Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD

Jeanette D. Hsu Endowed Chair in Cell Biology, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Dr. Sharma is a nationally and internationally renowned physician scientist whose researchwork is focused on investigating mechanisms and pathways within the immune system that facilitate tumor rejection or elicit resistance to immune checkpoint therapy. She is a Professor in the departments of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Immunology, Associate VP of Immunobiology and the T.C. and Jeanette D. Hsu Endowed Chair in Cell Biology, at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is also the inaugural Scientific Director for the Immunotherapy Platform at MD Anderson Cancer Center. As Scientific Director, she designs and supervises immune monitoring studies for over 100 different immunotherapy clinical trials. In 2022 she became the Director of Scientific Programs for the James P. Allison Institute at MD Anderson.

Dr. Sharma is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI). She received the Emil Frei III Award for Excellence in Translational Research in 2016, the Coley Award for Distinguished Research for Tumor Immunology in 2018, the Women in Science with Excellence (WISE) award in 2020, the Heath Memorial Award in 2021 and the Randall Prize for Excellence in Cancer Research in 2021.

Dr. Sharma has mentored over 50 graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, clinical fellows, and junior faculty since 2005. She also mentors undergraduate summer students, including underrepresented minorities from Puerto Rico and Howard University, each summer. She is currently mentoring 3 post docs, 3 graduate students, 2 clinical fellows and 4 junior faculty. She provides excellent leadership, guidance, expertise and invests her time for the success of the careers of these young scientists.

In 2006, Dr. Sharma designed and conducted the first neoadjuvant (pre-surgical) trial, also known as a window-of-opportunity trial, with immune checkpoint therapy (anti-CTLA-4, ipilimumab), which allowed her to establish safety of the neoadjuvant approach for immune checkpoint therapy as well as provide tumor tissues for translational research studies. She identified the ICOS/ICOSL pathway as a novel target for cancer immunotherapy strategies. The neoadjuvant clinical trial in 2006 was also the first trial with immune checkpoint therapy in patients with bladder cancer. The clinical data indicated that 25% of patients had significant anti-tumor responses with pathologic complete responses. These data led Dr. Sharma to conduct additional clinical trials with immune checkpoint therapy (anti-PD-1, nivolumab) for patients with bladder cancer, which enabled FDA-approval of nivolumab as treatment for patients with metastatic bladder cancer. Dr. Sharma also led the clinical trials with immune checkpoint therapy (nivolumab and nivolumab plus ipilimumab) in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which led to FDA-approval of these agents as treatment for patients with RCC.

Dr. Sharma is the Principal Investigator for multiple immunotherapy clinical trials. Her studies have identified novel resistance mechanisms, including loss of interferon (IFN) signaling, VISTA+ immunosuppressive cells, increased EZH2 expression in T cells, TGFB signaling in bone metastases, and CD73+ myeloid cells in GBM. Her work continues to drive the development of immunotherapy strategies for the treatment of cancer patients.

Dr. Sharma holds a Ph.D. in immunology and an M.D. from Pennsylvania State University. She completed her clinical residency at New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center in New York, and her clinical fellowship was completed at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Harold Varmus, MD

Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine

Harold Varmus, M.D., co-recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for studies of the genetic basis of cancer, joined the Meyer Cancer Center of Weill Cornell Medicine as the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine in 2015. He is also a Senior Associate Member of the New York Genome Center, where he helps to develop programs in cancer genomics, and an adjunct professor at Columbia University, where he teaches an undergraduate course about the scientific enterprise. Previously, Dr. Varmus was the Director of the National Cancer Institute for five years (2010-2015), the President of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for ten years (2000-2010), and Director of the National Institutes of Health for six years (1993-1999). A graduate of Amherst College and Harvard University in English literature and of Columbia University in medicine, he was further trained at Columbia University Medical Center, the National Institutes of Health, and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), before becoming a member of the UCSF basic science faculty for over two decades.

Varmus is a member of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences and Medicine, is involved in several initiatives to promote science and health in developing countries, and serves on advisory groups for several academic, governmental, philanthropic, and commercial institutions. These positions include co-chair of the New York City Mayor’s life sciences initiative (LifeSciNYC) and member of advisory boards of Crick Institute, the global health program at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and two biotechnology companies (Surrozen and DragonFly). He is also a member of the Lasker Prize Jury and chairs the jury for the newly launched Merkin Prize. Recently, he has become the chair of the World Health Organization’s new Science Council and co-chair of the National Academies’ Committee on Science, Technology, and Law.

The author of over 400 scientific papers and five books, including a 2009 memoir entitled The Art and Politics of Science (WW Norton), Varmus was a co-chair of President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2009-10); a co-founder and Chairman of the Board of the Public Library of Science (the publisher of PLOS journals; 2003-2010), and chair of the Scientific Board of the Gates Foundation Grand Challenges in Global Health (2001-2003). He has also written occasional reviews, op-eds, and articles for The New York Times, The Atlantic, and other newspapers and magazines.

Helen Hsieh, MD, PhD

Clinical Assistant Professor, Stony Brook University

Dr. Helen Hsieh is a physician-scientist in the Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery. After completing general surgery residency at McGill University Health Centre and a pediatric general surgery fellowship at CHU-Sainte Justine in Montreal, Dr. Hsieh returned to Stony Brook (MSTP alumna) as an attending pediatric surgeon. In addition she has an active basic science program that studies neuroinflammation neurodevelopment, specifically in the context of necrotizing enterocolitis. As Associate Trauma Medical Director, Dr. Hsieh is actively involved with the Pediatric Performance Improvement and Patient Safety Program for the level I pediatric trauma center at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital and runs its research programs.

Christopher Pittenger, MD, PhD

Mears & Jameson Professor and Deputy Chair for Translational Research, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine

Chris Pittenger received his MD and PhD degrees from Columbia University and completed his residency training in adult psychiatry and concurrent research fellowship at Yale, before joining the Yale faculty in 2007. He is now Mears & Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Deputy Chair for Translational Research in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale. He directs several research programs and cross-departmental initiatives, including a basic science laboratory, the Yale OCD Research Clinic, the Yale Program for Psychedelic Science, and the Yale Center for Brain and Mind Health. He also directs the research track within the adult psychiatry residency and is active in national physician-scientist training initiatives.

Charles W. Emala, Sr., MS, MD

Henrik H. Bendixen Professor & Vice Chair for Research, Columbia University

Dr. Emala is currently a tenured professor and vice chair for research and holds an endowed chair named after Henrik H. Bendixen in the Department of Anesthesiology at Columbia University. Dr. Emala’s research interests have focused on cellular signaling mechanisms that control smooth muscle contraction/relaxation with a particular interest on anesthetic effects on airway tone and novel therapeutic approaches to airway smooth muscle relaxation in asthma. Dr. Emala’s laboratory has been funded by the NIH for over 30 years and he has mentored over 30 individuals as developing physician-scientists.

Peter Igarashi, MD

Knapp Dean, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University

Peter Igarashi, MD, a nationally recognized nephrologist, physician-scientist, and medical educator, serves as Knapp Dean of the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University. Dr. Igarashi came to Stony Brook in September 2022 from the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he was the Nesbitt Chair, Professor and Head of the Department of Medicine. He previously served as Chief of the Division of Nephrology, the Robert Tucker Hayes Distinguished Chair in Nephrology, and Founding Director of the O’Brien Kidney Research Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. An active NIH-funded physician-scientist with research interests in polycystic kidney disease (PKD), Dr. Igarashi has published more than 130 articles and chapters and is the recipient of more than $25 million in NIH grant support. He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Igarashi’s previous awards include an Established Investigator Award from the American Heart Association, an NIH MERIT Award and the Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize in PKD, the highest honor for PKD research. A native of Los Angeles, Dr. Igarashi earned his MD from the UCLA School of Medicine and completed an internal medicine residency at the University of California Davis Medical Center. He then moved on to Yale University where he completed a nephrology fellowship and began his career in academic medicine.

Nancee Moes, M.F.A.

Assistant Professor of Practice, SBU School of Communication & Journalism; Professional Programming Lead, Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science

Nancee Moes joined the Alda Center in 2015 and has facilitated Alda Center programs around the U.S., working with scientists and researchers from a broad range of disciplines. Her experience with individual coaching allows her to support researchers as they prepare for specific presentations including research competitions with financial awards. Moes helped to design several of the Center’s special topics professional development programs, and during the pandemic she helped develop ways of preserving experiential learning on digital platforms. She is a winner of the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence, among the highest honors given by the State University of New York System for teaching.

Inel J. Lewis, MPA

Director, Diversity Initiatives, Renaissance School of Medicine

Inel J. Lewis, MPA, currently serves as the Director, Diversity Initiatives, RSOM, SBU. She is the Founding Director of the PACE Program, a pipeline program that provides resources such as MCAT Prep, mentoring, and clinical shadowing to support minority pre-medical students at SBU. She advises the PACE Empowerment, MAPS, SNMA, MSPA and LSMA student groups. Prior to moving to NY, Ms. Lewis served as a manager in the DCDO, University of Michigan School of Medicine. She serves on the Advisory Boards of the SUNY Chancellor's EOP Pre-Medical Scholars Program and Mentoring in Medicine.

Lauren Brookmeyer, MA

Associate Vice President and Head of DC Office for Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Medicine

Ms. Brookmeyer has more than 15 years of external relations experience, with specialties including: congressional lobbying; federal agency engagement; strategic communications; the federal budget process; appropriations tracking; higher education policy; and health care advocacy. She recently received the State University of New York (SUNY) 2024 Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Professional Service and currently serves in the prestigious national role as 2025 Chair of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ (APLU) Council on Governmental Affairs (CGA). Ms. Brookmeyer holds a MA in Communication and Rhetorical Theory and a BA in Journalism from Hofstra University.

Michael Frohman, MD, PhD

Director, Medical Scientist Training Program, Stony Brook University

Distinguished Professor Michael Frohman has directed the MSTP for the past 21 years. Dr. Frohman graduated from the U. Pennsylvania MSTP in 1985 with an MD and a PhD in Immunology, was a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF, and joined the Pharmacology Dept. at SBU in 1992. His research interests center on signal transduction; disease models include diabetes, thrombosis, fertility, cancer and immune responses. Dr. Frohman’s research group has authored or co-authored ~200 papers, chapters, and reviews. Dr. Frohman has trained more than 50 undergraduate students, graduate students, masters students, and fellows, and junior faculty in his lab, including 3 MSTP students. Dr. Frohman is also the Chair of Pharmacological Sciences and the Associate Director for Education in the Cancer Center.

Neil A. Nadkarni, MD

Assistant Professor, Stony Brook University

Dr. Nadkarni has a BA in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Neurobiology & Behavior from Cornell University, and an MD degree from Boston University. While in medical school, Dr. Nadkarni was awarded a HHMI Medical Student Fellowship to study pre-eclampsia. He pursued an adult neurology residency at Northwestern University in Chicago, receiving an R25 NINDS Resident Research Fellowship. Upon completing Neurocritical Care Fellowship, Dr. Nadkarni was awarded an NINDS K08 grant investigating neutrophils, microcirculation and oxygenation in stroke. His lab focuses on innate immunity in both preclinical and clinical domains of stroke. His biggest pastime is spending time with his family and friends as well as going to concerts.

Emily Gallagher, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Diseases. Director of ABIM Research Pathway, Internal Medicine Residency Program, Mount Sinai

Dr. Emily Jane Gallagher is Associate Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease, Director of the American Board of Internal Medicine Research Pathway, Associate Program Director for Research for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. Dr. Gallagher earned her medical degree from the University College Dublin, and PhD from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Her initial postgraduate training was in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology in Dublin, and she subsequently completed postgraduate training at Mount Sinai in New York. She is an NIH-funded translational researcher with an R37 MERIT award from the National Cancer Institute, studying the mechanisms underlying diabetes and obesity-associated cancers. She is also MPI on two R38 StARR Awards from NHLBI and NIAID. As a physician, Dr. Gallagher has an oncoendocrinology clinical practice where she treats people with endocrine and metabolic complications of cancer, and its therapies.

Sandeep Mallipattu, MD

Chief, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Stony Brook University

Dr. Mallipattu, Chief of Nephrology and Hypertension at Stony Brook Medicine and DCI-Liebowitz Endowed Professor at Renaissance School of Medicine, focuses on chronic kidney disease by exploring gene expression's impact on kidney cells. He earned his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from UC San Diego, M.D. from Boston University, and completed his Internal Medicine and Nephrology Fellowship at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Notable awards include the PECASE and ASCI Young Physician-Scientist Award. He leads NIH/NIDDK training programs, co-directs the LINCATS Scholars Program, and contributes to major journals, NIH study sections, and strategic planning groups.

Michelle Juarez, PhD

Diversity Outreach Coordinator, Stony Brook University

Dr. Michelle Juarez completed her Ph.D. in Genetics from Stony Brook University and a Postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego. In 2013, Dr. Juarez joined the faculty at City College New York. Her research on Drosophila developmental genetics received support from National Institutes of Health (NIAID) to test the intersection of inflammation and wound healing in fruit flies. She simultaneously pursued projects in STEM literacy and mentoring the next generation of scientists. Moving beyond the lab bench, in 2019, Dr. Juarez joined the HHMI Inclusive Excellence initiative as a Visiting Science Education fellow. She returned to Stony Brook University in 2023 to support outreach programs in the Graduate School.

Jennie L. Williams, PhD

Assistant Dean For Student Diversity and Aligned Pre-Doctoral Programs & Associate Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, SBU Cancer Center, Stony Brook University

Dr. Williams attended Savannah State University (BS), Tuskegee University (MS), and Purdue University (Ph.D.). She conducted her postdoctoral work at Harvard prior to joining the Institute for Cancer Prevention in Valhalla, New York. After joining Stony Brook University as a Research Associate, Dr. Williams was promoted to Research Instructor of Medicine and then to Associate Professor with tenure.

Dr. Williams’ initial cancer research centered on evaluation of the efficacy and mode of action of both “standard of care” and novel chemotherapeutic agents. This work utilized formulated derivatives of Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as chemotherapeutic agents against cancer progression. Using commercially available cell lines, her group defined the mechanistic role of NF-κB and other transcription factors in response to novel derivatives of NSAIDs in colon cancer.

The focus of Dr. Williams’ current research is on defining and addressing racial disparities in cancer. Her group seeks to understand the causes of cancer in general, both external and internal factors, and to define those dysregulations that result in differential rates of disease incidence and mortality between racial and ethnic groups. In her laboratory they are investigating this through molecular and chemotherapeutic assessments.

Dr. Williams’ research focus turned to cancer racial disparities to address a glaring gap. Although African Americans have higher cancer incidence and mortality rates than any other racial or ethnic group, knowledge about treatment and tumor biology was generated from in vitro and in vivo models of Caucasian American patients or those of undefined race and ethnicity. We know that one size does not fit all. There are differences within and between groups, and from individual to individual. This understanding accelerated an interest in personalized medicine but until recently, this did not always factor in race, ethnicity, or gender. A root cause of this problem was that colon cancer models that varied by race and ethnicity were not readily available for research. To address this issue, Dr. Williams’ group generated diverse colon cancer cell lines (2D models). They are now generating diverse organoids (3D models) and patient derived xenografts (PDXs) to better recapitulate conditions in the human body. This is effectively being evaluated with the assistance of several collaborations.

Dr. Williams’ group is addressing the underlying genetic/regulatory causes associated with cancer disparities. They are particularly interested in the association of inherent and acquired genetic mutations, aberrant DNA methylation, differential microbiome profiles, miRNA dysregulation as it relates to cancer disparity, and general response to chemotherapeutic agents. Their hypothesis is that differential expression and dysregulation of these factors are in part accountable for the disparity in incidence of cancers seen in African Americans as compared to other racial and ethnic groups. With this systematic approach they are assessing how genetic and epigenetic dysregulation relate to disparities in cancer incidence and death rates between African-, Hispanic-, and Caucasian Americans

Bettina Fries, MD

Chief of Infectious Diseases, Stony Brook University

Dr. Bettina Fries, MD, chief of Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook University, became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2022. A nationally recognized physician-scientist, Dr. Fries specializes in mycology and antibody research for vaccine development. Under her leadership, Stony Brook's Infectious Diseases Division expanded and led efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is also a fellow of the Academy of Microbiology, Infectious Disease Society, and American College of Physicians. Her research focuses on fungal infections and monoclonal antibodies against multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Olga C. Aroniadis, MD, MSc, FACG

Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stony Brook University

Dr. Olga C. Aroniadis, MD, MSc, FACG, is Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Stony Brook Medicine. Currently an Associate Professor of Medicine, Director of Clinical Research, and Director of the Women’s Health Center for GI Diseases, Dr. Aroniadis focuses on the gut microbiome's role in GI diseases. She co-authored research on COVID-19 and GI symptoms and leads educational efforts in evidence-based medicine. Dr. Aroniadis is recognized for her clinical expertise, especially in women's health, and joined Stony Brook in 2019 after her tenure at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Elizabeth Bojsza, MFA

Alda-Certified Facilitator, Assistant Professor of Practice, Stony Brook University

Elizabeth is an Alda-certified facilitator at the Alda Center, and an assistant professor of practice and the program head for the Advanced Graduate Certificate in Communicating Science at the School of Communication and Journalism. In addition to teaching on campus, designing science communication curricula, and leading Alda Center programs around the country, she is responsible for supporting students in the advanced graduate certificate program, and mentoring them as they become effective science communicators.

She finds it incredibly rewarding to apply the skills of analysis and feedback that she honed as a theater artist to designing curriculum and facilitating experiential learning for scientists and medical professionals. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in theater and had trained instructors and teachers in various contexts including non-profit theater and higher education.

Christopher Ashdown

MD-PhD candidate at Stony Brook University

Chris Ashdown is evaluating the role of mechanical vibration as a non-drug therapeutic on its effect on the immune system. This work forms the basis of several SBIR grants for a number of indications (including vibration as an anti aging therapeutic and an anti-cancer therapeutic). He is excited to share more about non-traditional pathways in dual-degree training, particularly with a focus on industry's role.

Aliya Siddiqui

Medical Student Trustee of the AMA

Aliya Siddiqui, MS, is proud to represent medical students as the first Muslim woman elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees. Having earned her BS/MS in mathematics and statistics at Loyola University Chicago, Ms. Siddiqui is currently pursuing an MD at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where she is also performing bioengineering research as she works toward her PhD in cell biology.