Webster Lincoln
Webster Lincoln | |
|---|---|
 Lincoln in 2020 | |
| Mayor of East Palo Alto, California | |
| Assumed office December 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Martha Barragan |
| Member of the East Palo Alto City Council | |
| Assumed office December 17, 2024 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 15, 1987 Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Relatives | Jamila Reinhardt (sister) Kevin Lincoln (cousin) |
| Residence | East Palo Alto, California |
| Education | Menlo-Atherton High School San Jose State University (BS) |
| Occupation |
|
Webster Lincoln (born February 15, 1987) is an American data scientist, digital pathology entrepreneur, and politician who has served as Mayor of East Palo Alto, California since December 2025, and as a member of the City Council since December 2024. [1] He is the co-founder and CEO of DigPath Inc., an artificial intelligence-driven digital pathology company.
Early life and education
Lincoln was born in Oakland, California, in 1987 and raised in East Palo Alto, with periods spent at Moffett Field Naval Air Station and Naval Air Station Lemoore due to his father's military service.[2] He comes from a multigenerational East Palo Alto family with a history of public service. His grandmother Katherine Loudd managed the Palo Alto Park Mutual Water Company for approximately 30 years, while his mother Niambi Lincoln served as Director of the East Palo Alto Sanitary District in the 1990s.[3] His sister, Jamila Reinhardt, is a member of the United States women's national rugby union team, and his cousin, Kevin Lincoln, served as Mayor of Stockton, California from 2020 to 2024 and is a candidate for California's 9th congressional district in the 2026 election.
As a teenager, Lincoln co-founded Designs à la Mode, a jewelry company, with business partner Lapria Kelly and Aimee Escobar. In 2003, at age 16, he was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).[4]
Lincoln attended Menlo-Atherton High School, where he played varsity football and competed in shot put and discus throw for the track and field team. He was also a member of the robotics team that won the regional championship and placed third nationally at the FIRST Robotics Competition in 2005.[5] He earned a Bachelor of Science in psychology with minors in chemistry and biological science from San Jose State University. He attended the Master of Science program in biological science with a concentration in physiology at San Jose State University before leaving to pursue his professional career.[6]
Career
Scientific career
While in graduate school, Lincoln began his research career as a Student Associate at SRI International in the Biosciences Division's Center for Neuroscience from 2012 to 2016, focusing on sleep neurobiology and electroencephalogram studies.[7] His work contributed to peer-reviewed publications on Huntington's disease research[8] and hypocretin/orexin antagonist studies.[9]
He subsequently worked as a Scientist II at Merck Research Laboratories (2016–2017) and as a Scientist at SanBio (2017–2019). From 2019 to 2023, Lincoln served as a Data Scientist in the Department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at Genentech, specializing in digital pathology and personalized healthcare.[10] His work at Genentech included machine learning applications for cancer biomarker discovery[11] and lupus nephritis histological feature analysis.[12]
In 2023, Lincoln worked as a Data Scientist for the California Department of Public Health, analyzing COVID-19 vaccine and mpox vaccine distribution.[13]
Business ventures
In May 2023, Lincoln co-founded DigPath Inc. with Dr. Inema Orukari, a physician-scientist specializing in biomedical engineering.[14] The company develops cloud-based digital pathology platforms utilizing artificial intelligence for diagnostic analysis. DigPath was accepted into the University of California Berkeley SkyDeck's Pad-13 incubator program in 2024 and raised angel funding in 2025.
Political career
Early campaigns
Lincoln first ran for East Palo Alto City Council in November 2020, finishing fourth with 2,929 votes, 69 votes behind the third-place winner.[15] Following the election, he filed a lawsuit alleging his closest opponent violated election laws by campaigning within 100 feet of a voting center and offering free tacos to voters on election day from the same location. While the judge found that campaigning did occur within 100 feet of a vote-by-mail drop box and that the ballot drop box was moved after San Mateo County election officials received a complaint, the court dismissed the case in March 2021, determining that San Mateo County elections officials were at fault, and that there was no intentional violation of election laws by the candidates. [16]
In the November 2022 election, Lincoln again narrowly lost, finishing third with approximately 795 votes, 19 votes behind the second-place winner in a race for two seats.[17]
2024 election and council service
Lincoln won election to the City Council in November 2024, placing third in a nine-candidate race for three seats with 2,251 votes (15.53%).[18] He was sworn in on December 17, 2024.
On the council, Lincoln has advocated for reviewing the city's inclusionary zoning ordinance, modernizing building code enforcement systems, and expanding affordable housing.[19] His policy platform emphasizes affordable housing expansion, youth empowerment through after-school programs, economic development, and environmental sustainability initiatives.
Lincoln serves as a board member for the Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency,[20] RethinkWaste,[21] and the East Palo Alto Sanitary District, positions he assumed in March 2025 and December 2024 respectively.
Mayoral tenure
Lincoln was selected as mayor during the East Palo Alto City Council reorganization meeting in December 2025, succeeding Martha Barragan. His appointment marked a departure from the city’s traditional seniority-based rotation for mayoral selection.[22]
Community involvement
Lincoln has been active in advocating for the independence of the East Palo Alto Sanitary District, opposing the district's absorption by the City of East Palo Alto.[23] Despite opposition, the district was dissolved and became a subsidiary of the city in October 2024 after more than 80 years of independent operation.[24] Lincoln currently serves on the East Palo Alto Sanitary District Board of Directors, a position he assumed in December 2024.
References
- ↑ "In electing new mayor, East Palo Alto shakes things up". Palo Alto Online. December 10, 2025. Retrieved December 20, 2025.
- ↑ "Webster Lincoln: East Palo Alto's homegrown data scientist". Palo Alto Online. October 12, 2020.
- ↑ "Webster Lincoln: Tradition with innovation". Almanac News. October 11, 2024.
- ↑ Cunningham, Bill (May 25, 2003). "Evening Hours; Wrapping It Up With a Flourish". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Robot blog: How M-A's robotics team grabbed third place in nationals". Almanac News. May 18, 2005.
- ↑ "Webster Lincoln: East Palo Alto's homegrown data scientist". Palo Alto Online. October 12, 2020.
- ↑ "Webster Lincoln: East Palo Alto's homegrown data scientist". Palo Alto Online. October 12, 2020.
- ↑ Fisher, Simon P.; Black, Sarah W.; Schwartz, Michael D.; Wilk, Alan J.; Chen, Tsui-Ming; Lincoln, Webster U.; Liu, Helen W.; Kilduff, Thomas S.; Morairty, Stephen R. (July 2013). "Longitudinal analysis of the electroencephalogram and sleep phenotype in the R6/2 mouse model of Huntington's disease". Brain. 136 (7): 2159–2172. doi:10.1093/brain/awt132. PMID 23801738.
- ↑ Morairty, Stephen R.; Wilk, Alan J.; Lincoln, Webster U.; Neylan, Thomas C.; Kilduff, Thomas S. (January 30, 2014). "The hypocretin/orexin antagonist almorexant promotes sleep without impairment of performance in rats". Frontiers in Neuroscience. 8: 3. doi:10.3389/fnins.2014.00003. PMC 3907703. PMID 24550767.
- ↑ "Webster Lincoln: Tradition with innovation". Almanac News. October 11, 2024.
- ↑ Qamra, Aditi; et al. (April 14–19, 2023). Digital pathology based prognostic & predictive biomarkers in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023. Orlando, FL: AACR. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2023-5705.
- ↑ Moll, Solange; et al. (November 2022). "Machine-Learning-Quantified Lupus Nephritis Histological Features Correlate With NIH Activity and Chronicity Index Subscores". Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. 33 (11S): 208. doi:10.1681/ASN.20223311S1208b.
- ↑ Salih, Tarek; Vance, Josh; Quint, Joshua; Meza, Brenda; McNitt, Louise; Lincoln, Webster U.; Schechter, Robert (July 28, 2023). "Demographic Disparities in Mpox Vaccination Series Completion, by Route of Vaccine Administration — California, August 9, 2022–March 31, 2023". MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 72 (30): 827–832. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7230a4. PMC 10390088 Check
|pmc=value (help). PMID 37498796 Check|pmid=value (help). - ↑ "About DigPath". DigPath Inc. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
- ↑ "East Palo Alto council candidate loses out, accuses closest opponent of electioneering". San Jose Mercury News. December 14, 2020.
- ↑ "Former East Palo Alto City Council candidate loses election contest lawsuit". Palo Alto Online. March 11, 2021.
- ↑ "Martha Barragan edges out Webster Lincoln in East Palo Alto City Council race". Almanac News. December 8, 2022.[dead link]
- ↑ "Election results all but final, East Palo Alto's new council members eager to get to work". Local News Matters. December 2, 2024.
- ↑ "East Palo Alto opts not to hike fees for builders who fall short on affordable housing". Almanac News. July 16, 2025.[dead link]
- ↑ "Webster Lincoln". Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
- ↑ "Board Members". RethinkWaste. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
- ↑ "In electing new mayor, East Palo Alto shakes things up". Palo Alto Online. December 10, 2025. Retrieved December 20, 2025.
- ↑ "Battle for the sewer: East Palo Alto Sanitary District fights potential city takeover". Palo Alto Online. August 16, 2024.
- ↑ "Sanitary district dissolves amid tensions, accusations". Palo Alto Online. October 1, 2024.
External links
- Official biography at City of East Palo Alto
- DigPath Inc.
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