Current Students
2019 Incoming Students
The MSTP's greatest asset is its talented and dedicated students. Our students are devoted to biomedical science and medicine, participating in the MD Double Helix Curriculum, a wide variety of graduate programs, and co-curricular events of the MSTP. In addition, our students volunteer in a range of medical and scientific outreach activities and take an active role in program administration.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Andrew Allbee - Miami University
PhD Degree Program: Genetics - Year: Med 4
Interests: Role of a LIM-homeobox transcription factor in the establishment and maintenance of adult stem cell-niche units
Jonathan Bartko - University of Pittsburgh
PhD Degree Program: PWD - Year: Grad 4
Interests: Defining hypoxia-induced ER stress signaling networks in the CNS
Hannah Bell - Cornell University
PhD Degree Program: IMV - Year: Grad 4
Interests: Characterizing effector T cell motility in inflammation and infection
John Bennett - Hamilton College
PhD Degree Program: Chem - Year: Grad 1
Interests: Biochemistry, organic synthesis, drug discovery, cell signaling, cell metabolism
Udaysankar Chockanathan - University of Chicago
PhD Degree Program: NBA - Year: Grad 4
Interests: Comparison of the efficacy of various correlation and causation algorithms for quantifying interactions in resting-state fMRI brain activity using graph theory approaches
Ian DeAndrea-Lazarus - Gallaudet University
PhD Degree Program: TBS - Year: Grad 3
Interests: Task-evoked fMRI language mapping
Carol Deaton - University of New Mexico
PhD Degree Program: PWD - Year: Grad 2
Interests: Studying the Role of Heat Shock Factor 1 in Neuronal Autophagy
Dawling Dionisio-Santos - University of Puerto Rico
PhD Degree Program: NBA - Year: Med 3
Interests: Neuroinflammatory mechanisms that contribute to the development and progression of Alzheimer's Disease
Alan Finkelstein - CUNY Queens College
PhD Degree Program: BME - Year: Grad 1
Interests: Broadly I am interested in biochemistry, pharmacology and physiology. A bit more specifcally, I'm interested in the molecular basis of disease, and development of novel therapeutics.
Karl Foley - Vasser College
PhD Degree Program: NBA - Year: Grad 3
Interests: PP1 regulation in synaptic plasticity
Scott Friedland - University of Rochester
PhD Degree Program: Genetics - Year: Med 3
Interests: Pancreatic Cancer and effects on the host
Gary Ge - University of Rochester
PhD Degree Program: OPT - Year: Grad 2
Interests: Medical imaging - ultrasound, optical, and magnetic resonance imaging
Jonathan Gigas - University of Massachusetts - Amherst
PhD Degree Program: BIO - Year: Grad 2
Interests: Studying human Sirtuin6 protein variant found in centenarian individuals.
Nicolas Goldstein - Washington University
PhD Degree Program: HSR - Year: Med 4
Interests: Urban health, health disparities, pediatric infectious disease
Booyeon Han - Princeton University
PhD Degree Program: IMV - Year: Grad 4
Interests: Cancer immune microenvironment and immunotherapy
Adnan Hirad - CUNY Lehman
PhD Degree Program: TBS - Year: Med 4
Interests: Characterizing the acute pathophysiology of mild traumatic brain injury
Maxime Jean - Barry University
PhD Degree Program: IMV - Year: Med 4
Interests: HIV latency, antiretroviral drug discovery for HIV
Howard "Mark" Kenney - University of Rochester
Year: Grad 1
Interests: Pathology, musculoskeletal, neuroscience, disease mechanisms, human translational
Irina Lerman - University of Rochester
PhD Degree Program: PWD - Year: Med 4
Interests: Molecular mechanisms of prostate carcinogenesis
Allison Li - Washington University
PhD Degree Program: PWD - Year: Med 3
Interests: Regulation of hematopoiesis in the bone marrow microenvironment
Hayley Martin - SUNY Geneseo
PhD Degree Program: EPI - Year: Med 3
Interests: Maternal child health epidemiology, specifically looking at prenatal care delivery and breastfeeding outcomes and motivation
Briaunna Minor - Xavier University of Louisiana
PhD Degree Program: IMV - Year: Grad 2
Interests: Tumor Immunology; Estrogen signaling in immune cell infiltrate of a mouse model for Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM).
Adwiteeya "Aditi" Misra - Dartmouth College
PhD Degree Program: BME - Year: Grad 3
Interests: Influence of Cytokines on the Regenerative Potential of the Epicardium. Extracted and incubated hearts from embryos mice in cytokines
Keshia Mora - Yale University
PhD Degree Program: BME - Year: Grad 4
Interests: Investigating the mechanism underlying the differential response of tendon cells to axial tension and transverse compression
Aimee Morris - Eastman School of Music
PhD Degree Program: NBA - Year: Med 4
Interests: Musician Dystonia
Laura Owlett - SUNY Geneseo
PhD Degree Program: NBA - Year: Grad 4
Interests: Neuroinflammation
Rohith Palli - University of Pittsburgh
PhD Degree Program: BSCB - Year: Grad 4
Interests: Executable Models for Pathway Analysis
Catherine Pizzarello - College of William and Mary
PhD Degree Program: IMV - Year: Grad 2
Interests: The role of human milk oligosaccharides in the regulation of intestinal epithelial cell cytokine expression
Emily Przysinda - Skidmore College
PhD Degree Program: NSC - Year: Grad 1
Interests: Neural mechanisms of Autism Spectrum Disorders, Epilepsy, MS, Alzheimers, Learning disorders, ADHD & other neurological disease or disorders
Shuyang "Sue" Qin - California Institute of Technology
PhD Degree Program: IMV - Year: Grad 2
Interests: Mechanism of immunomodulation in pancreatic cancer
David Richardson - University of Pittsburgh
PhD Degree Program: PWD - Year: Grad 3
Interests: Neurophysiology and Movement
Elizabeth Saionz - University of Pennsylvania
PhD Degree Program: TBS - Year: Grad 5
Interests: Recovery of vision in cortically blind subjects through training
Noah Salama - Washington & Jefferson College
PhD Degree Program: IMV - Year: Grad 1
Interests: To characterize long-term, post resolution polarized resident macrophage cell types and ascertain their phenotypic role in maintaining the tissue polarized state
Jerry Saunders - Brandeis University
PhD Degree Program: PWD - Year: Grad 5
Interests: Effect of ionizing radiation on the hematopoietic system.
Daniel Savage - University of Rochester
PhD Degree Program: OPT - Year: Med 4
Interests: Investigating photo modification of corneal ultrastructure using femtosecond pulsed laser light for potential applications in refractive vision correction
Colleen Schneider - Colgate University
PhD Degree Program: BCS - Year: Grad 5
Interests: Visual cortical plasticity in patients with strokes or brain tumors
Keshov Sharma - Duke University
PhD Degree Program: NBA - Year: Grad 3
Interests: Identifying neural connections between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex in the non-human primate
Andrew Smith - University of Rochester
PhD Degree Program: IMV - Year: Med 3
Interests: Role of a polymerase defect in function of the live attenuated influenza A virus
Michael Sportiello - University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
PhD Degree Program: IMV - Year: Grad 1
Interests: Virology, influenza, HIV, basic research
Stephanie Syc-Mazurek - Brown University
PhD Degree Program: NSC - Year: Med 4
Interests: Mechanisms of optic neuropathy-induced cell death
Matthew Tanner - University of Oregon
PhD Degree Program: Genetics - Year: Grad 4
Interests: Expanded repeat DNA tracts and their roles in splicing-mediated disease in myotonic dystrophy
Jomy Varghese - Loyola University
PhD Degree Program: BME - Year: Med 4
Interests: Controlled drug release via nanoparticle carriers (supported by an NIH F30 Research Fellowship)
Arun Venkataraman - University of Rochester
PhD Degree Program: PAS - Year: Grad 3
Interests: Utilizing MRI techniques to elucidate neuropathological alterations in neurodegenerative disorders and traumatic brain injury
Jesse Wang - University of Connecticut
PhD Degree Program: TBS - Year: Grad 3
Interests: Utilizing statistical speech analysis and natural language processing to capture and understand a physician-patient conversation, then automatically update eRecord with the appropriate information
Brendan Whitelaw - University of Pennsylvania
PhD Degree Program: NBA - Year: Grad 3
Interests: Microglia in neuronal development
Emily Wu - University of Michigan
PhD Degree Program: IMV - Year: Med 3
Interests: Sexual dimorphism in rheumatoid arthritis
Farangis "Fara" Zakusilo - CUNY Hunter College
PhD Degree Program: NGP - Year: Grad 1
Interests: The basics of neurodegeneration, as well as basics and therapeutic approaches to neuroregeneration
Jimmy Zhang - Cornell University
PhD Degree Program: CMPP - Year: Med 4
Interests: Development of novel acute myocardial infarction therapeutics using metabolomics and high-throughput screening.