Randy Longman, MD / PhD, Principal Investigator
Randy is a gastroenterologist and mucosal immunologist focused on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) research. He completed his undergraduate studies at Yale University and his graduate work at the Tri-Institutional (Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering/Cornell) MD-PhD Program. Randy did clinical Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology training at Columbia University Medical Center and post-doctoral training with Dr. Dan Littman at NYU. The intricate dialogue between host and pathogen fascinates him; his research aims to discover novel mechanisms of microbial regulation of mucosal and systemic immunity and to develop new, targeted therapies for IBD. Outside of science, Randy loves spending time with his family, skiing, and playing soccer! Learn more about Randy here.
Sílvia Pires, PhD, Instructor in Medicine
Sílvia grew up in Guimarães, Portugal. She moved to Porto (Portugal) where she earned her undergraduate degree in Biology at University of Porto (UP). She later joined the Cellular and applied microbiology group at IBMC, UP, where she developed interest in bioactive compounds and bacterial secondary metabolism. In 2016 she moved to New York to do a post-doc in host pathogen interaction, at Columbia University. There, she focused on type I and type III interferon activation induced by Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii airway infection. As for Sílvia’s current scientific interests they are focused on mucosal immunology, host-microbiome interaction, immunometabolism and cancer.
Grace Maldarelli, MD / PhD, Instructor in Medicine
Grace grew up in Maryland; after completing her undergraduate degree in Public Health Studies, she earned her MD and PhD from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her doctoral work focused on type IV pili in Clostridium difficile. She matched to the Medical Research Track program at Weill Cornell Medical Center for a combined residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Infectious Diseases. Her scientific interests are in enteric bacteria and host-microbe interactions. Outside of the lab, Grace enjoys running and visiting the many museums of New York.
Wei Yang, PhD, Postdoctoral Associate in Medicine
Wei was born and grew up in Anshan, northeast part of China. Wei obtained her Ph.D. degree at University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei, Anhui province. Her doctoral work was to study the role of Th1 and Th17 in the pathogenesis of murine autoimmune cholangitis and colitis. In 2016, she started her postdoctoral training at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), her project was to define the function of Protein Kinase 2 (CK2) in CD4+ T and CD8+ T cells in the context of autoimmunity and infection. In 2021, Wei joined Dr. Longman’s lab to study host-microbiome interaction and mucosal immunology.
Manabu Nagayama, MD / PhD, Postdoctoral Associate in Medicine
I was born in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, where there is a beautiful sea and lots of delicious food (wagyu beef, mango, etc.). I received my M.D. and Ph.D. from Jichi Medical University in Tochigi Prefecture. Tochigi is famous for the World Heritage site of Nikko. I am a gastroenterologist, and my specialty is inflammatory bowel disease. During my graduate school days, I was a member of Dr. Kenya Honda's lab at Keio University, where I studied the interaction between gut microflora and the intestinal immune system. I like hiking and watching youtube.
Emre Cardakli, MD/PhD Student
Emre grew up in Hollidaysburg, a small town in central Pennsylvania. He attended Duke University, majoring in neuroscience with minors in chemistry and biology. During this time, he developed an interest in immunology, studying innate immune signaling in the context of CNS autoimmunity. Emre matriculated into the Tri-Institutional (Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering/Cornell) MD-PhD Program in 2021 and hopes to pursue a career as a physician-scientist. Emre has strong scientific interests in autoimmunity and host-microbiota interactions. Outside of the lab, Emre likes to spend his time cycling, playing tennis, and eating well.
Caroline Ericsson, Clinical Research Assistant
Originally from Brookline, Massachusetts, Caroline graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Biology and B.A. in French. During college, Caroline worked in Dr. Lorelei Mucci’s cancer epidemiology lab at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is passionate about IBD research and plans to attend medical school. Outside of WCM, Caroline enjoys dancing ballet and exploring new restaurants in NYC.
Chloe Scott, Lab Manager / Research Technician
Chloe is from Vancouver, Canada but spent most of her life in Portland, Oregon. She started out as a professional dancer before completing her undergraduate degree in Microbiology with a minor in Biochemistry at the University of Arizona. Chloe started out in a diagnostic microbiology lab before switching to a research lab focused on novel antimicrobials and their efficacy against Streptococcus pneumoniae, MRSA, and other Staphylococci in her undergraduate years. She plans to pursue graduate studies in immunology in the future and obtain her PhD. In her free time, Chloe enjoys spending time with her cats and trying out new restaurants.
Recent Alumni
Seun Oguntunmibi, Medical Student
Nancy Tran, Medical Student
Svetlana Lima, DVM, PhD
Alexa Lavergne, Medical Student
Monica Viladomiu, PhD
Lance Chou, Physical Therapy Student
Maeva Metz, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harvard University
Gabriela Funez-dePagnier, Medical Student
Lucía Duenas-Bianchi, Medical Student, University of Connecticut
Lasha Gogokhia, Medical Resident, Johnston Memorial Hospital
Jimmy Castellanos, MD PhD Student, Weill Cornell Medicine
Viola Woo, R&D Associate, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
Charlie Kivolowitz, Graduate Student, Thomas Jefferson University
Danny Victorio, Medical Student, Rush Medical College
Ahmed Abdulhamid, Internal Medicine Resident, Henry Ford Hospital
Amy Rupert, Medical Student