Student Research Opportunities

The CUNY School of Medicine is fortunate to offer several fellowship programs that help students to enrich their experience. All programs are competitive and the availability is contingent on available funding. For all inquiries regarding scholarships and fellowships, contact Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. Dani McBeth.

The Rudin Research Fellowship Program allows about twelve students per year to conduct research with a member of the CUNY SoM faculty. These $3000 fellowships require students to complete 200 hours of research over the summer and into the school year with a faculty member in the CUNY School of Medicine or City College.

Leonard Davis Community-based Research Fellowships are awarded annually to 6 students who are provided a $3000 stipend and in return perform 200 hours of community-based research with a faculty member, often from the Department of Community Health & Social Medicine. 

Leonard Davis Community Service Fellowships are awarded annually to about 14 students who are provided a $3000 stipend and, in return, perform 200 hours of community service, generally in the Harlem community. Many of the students are placed in after-school programs at local schools, organizations, and community centers. Others are placed in other settings within Harlem. 

The Mack Lipkin Broader Horizons Fellowship is awarded to about 10 students at the completion of U3 or M1 years. This competitive fellowship grants students the ability to travel somewhere in the world to carry out a research project of their own design. This program truly does enrich students’ outlook. Students have traveled all over Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia through this remarkable program.

The Bendich Fellowship Program is supported by an endowed fund and partially supports students who take a year from the curriculum to pursue research opportunities.

If you are interested in conducting research with a CUNY SoM faculty member, please follow the following steps. First, explore the list of projects below that describes the research in which CUNY SoM faculty are engaged. Select your top two/three choices. Then, contact the faculty member directly by email. 

Be sure to write a professional email. Introduce yourself briefly, including where you are in your education and whether you have had any experience in conducting research (also, attach a polished CV as a PDF to your email). Explain why you are interested in the faculty member’s research. Ask the faculty member if she/he is accepting any CUNY SoM students at the moment and if so, request an appointment to speak with the faculty member directly about the possibility of doing research with her/him. Schedule an appointment. Go to your meeting prepared: read the literature about the topic and be sure to read any papers that faculty member has published. Also, develop a list of questions, including questions about specifically what you would be doing, goals and expectations, and whether you might have the opportunity to publish. If you have any concerns or questions regarding each step of this protocol (developing and polishing your CV, crafting a professional email, finding articles in the literature, or just wanting to talk about the possibility of research), please set up an appointment with Dr. Lisa Coico, and Dr. Maria Lima.

Components of a Professional Email

CV Research Medical Students

Lisa Coico: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Coico is interested in burnout and suicide among students and physicians.

Patricia Cortes: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Cortes studies the mechanisms of V(D)J recombination and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and dissects the etiology of human diseases related to these processes. V(D)J recombination and NHEJ are essential for the generation of antibodies, T cell receptors and to maintain genomic stability. Dr. Cortes is interested in proteins involved in DNA repair and VDJ recombination and their significance in certain immunodeficiency diseases and cancer.

Paul Gottlieb;  MCBS: [email protected]; Virus assembly and replication, and vaccine development for respiratory viruses and Zika.

Sanna Goyert: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Goyert is interested in the role of innate immune receptors in neurodegenerative diseases, identification and functional role of the interaction of innate immune receptors with endogenous ligands, and continuing studies of innate immune receptors in severe infection/septic shock.

Lice Ghilardi: MCBS: [email protected]; Lice’s research is about neuroplasticity mechanisms related to learning and memory formation relevant to motor control and visuospatial learning in normal subjects and patients with Parkinson’s Disease. She uses high density-EEG, behavioral tasks, MRI.

Khosrow Kashfi: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Kashfi is interested in,  1. Treatment and prevention of cancers of the colon, pancreas and ER-negative breast, using novel compounds such as dual nitric oxide and hydrogen sulfide donating NSAIDs and 2. Prevention of Familial Adenomatous Polyposis with gastrointestinaly safe sulindac.

Junghoon Kim: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Kim’s lab uses advanced neuroimaging and neuropsychological methods to investigate various neuro-rehabilitation issues in patients with traumatic brain injury. Current research topics include: 1) revealing the mechanisms of neuroplasticity during recovery and interventions (neuromodulation, psychoactive drugs, and cognitive training) and 2) identifying and validating novel biomarkers of injury. 

Andreas Kottmann: MCBS: [email protected]; The Kottmann lab studies the regulation of structural plasticity in the basal ganglia and the spinal cord. They found that adjuvant dosing with agonists of the signal transduction pathway “Shh” avoids the formation of disabling dyskinesia in response to L-Dopa treatment in murine and monkey models of Parkinson’s Disease. They now seek to test these findings in clinical trials. They are testing whether ” Shh” signaling originating from a subset of motorneurons is involved in (1) motorneuron protection in models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and (2) in muscle repair upon injury.

Geri Kreitzer: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Kreitzer is interested in how epithelial cells establish and maintain their distinctive polarized architecture and functions and how non-canonical activities of microtubule motor proteins modify transcriptional activity of nuclear receptors in the context of breast cancer metastasis, kidney function, and skeletal and cardiac muscle metabolism. She uses cell biological, biochemical and molecular approaches to gain mechanistic insight into these fundamental cellular processes.

John (Jack) Martin: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Martin’s lab studies repair of the damaged motor systems of the brain and spinal cord after spinal cord injury and stroke. They use animal models. Their approach is to stimulate the brain and spinal cord to activate neurons; this approach is termed neuromodulation. Their focus is to translate approaches that are effective in animal models to the human. They collaborate with neurologists to optimize approaches for the human.

Itzhak Mano: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Mano is interested in molecular mechanisms of neuronal damage and neuroprotective signaling in excitotoxicity and brain ischemia  and mechanisms of neuronal communication and synaptic clearance in circuits that use the neurotransmitter glutamate, using a simple animal model (the nematode C. elegans).

Kaliris Salas-Ramirez: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr.  Salas-Ramirez studies interventions for cognitive decline as a result of drug exposure throughout different critical periods, with a particular focus on sex differences on efficacy. This drug exposure is either therapeutic, chemotherapy, illicit, cocaine.  She uses animal models to determine cognitive and emotional responses to both the drugs and interventions followed by neuroanatomical assessments to understand the effects on neural plasticity.

Linda Spatz: MCBS: [email protected];  Dr. Spatz’s laboratory focuses on the genetic & environmental factors that can trigger the production of anti-dsDNA antibodies which are the hallmark of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.  She is interested in the role of molecular mimicry by pathogens such as EBV, in the etiology of lupus and autoimmunity.  She is currently studying structural similarities between some pathogen proteins and dsDNA, which may play a role in eliciting autoantibodies.

Gonzalo Torres: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Torres lab studies the molecular mechanisms used by neurons to regulate dopamine homeostasis and the role of the gut microbiota in the regulation of the brain dopamine system. Current projects include: 1) the regulation of the dopamine transporter by G proteins, and 2) the role of the gut microbiota in dopamine neuron vulnerability and function.

Ashiwel Undieh: 
MCBS: [email protected]; Dopamine-regulated signaling systems and epigenetic mechanisms in the pathophysiology and treatment of addiction and depression; pharmacologic approaches to spinal cord injury therapy.

Hoau-Yan Wang: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Wang is interested in age-dependent alteration in neuronal function, pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic targets for neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease and in  neuropsychiatric disorders with particular emphasis on bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia, and discovery of novel therapeutic agents and diagnostic biomarkers for neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders as well as traumatic brain injury.

Jun Yoshioka: MCBS: [email protected]; Dr. Yoshioka’s lab is interested in the effects of cellular stresses on metabolism such as oxidative stress, hypoxia/ischemia, and/or hyperglycemia/lipidemia Specifically, he focuses on characterizing cardiovascular phenotypes in mouse models of metabolic disorders.