The Bridal Party

Rachel Zarndt

Erika and Rachel’s friendship began in 2011 at UC San Diego while they were navigating their first years of medical school and graduate school, respectively. They immediately recognized a kindred spirit in one another, bonded by a mutual love for science, costumed research projects, elaborate pranks, and Easy-Bake Ovens. Over the years, cozy late-night dinners evolved from dissecting raw data to untangling medical mysteries and workplace sagas. 

Erika and Rachel are famously remembered for their time at the White Mountain Research Station, where they staged the most legendary high-altitude tea party in the annals of Californian research. "If your research isn't fun, change your hypothesis!"

Rachel will soon be starting Vet School at UC Davis where she and Erika will hopefully continue their research collaborations and share many more shenanigans.

Erika, Julia, and Beth became fast friends while unravelling the inner workings of the brain at the Howard Hughes Janelia Research Campus. Outside of the lab, their friendship was forged through competitive rounds of ping pong, club dancing in DC, and late-night science talks over prehistoric craft beers brewed from the yeast of swamp dinosaurs.

Since their Janelia days, they have each carved out impressive professional paths. Julia now works at the NIH, where she helps turn the dreams of budding neuroscientists into reality through research funding, all while maintaining her status as the group's Master of Memes. Beth is based at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she mentors the next generation of researchers.

Though they rarely get to see each other in person these days, they keep their bond alive through regular FaceTime dates to swap stories and introduce their puppies. Erika is honored to have these two brilliant women by her side for her wedding day.

Angela and Erika were co-residents in Ophthalmology at UCLA, where they bonded over the glamour of midnight consults, free BCSC breakfasts, and the soul-crushing commutes to county hospitals in LA traffic. In the early days, Erika was destined for Retina while Angela was on the Oculoplastics path. But after two years of sleep deprivation, endless rounds of PRP (pew pew!), and one too many orbit fracture evals in the ED, they were both shocked to discover that their true passion was actually Cornea surgery. Their enthusiasm was so contagious that together they convinced half their class to go onto Cornea Fellowship. Angela just accepted a faculty position at Harvard, where it’s only a matter of time before she’s running the whole department.

Beyond her brilliance and her surgical talent, Angela has a special way of making everyone around her feel heard and cared for. Residency is tough, and Angela was there to cheer on Allen and Erika through the roughest spots. Erika is thrilled to have her close friend and future colleague stand with her on her wedding day.

Grant Mathews and Boyang Niu

Allen first met these guys in the San Francisco startup scene, back when the company was called Chatous—before it became Kiwi, then Plaza, then Castle Global, and eventually Hive AI. When they weren’t pivoting, they went on hikes and ate Asian food, becoming the poster boys for the 2015 tech bros. Their ritual of choice is waiting exactly 90 minutes in line for a bowl of ramen at Mensho Tokyo.

Boyang eventually quit to "pursue career," which is really just code for wanting to be fed by Michelin-starred chefs in a big tech cafeteria. Before he left, he managed to hustle Allen out of $300 across the ping pong table—Boyang was the original Marty Supreme.

Grant chose the "rage quit" route after succumbing to peer pressure to work until 2 AM while sick. To be fair, Grant handles illness with the resilience of an old iPhone battery in the cold. Allen and Grant spent the following years calling each other scrawny; to settle the debate, they launched a weekly Apple Fitness challenge. Grant decisively beat Allen 18 weeks out of 20, but his Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is still a disaster, so in Allen’s book, he’s still scrawny.

In the winter of 2019, the three of them locked in a 10-year bet about the future. They covered everything from the whether Allen will be married by 2029 to universal basic income by 2029. They only gave Allen a confidence score of 70%. While 2029 is still years away, what they know for sure is that their friendship has survived the pandemic, the NFTs, and the first wave of AGI. Allen is super excited to celebrate this day with these guys by his side and he can’t wait to receive their GPT 5.4 generated toasts.

Tony and Allen went to the same elementary school and high school, but what makes the camaraderie really special is that they were both born in Beijing; China is never too far from their minds.

Back in 2014, Tony was the one who encouraged Allen to start his career in San Francisco because just like how there is only one China, there is only one Silicon Valley, and the world will be forever changed by it.

As Tony transitioned from a nano engineer to a product leader, Allen always remained an insightful voice by his side. As they grew older, they both discovered that there is more to life than tech. Tony splits his time between exploring new cultures abroad and renovating his house while Allen dances and tends to his plants.

But when they get back together, they pick up right where they left off: the future of AI, the meaning of life, and the roots of communism. Allen is so honored to have Tony be a part of his wedding party.

Growing up in Richmond, B.C, George went through elementary school with the same group of friends he’d known since kindergarten. But in grade 7, he was put in a different classroom than them, instead, he ended up sitting next to this kid named “Allen”, a Chinese boy who spoke basic textbook English and brought dumplings for lunch everyday.

As the year progressed, George became Allen’s best friend. He taught Allen everything he needed to know about Canadian culture: Linkin’ Park, Roberto Luongo, mother affiliated slang, punch buggies, and anatomical body parts. George gave Allen the greatest gift of fitting in.

Allen and George ended up going to different high schools, but every summer, they came back together to play basketball for 60 consecutive evenings. Eventually, they moved so far apart that basketball was no longer feasible. By that time, George had already become part of Allen’s muscle memory. His fingers stream every life update to George in real time over the interwebz.

Of all of Allen’s childhood friends, George is the one whose landline number Allen still remembers and Allen couldn't imagine his wedding without George in his corner.