Esveidy Oceguera Nava was born in Guanajuato, Mexico and raised in Selma, CA from the age of 2. She joined the Lipshutz Research Group after earning a B.S. in Biochemistry (2022) and an M.S. in Chemistry (2024) from California State University, Fresno. She began her research career in 2020 through the NIH RISE and LSAMP undergraduate research programs, working with Dr. Qiao-Hong Chen who is a medicinal cancer researcher using natural product inspiration to synthesize potential analogs towards treating cancer. She worked on two projects in her undergraduate career, “Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Niclosamide PROTACs” and “Licochalcone A-inspired Chalcones: Synthesis and Their Antiproliferative Potential in Prostate Cancer Cells,” which have been published. During her graduate studies at CSU Fresno, she was selected as one of three Bridges to Doctorate Fellows and through this fellowship completed an internship at UC Davis with Dr. Kit Lam and Dr. Lucas Solano. During her time as a Master student, Esveidy worked on five projects and was recognized for her thesis on the total synthesis of tetracyclic bis-piperidine alkaloid analogs. In the summer after graduating she was able to work with the LSAMP-HPP program as an organic lecturer and lead 13 students as part of a summer research program to work on an independent research project with Dr. Chen. 

Beyond her academic work, Esveidy enjoys reading, Mexican folkloric dancing, and spoiling her cat, Chester the Cheeto Puff. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she continues to advance her research in organic synthesis using green chemistry .