial RUNX1 haploinsufficiency. Given his experience in hematopoiesis, Varun joined the lab in 2021 upon matriculating at Columbia VP&S for his M.D. degree. In the lab, he investigated the mechanism by which STAG2 mutations give rise to dyserythropoiesis, anemia, and erythropoietin resistance in patients with STAG2-mutant myelodysplastic syndrome, discovering that STAG2 functions as chromatin accessibility rheostat that controls the cell-type specific cistrome that transcription factors like GATA1 engage to regulate cell fate. He was funded by an American Society of Hematology HONORS Award and an American Society of Clinical Investigation PSSF Fellowship. Varun has recieved several awards for his work, including an ASH Outstanding Abstract Achievement Award, the Best of ASH Designation, the Joseph F. Hoffman Lecture, and the Titus Munson Coan Prize. Varun graduated in 2026 as a member of Alpha Omega Alpha and received the Janeway Prize for his meritorious performance in medical school. Beyond his research, Varun enjoys swimming, fine dining, and convincing his labmates to get coffee.
Varun is currently an internal medicine resident at Massachusetts General Hospital, and intends to pursue a career in hematology with an active role in research.
Eno-obong (Blessing) Udoh, BS
Blessing earned a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences (Medical Science), with double minors in Chemistry and Public Health, from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2022. There, she worked in the Peterson lab investigating the role of the gut microbiome in the behavioral plasticity of South American locusts. She is currently a final-year MD/MS candidate at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. She joined the Viny lab in July 2025 for her thesis research year, where her work has focused on uncovering the molecular basis and biological significance of multiple STAG2 mutations in patients with myeloid neoplasms. She identified that patients with multiple STAG2 hits represent a biologically distinct, adverse-risk subset of MDS, and, using long-read sequencing, showed that multi-hit STAG2 mutations arise through convergent evolution.
She is funded by the American Society of Hematology Medical Student Physician Scientist (Phy-Sci) Award (2025) and is also a recipient of the ASH Abstract Achievement Award (2025). Outside of research, Blessing enjoys cooking, watching TV shows, reading literary fiction, and hunting down the best boba spot!
Sebastian Fernando
Besmira Alija, MD
Russel Kunes
John Patanzi
Stephanie Braunstein
Anabella Galang
