Meet the Faculty
Full-time Faculty

Telephone: (650) 378-7238
Office: 36-205B
Email: baileyk@smccd.edu
Krista Bailey attended College of San Mateo and then transferred to UC Santa Cruz to earn Bachelor's degrees in Anthropology and Biology with a focus on Anatomy and Human Evolution. She completed a Master's degree in Biology with a focus on Parasitology and Molecular Biology at Sonoma State University. Her goal was to learn as much as possible about how the world works. As it turns out, she has learned the most from her students over the last many years as a biology instructor. She likes to hike, sail and travel to explore the beauty and complexity of the natural world.

Telephone: (650) 574-6602
Office: 36-205F
Email: diamondk@smccd.edu
Kathy Diamond was born in San Francisco. Starting college as an undeclared major torn between philosophy and French literature, she became overwhelmed by curiosity and completed a B.A. in Biology at U.C. Santa Cruz, an M.A. in Zoology at UCLA, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry at UCSF. She did research and lectured at UCLA until discovering the superior lower-division science education offered by community colleges. Kathy loves teaching CSM students, hiking, walking, gardening, movies, novels, family and friends. And chocolate.

Telephone: (650) 574-6626
Office: 36-205B
Email: hankampp@smccd.edu
Paul Hankamp has a Master's degree in Biology with a concentration in Plant Ecology and Systematics from San Francisco State University. He specializes in botany and has spent recent years teaching students in the field, classroom and laboratory. At CSM, Paul teaches Biology, Botany, and Environmental Science, both online and on campus. He has a passion for bringing active learning strategies into the classroom and motivation to share his enthusiasm with students.

Email: silvaj@smccd.edu
Javier Silva attended San Francisco State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and later with a Master of Science in Physiology and Behavioral Biology. As a grad student, he was fortunate enough to be accepted by the Student Enrichment Opportunities program at SFSU. He received NIH funding to research catecholamine stress hormones. During his study, he also worked for the National Park Service and Eastbay Regional Park Service. This is where his appreciation for the outdoors grew. To recharge and maintain focus, he enjoys going to places like Zion National Park in Utah.

Telephone: (650) 574-6516
Office: 36-205E
Email: smithchris@smccd.edu
Christopher Smith's professional interests include microbiology, immunology and pharmacology. He was raised in Massachusetts, where he attended Suffolk University in Boston and the University of Massachusetts earning first a B.S. and then an M.S. in Biology. After earning a Ph.D. from the Biochemistry Department of the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, he worked for several years as a research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry. His approach to scientific education is that Science is just as much critical thinking as a collection of facts to memorize. Chris hopes to bring his enthusiasm for scientific inquiry to the classroom.

Telephone: (650) 574-6241
Office: 36-205C
Email: tranh@smccd.edu
Huy Tran was born in Vietnam and came to the United States in 1975. He grew up in southern California and spent much of his childhood in his backyard catching creepy-crawly critters with his brothers. He received his Bachelor's of Science in Biology from the University of California, San Diego, and his Master's of Science in Biology from California State University, Hayward (East Bay). When he's not making life difficult for his students in class you can usually find him hiking on one of the many trails in the greater Bay Area. Besides his love for anything science-related, Huy's other interests include photography, art, camping, and distance running.
Adjunct Faculty

Office: 36-205C
Email: churchesn@smccd.edu
Nathan Churches earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology from USC, where he focused on evolutionary forces that affect marine organisms and their population genetics. After graduate school, he co-founded Holdfast Aquaculture, where he remains the Chief Science Officer. The company focuses on using modern scientific tools to create sustainable and regenerative solutions to ocean-based foods. Churches teaches at CSM and at San Francisco State University, primarily delivering courses on ecology, marine, cell, genetics, and biological topics. He also is the Aquaculture Faculty Lead at Santa Monica College, where he works to develop aquaculture and marine science courses. In his free time, you'll most likely find Nathan surfing in the cold waters of the Bay Area.

Office: 36-205C
Email: lads@smccd.edu
Shradha Lad earned her Bachelors and Masters in Biotechnology from Mumbai, India. She moved to the United States in 2016 to pursue her second Masters in Biochemistry from Virginia Tech where she worked on Discovery and Mechanism of Tau Aggregation Inhibitors for Alzheimer’s Disease. After graduating, she joined a neuroscience start-up and worked on targeting neuron-intrinsic mechanisms and the neuron-glia axis to protect neurons and preserve function. She will be teaching Introduction to Cell Biology at CSM. In her free time, you’ll find her cooking up a storm in the kitchen or tending to her garden.

Email: mackusicke@smccd.edu
Eileen Mackusick, MS, RD has a 30-year career as a clinical dietitian and college instructor after obtaining her Master's of Science in Nutrition with an emphasis in education from San Jose State University (SJSU). She completed a functional medicine certification in 2012 with the Institute of Functional medicine and now incorporates an integrative approach to health and wellness in all of her classes. In addition to teaching at The College of San Mateo, she has been teaching at SJSU since 1998 and Cabrillo College in 2013. In addition to Eileen's passion for health, wellness and education she is also an avid Nordic skier, hiker and mountain biker and foodie of locally sourced, organic food!

Email: whytew@smccd.edu
Yeshiva University [Albert Einstein College of Medicine] Bronx NY, BA Biochemistry, UC Berkeley CA [Go Bears!] Transfer student from College of San Mateo, Chemistry [Go Bulldogs!] Research experience in cancer and gamete generation and lots of biotech. I have taught biotechnology and life sciences courses since 1994 - mostly at my alma mater, CSM. Love to meet and engage in students' learning - See you in class! and as you can see in the photo, I enjoy scoring baseball games.

Email: woodsd@smccd.edu
Doug Woods was born in Wellington, New Zealand. At college I studied Biochemistry earning a B.Sc. from the University of Auckland. After this, I traveled to London, England, to complete my Ph.D. at Imperial College where I focused on the biochemistry and molecular biology of Cancer. Later I returned to school to complete a Master's degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore Maryland. My favorite hobbies include Triathlon training and racing. In Triathlon I have represented the United States as an age group athlete several times. This compliments my love for teaching nutrition and my passion for sports nutrition. Favorite foods include walnuts, berries, and dark chocolate.