Kristina is the newest member of the Laboratory Safety Review program at Safety Services. She will take over the role of Laboratory Safety Professional (LSP) for the College of Biological Sciences and half of the School of Medicine. John Lomas currently holds that position and he will be retiring at the end of June 2022.  

Kristina is currently the Department Safety Coordinator for Plant biology. She joins the team with over twenty years of research experience. She came to UC Davis to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology. Her undergrad take-away was to be self-sufficient and learned how to advocate for herself. Her motto is, “If you want it you have to go out and get it!”

Her first job at UC Davis was washing lab dishes to make extra money for Dr. Lagarias in the department of Molecular & Cell Biology. When she finished her assigned tasks, she would ask if there were other tasks for her to help. This proactive approach helped her learn new skills in the lab. She wanted more bench work experience and signed-up for a summer opportunity to work for the Center for Engineering Plant Resistance Against Pathogens with Dr. Gilchrist in the department of Plant Pathology. This was a pivotal point in her career that influenced the future career choices. She found a beneficial niche in this specialized work and this was why she stayed for so long. Although when she started working in the field she shares that a post doc told her she would hate the repetitive nature of this routine work. She accepted this comment as a challenge and said to herself “I will show you. I will stay!"

After twenty years of working in the research she expressed that what she has enjoyed most is the opportunity to meet different people of diverse backgrounds. She valued all the cultures, food, and traditions she had an opportunity to learn about from the numerous visiting scholars and scientists. She has also enjoyed, “the surprise of where a research project may take you because many times it is not at all what you thought it would be” and experiencing how the field and the technology has evolved. She recalls the labor-intensive times of when researchers worked on single sequencing.  Now you simply send it off to an analytical lab and they run it overnight.

Kristina is eager to expand her knowledge and skill-sets in her new appointment as LSP. She says it will be exciting to see different researchers and projects across campus. Her research has been in plant pathogens and she is looking forward to supporting laboratories in other research fields. Her goal is to build relationships and create partnerships with researchers to help keep everyone safe.

Kristina shares the primary reason why she first came to UC Davis was that her boyfriend at that time, husband now, was going to Sacramento State University and accepting the offer to attend UC Davis would allow them to be close to each other. They met in Santa Rosa where Kristina went to school with his younger brother. They moved to the Sacramento area for college and got married after graduation. They have two daughters. Katherine, 21, is attending San Diego State with a major in Psychology. Vanessa, 16, a junior in High School who just obtained her driver’s license. The family also includes two big dogs; Finn, a German Shepard, and Xander, a husky/lab mix.

Hobbies for this family include hiking and paddle-boarding the beautiful rivers and lakes in the area. Kristina and her husband love to travel. The family’s favorite destinations are both Disneyland and Disney World. They also loved Hong Kong. They “hopped over” to Hong Kong during a family trip to Kristina’s native country of the Philippines. They will be traveling to Hawaii to celebrate Katherine’s 21st birthday.

Please help us welcome Kristina to her new role. The best way to reach Kristina is by email at kmsarte@ucdavis.edu.