Abbey Santanello, D.O., ’15, ’16 M.S.

B.A. in Economics & Pre-Professional Studies; M.S. in Science, Engineering, Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence

Blending medicine, wellness, and innovation to help children and families lead active, healthy lives

A proud University of Notre Dame alumna, Abbey Santanello, D.O., ’15, ’16 M.S., is dedicated to helping children and families lead active, healthy lives. As a pediatrician and current Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellow at NYU, Santanello’s career blends medicine, wellness, and innovation. During her residency, Dr. Santanello served on a global health rotation in Kenya — caring for children with limited resources and collaborating with local clinicians to strengthen pediatric care systems. She has since made it her mission to stay engaged through fundraising, teaching, and raising awareness of challenges in these healthcare systems.

Integrating her career with her love of innovation, Dr. Santanello partnered with Complete Sports in Kenya, a faith-based organization that uses running to help underserved youth access scholarships and job opportunities. Additionally, she is co-founder and director of operations at Vampiro Inc., a medical device company, where she secured grants and coordinated a national product launch in 2023 of their first minimally invasive surgical instrument. She also serves as a junior board member at GallopNYC, a therapeutic riding organization for children with autism.

Dr. Santanello earned her undergraduate degree in economics and pre-professional studies and her master’s of science through Notre Dame’s Engineering, Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence Master’s Program. She received her doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2022 and completed her residency at Staten Island University Hospital, earning SIUH Pediatric Residency Intern of the Year in May 2023. In her free time, she enjoys running, traveling and spending time with her St. Bernard, Eloise, who is a certified therapy dog.

Alessandro DiSanto ’15

Major: Finance & Economics 

Spiritually supporting millions at the intersection of prayer, meditation, and technology

Raised in a large Italian-American family, Alessandro DiSanto ‘15 is a proud product of Catholic education from kindergarten through college. He began his career on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs in New York City before becoming a private equity investor in Chicago, but after a series of life-changing experiences in prayer, DiSanto left his career in finance to join his friends in building Hallow—a Catholic prayer and meditation app—that is now the No. 1 app of its kind worldwide.

At Hallow, DiSanto serves as CFO and leads Hallow’s efforts in supporting the institutional church. In February 2024, Hallow was the first religious or wellness app in history to reach the No. 1 spot in the App Store, above every other app across all categories.

Beyond Hallow, DiSanto is a founding member and venture partner at the 81 Collection, a Chicago-based venture capital fund focused on providing capital to founders in industries often overlooked by traditional venture capital funds. He also advises early-stage technology start-ups on go-to-market and corporate strategy.

DiSanto graduated summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with degrees in finance and economics in 2015. Today, he serves on the Board of Trustees of the Catholic Institute of Technology, the Department of Economics Advisory Board at the University of Notre Dame, and is a 4th Degree Knight of Columbus. Along with the other co-founders of Hallow, DiSanto was recognized as a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2021 for consumer technology. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two sons.

Anna Benedict ’21

Major: Neuroscience and Behavior

Suppl. Major: English

Fighting mental health stigma through the power of storytelling

As an undergraduate inspired to merge her passions for mental health advocacy and storytelling during the COVID-19 pandemic, Anna Benedict ’21 applied her interdisciplinary skillset to create the Our Stories Project (OSP). OSP partners university students with adults navigating serious mental illness (SMI) at Clubhouse psychosocial recovery centers to co-write Clubhouse members’ life stories and later publish them in a book. Now a clinical psychology Ph.D. student at Michigan State University, Benedict is advancing research on narrative identity and resilience in people with SMI, particularly psychosis. 

Leading the project three times so far, Benedict and OSP have educated future healthcare leaders, built allyships with and empowered a vulnerable community, and fought stigma around SMI through three published books of lived narratives, impacting nearly 200 students and Clubhouse members. The books have raised thousands for Clubhouse communities, received international translation requests, and been used in graduate courses. The Clubhouse in South Bend is adapting stories from the book into a play for educational use to fight stigma around SMI. In collaboration with Clubhouse International, Benedict is currently developing OSP into a curriculum for global use.

Benedict has turned OSP and her commitment to valuing each person’s humanity into the foundation of her academic career. In the first year of her doctoral studies, she was accepted to present at three international conferences. Her work centers on strength-based recovery and addresses epistemic injustices by including own-voices narratives and mixed-methods research. Benedict is completing a Community Engagement Certificate and aims to continue lifting the voices of those marginalized by SMI and socioeconomic hardship to build more effective, whole-person-oriented approaches to mental healthcare.

Benedict graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 2021 with degrees in neuroscience and behavior and English with an honors concentration in creative writing as a Trustey Family Scholar and Glynn Family Honors student. Throughout her undergraduate studies, she researched in two psychology labs and won four English department awards, including Outstanding Creative Writing Student in 2021. Since then, her work has focused on the intersection of storytelling, advocacy, and mental health.

Christy Lucas, M.D., ’16

Major: Preprofessional Studies and Psychology

Improving the lives of children and families suffering from pediatric cancer

Leading a compassionate career in pediatric oncology and palliative care, Christy Lucas, M.D., ’16, is advancing a future where every child and family facing cancer experience dignity, support, and hope. Now in her third year as a Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Fellow at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, Dr. Lucas is applying for palliative care fellowships with the goal of serving as a pediatric palliative oncologist, joining dedicated clinicians who listen to the silence, find the glimmers, and help flowers bloom, even in valleys. 

As a medical student at Penn State Medical College, Dr. Lucas received the Sylvia & Gilbert Nurick Medical Achievement Award—the “most prestigious medical student award” for “outstanding academic excellence”—as well as the Andrew Creasy and Savino Family Award, presented to a graduating medical student who shows potential for curing and treating childhood cancer and other life-threatening pediatric illnesses. During her residency, she founded “Stitches with Hope,” a program providing pediatric patients with comfortable clothing, which became a permanent fund at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.  

Blending clinical care with considerations in patient voice, parental bereavement, and palliative communication, Dr. Lucas has published across patient experience and narrative medicine. At Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s, she currently researches patient voice in adolescents and young adults with sickle cell disease, while completing her capstone project “Ever After,” a storytelling approach to honor parents’ experiences after a child’s passing. Dr. Lucas also envisions the use of expressive arts to improve patient, provider, and caregiver experiences, including before, during, and after end-of-life.

Dr. Lucas received her bachelor’s of science in preprofessional studies and psychology from the University of Notre Dame in 2016 and graduated from Penn State College of Medicine in 2020. She completed her pediatric residency at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Dr. Lucas is currently completing her masters of media, medicine, and health from Harvard Medical School. A proud native Pittsburgher, Dr. Lucas holds onto the adage, “Still waters run deep,” and firmly supports South Dining Hall’s superiority.

Dan “April” Feng ’17

Major: Economics and Political Science 

Combatting mass incarceration by connecting inmates with educational and social resources

Featured by GovInsider as one of the “100 Women in GovTech 2024,” Dan “April” Feng ’17 is dedicated to reshaping how technology serves justice, equity, and education. An internationally recognized leader in civic innovation, she has spearheaded efforts to ensure that incarcerated individuals and their families are included in the implementation of the historic bipartisan infrastructure law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) on state and national stages, leveraging a once-in-a-generation opportunity to address structural failures in the criminal justice system. 

Feng is the CEO of Ameelio, a tech startup that connects incarcerated individuals with their families, loved ones, and outside resources, where she leads strategy, growth, and advocacy. Ameelio is the nation’s only nonprofit provider of incarcerated persons’ communications and education technology. In 2023, TIME Magazine recognized Ameelio as one of the 100 Most Influential Companies.

Prior to Ameelio, Feng worked extensively for governments in both the U.S. and the U.K. An economist by training, she has worked with Freakonomics author Dr. Steven Levitt at the University of Chicago Center for Radical Innovation for Social Change as a senior analyst. From June 2017 to July 2018, Feng served as the youngest city manager for the Department of Innovation & Technology of the City of South Bend. There, she collaborated with MIT Poverty Action Lab to create a randomized control trial to evaluate the city’s high-school dropout prevention program, as well as working with Results for America to repurpose federal funding toward affordable housing development.

Feng graduated with a bachelor of arts in economics and political science from the University of Notre Dame in 2017 and received her master’s in philosophy and public policy from the London School of Economics in 2019.

Capt. James Ryan ’17

Major: Computer Engineering 

Serving the nation through exceptional leadership in flight

Driven by a deep call to serve, Captain James Ryan ’17 has transformed his Notre Dame experience into a life of courage, leadership, and sacrifice in the skies. 

Since his participation in the University’s Air Force ROTC program, where he cultivated lifelong friendships and advanced his call to service, Capt. Ryan has served as a Combat Systems Officer with Air Force Special Operations Command. He has amassed over 1,700 flight hours, primarily in the U-28A “Draco,” flying 248 combat missions during deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Horn of Africa. In 2023, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor—the nation’s highest award for aerial achievement—for actions taken during a noncombatant evacuation in Afghanistan. Most recently, he was selected to attend the USAF’s prestigious Test Pilot School, where he will pursue a master’s of science degree in flight test engineering while training to test and evaluate experimental aircraft and emerging aerospace systems.

Outside of his military duties, Capt. Ryan volunteers with two aviation heritage foundations, educating the public on military flight history. He is an avid SCUBA diver and has participated in research dives aimed at culling invasive lionfish populations from Florida coastal waters. 

Capt. Ryan graduated with a degree in computer engineering from the University of Notre Dame. In addition to his involvement in the Air Force ROTC program, he also contributed to the Marching and Jazz Bands. He is a proud Highlander of Duncan Hall and attributes his lifelong friendships to his involvement in both residential and campus life.

John Michael Templeton ’22 Ph.D.

Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering

Innovating to create technologies that improve patient outcomes 

Integrating computer science, engineering, and biomedical research, John Michael Templeton ’22 Ph.D. advances healthcare innovation as an assistant professor in the Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and Computing at the University of South Florida, with active affiliate appointments in the Department of Medical Engineering, Center for Neuromusculoskeletal Research, Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute, and the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital. Templeton’s interdisciplinary work blends his education in computer science and biomedical engineering with a focus on smart health systems and connected care.

Following the completion of his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, Templeton became the director of the SHIELD LAB (Smarter Health by Innovating, Enabling, and Linking Devices), which bridges computing and hardware development to create technologies that improve patient outcomes and advance proactive care models. His work actively brings together experts in engineering, medicine, and clinical practice to solve pressing medical challenges around cancer, cystic fibrosis, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, and cardiovascular disease.

As an award-winning educator, Templeton is recognized for his dedication to fostering innovation in the next generation of engineers and health professionals, with courses—particularly in smart and connected health—that integrate cutting-edge research with hands-on problem solving to prepare students to address complex health and technology challenges.

Templeton received both his bachelor of science in engineering (2015) and master of science (2016) in biomedical engineering from Arizona State University before completing his Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 2022. He serves as a mentor for ESTEEM and as an advisor for McCloskey New Venture Competition teams at Notre Dame. Outside of academia, Templeton holds board membership with the Indiana Parkinson Foundation, as well as service to other organizations. He is an Eagle Scout who enjoys the outdoors, spending time with his family and loved ones, and his dog, Wrigley.

Kaleigh Yost, Ph.D., ’15

Major: Civil Engineering (Structural)

Leading research to improve infrastructure and community resilience to natural hazards

Combining engineering expertise with a commitment to community resilience, Kaleigh Yost, Ph.D., ’15 leads geotechnical engineering research focused on safeguarding vulnerable communities from severe natural disasters and multi-hazard risks. As the L. Robert and Mary L. Kimball Early Career Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, Yost, with her team, aims to improve infrastructure and flood resilience in rural, underserved communities in Pennsylvania. She actively develops innovative methods to better characterize levee systems and visualize how they perform during flood events. She also studies converging multi-hazards, including sea level rise, coastal storms, and earthquakes that threaten large regions like the Pacific Rim. 

Committed to professional service, Yost serves as co-chair for the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) Public Policy and Advocacy Committee and as a mentor for ARISE-US, a private sector alliance for disaster resilient societies created by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. This year, she received the 2025 EERI Younger Member Award and was elected to serve on the board of the United States Universities Council on Geotechnical Education and Research.

After earning her degree in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame, Yost earned her master’s in geotechnical civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and completed her Ph.D. from Virginia Tech. During her time at Notre Dame, she received the Rev. Thomas A. Steiner, C.S.C., award for all-around excellence as a graduating senior in the College of Engineering.

Yost and her husband welcomed their first child, Riley, in April 2025.

Kristen Ringwall Damico ’17

Major: Science-Business

Safeguarding the nation as a leading expert in missile defense

As the youngest graduate of the Navy’s elite Integrated Air and Missile Defense Warfare Tactics Instructor program, Kristen Ringwall Damico ’17 is an award-winning leader in defense. She was commissioned from Notre Dame’s Naval ROTC program as a Surface Warfare Officer the day before graduation; just two weeks later, her ship departed Naval Base San Diego for a deployment to the Middle East.

For the first five years of her naval career, Damico served onboard the USS Howard, a Navy Destroyer with a crew of 350 people. She first served as the Main Propulsion Officer and was then chosen to be Fire Control Officer, responsible for the ship’s radar and combat systems, as well as all combat training onboard. While onboard, she oversaw seven missile shoots, certifying the Navy’s newest software and hardware system onboard any Destroyer. For these efforts and for establishing a high-scoring ballistic missile defense program, she won the 2021 Navy Missile Defender of the Year award, awarded to just one person in the Navy each year. While on the ship, she was also selected for the prestigious Integrated Air and Missile Defense Warfare Tactics Instructor school, of which she was the youngest ever graduate, and won the “Top Tactician” award in her class. 

Damico later became an instructor for the Carrier Strike Group at Tactical Training Group Pacific for three years, training 34 ships and overseeing three more missile shoots. She trained with the Japanese Self-Defense Force, the Royal Australian Navy, and the Israeli Defense Force to improve the Navy’s ability to operate with partner nations. Damico has also written four published articles in Proceedings magazine, the Naval Engineers Journal, and the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance’s (MDAA) website, and was named the Rear Admiral Kathleen K. Paige Military Fellow by MDAA.

After eight years in the Navy, Kristen became a civilian and now works at the Office of Naval Research in Arlington, Virginia, as the lead contractor for Naval Space Science and Technology while her husband still serves as a naval aviator. Originally from Milton, Georgia, Damico graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2017 with a degree in science-business and is a proud Lewis Hall Chick.

Linde Hoffman ’20

Major: Political Science and Spanish

Safely and sustainably shrinking the criminal justice system

Guided by a deep commitment to justice and human dignity, Linde Hoffman ’20 has dedicated her career to reforming the criminal justice system and restoring hope for impacted communities. Now a state engagement manager at Recidiviz, a nonprofit tech company spun out of Google that aims at safely and sustainably shrinking the criminal justice system, Hoffman first realized her passion for criminal justice reform through the Center for Social Concerns (CSC, now the Institute for Social Concerns) at Notre Dame. In 2017, she participated in the Inside Out program, a CSC seminar that partnered undergraduates with justice-impacted individuals in Westville Correctional Facility,an experience that greatly impacted Hoffman. Each week, the cohort learned how to “Rethink Crime and Justice.” 

Before Recidiviz, Hoffman worked for the Center for Innovations in Community Safety at Georgetown Law Center, helping to develop and implement a police training program aimed at preventing unnecessary use of force and promoting officer health and wellness. Her first year post-grad, she completed a year of service with Amate House in Chicago, where she served as a reentry case manager and instructor in the women’s division of Cook County Jail. 

Hoffman graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 2020 with  degrees in political science and Spanish. She served as the Chief of Staff for the Boyle-McGuire administration of Notre Dame Student Government and was selected by University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., ’76, ’78 M.A. to assist in the COVID-19 response. Hoffman also enjoyed cheering for Notre Dame football and is a proud Lewis Hall Chick. She is currently a part-time master of public policy student at Georgetown University.

Nathaniel Hanson, Ph.D., ’19

Major: Computer Engineering

Creating technologies to improve environmental disaster response and public safety

At the intersection of robotics and public service, Nathaniel Hanson, Ph.D., ’19 is pioneering advanced sensing technologies, empowering first responders and redefining how innovation supports disaster response and humanitarian relief. Through his research and leadership, Hanson is committed to ensuring that breakthroughs in robotics have a meaningful impact on communities worldwide.

Currently, Hanson is a member of the technical staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory in the Human Resilience Technology Group, serving as a researcher and adviser to the U.S. government on applying technology to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. At MIT, his contributions range from decision-support tools for hurricane evacuation planning to Bluetooth-based contact tracing during pandemics. He now leads applied innovation projects, including search-and-rescue robots capable of navigating collapsed buildings and machine-learning-enabled tools for assessing traumatic injuries in the field. He has also worked with the MIT Media Lab to make artificial intelligence education more accessible to non-technical audiences. Hanson holds multiple patent applications, publications in refereed journals, and presentations at leading conferences around the world.

In addition to his research, Hanson organizes academic conferences and workshops through IEEE Robotics and Automation Society to advance robotic technologies in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. He is committed to transitioning technology from the lab into the hands of first responders who will benefit from it, and open-sourcing it whenever possible. A dedicated mentor, he guides undergraduate and graduate students to grow into independent researchers and supports military personnel through the Department of the Air Force-MIT AI Accelerator, helping them ethically employ AI to address pressing national defense challenges.

Hanson earned his B.S. in computer science from the University of Notre Dame, M.S. in computer science from Boston University, and his Ph.D. in computer engineering from Northeastern University. He met his wife, Stephanie ’19, on the first day of class during their first year at Notre Dame. They married in 2020 and have navigated married life as Stephanie serves on active duty in the U.S. Air Force.

Capt. Tyler Belin ’18

Major: Accountancy

Strengthening security through leadership and cultural exchange

At the forefront of military aviation and humanitarian missions, Captain Tyler Belin ’18 leads a career in elite service and impact, with a lifelong commitment to mentoring the next generation of service members. At Notre Dame, Belin was the highest ranking Army ROTC program cadet, graduating as a Distinguished Military Graduate and commissioned as an Army Second Lieutenant. 

After completing flight school and becoming a CH-47 (Chinook) helicopter pilot, Belin  reported to Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras. After two hurricanes hit Central America in 2021, Belin led humanitarian aid efforts across Guatemala and Honduras, bringing food and water to isolated communities affected by the storms. He was recognized by the Guatemalan Minister of Defense with the Medalla Monja Blanca for transporting aid and medically evacuating civilians. In 2023, Belin attended the captain’s career course at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security, an Army leadership course conducted entirely in Spanish with military officers from thirteen Latin American countries. He used his Spanish to strengthen relationships with partner nation militaries across the hemisphere.

Today, Belin is stationed in Savannah, Georgia, as an active duty Army CH-47 helicopter pilot and serves as a Flight Company Commander, leading 65 soldiers and 14 helicopters. His organization conducts a wide range of missions across the United States, including transporting the Vice President of the United States and supporting Special Operations. Beyond his military duties, Belin mentors with Service to Schools, assisting transitioning service members with undergraduate applications. Recently, he helped a Marine join Notre Dame’s Class of 2028. 

Belin graduated cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 2018 with a bachelor of business administration in accountancy and was commissioned as an Army Second Lieutenant. As a Distinguished Military Graduate, he ranked in the top 10 percent of cadets nationwide. Tyler married his college sweetheart, Margaret ’18, in 2023.