columbia biology phd students

Skip to content

• Our Faculty

Educational Programs

News & events, epidemiology, phd student profiles, alexander furuya.

• [email protected]

I am a Columbia University graduate student pursuing a PhD in Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. I have an extensive background in data analysis, statistical programming, and public health research. My goal is to understand social determinants of health among those in the LGBTQ+ community and immigrant communities, and I hope to identify effective interventions to improve health.

I currently work with Dr. Dustin Duncan in analyzing data form the Trying to Understand Relationships, Networks and Neighborhoods in Trans women of color (TURNNT) Cohort. Specifically, I am looking into determinants of HIV prevention and treatment and identifying factors that affect them.

Research Interests

• Social Epidemiology
• LGBTQ+ Health
• Health of the Aging Community
• Intervention Science
• HIV Treatment and Prevention
• Biostatistical Methodologies
• Chronic Disease Epidemiology
• [email protected]

I am a first year doctoral student, first year fellow on the Global HIV Implementation Science Research Training Fellowship with ICAP, and an infectious disease epidemiologist. I received a BS in Biological Sciences from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2014, an MPH in Epidemiological Methods and Applications from the University of Michigan in 2016, and prior to coming to Columbia, spent about seven years at the San Francisco Department of Public Health in the HIV Epidemiology Section. My research interests are centered around infectious disease prevention and treatment interventions, and I have past work pertaining to HIV care navigation, hepatitis C treatment, mpox vaccination, and COVID-19 coinfection among people with HIV. Apart from my role as an analyst, as a database administrator and developer, I designed, carried out, and evaluated a surveillance system modernization project to increase the accuracy, timeliness, and accessibility of HIV test results for department case investigators and outreach staff. My current projects relate to PrEP demand creation among women in South Africa and HIV care retention patterns in Côte d'Ivoire.

• Infectious Disease
• Health Interventions
• Implementation Science
• Global Health

Hoisum Nguyen

• [email protected]

Inspired by the stories of immigrants and social justice movements in the United States, Hoisum's research centralizes psychiatric and mental health outcomes with a particular focus on trauma and violence as it relates to firearms, racial/ethnic populations, LGBQIA+ communities, and financial means. Equipped with a Master’s in Public Health (MPH, Class of 2020) from Boston University in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, prior training in causal theories from UCLA (2021-2023), and previous work in suicide outcomes and emergency preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic for the county of Santa Clara, CA (2020-2022), Hoisum aims to create research of consequence for policy formulation.

Hoisum is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Epidemiology, a pre-doctoral fellow in Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Fellow (PET-T32), and also a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Research Scholar (HPRS) receiving health policy and leadership training from Johns Hopkins University (Class of 2026).

• Mental and Psychiatric Health
• Violence and Trauma Epidemiology
• Firearms Violence
• Health Equity and Social Disparities
• Racial/Ethnic Community Health
• Health Policy

Adam Whalen

• [email protected]

I am a first-year pre-doctoral candidate in Epidemiology and a pre-doctoral fellow in the Advanced Training in Environmental Health and Data Science Training Program, jointly managed through the Department of Epidemiology and the Environmental Health Sciences Department. I received my BS in Biology and Public Health Science in 2015 from Santa Clara University, and my MPH in Epidemiology with a Certificate in Applied Biostatistics and Public Health Data Science from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in 2021. Previously, I worked as a data analyst at the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, working on research projects related to Hispanic/Latino health as well as women living with HIV. As a member of the Spatial Epidemiology Lab at Columbia, my current research investigates how discrimination against transgender women of color and sexual minority men affects health outcomes. I also examine activity space exposure to different features of the bult and social environment and how they influence criminal legal system involvement, sleep, access to gender-affirming health care, and other outcomes. My research interests include social and spatial epidemiology, novel spatiotemporal methods including GPS-based activity space analysis and geofencing applications, injury and violence outcomes such as transportation and police violence, and sexual and gender minority health.

• Spatial Methods
• Injury/Violence
• Transportation
• Police violence
• Sexual and Gender Minority Health

Erin M. Annunziato

• [email protected]

I am a pre-doctoral fellow in the Substance Abuse Epidemiology T32 Training Program. I am interested in structural-level determinants contributing to substance use-related harms, including racial and ethnic disparities in substance use treatment and drug-related legal outcomes. My current research examines relationships between 1) state policies, such as drug monitoring programs, and legal outcomes, and 2) racial and ethnic disparities in substance use treatment access through the criminal legal system. I have a BS in Biology from Boston College and an MPH in Epidemiology from the Mailman School of Public Health.

• Drug policy
• Drug criminalization
• Racial and ethnic disparities
• Social epidemiology
• [email protected]
• Google Scholar

I am a second year pre-doctoral candidate in Epidemiology and a second year pre-doctoral fellow in the Advanced Training in Environmental Health and Data Science Training Program, jointly managed through the Department of Epidemiology and the Environmental Health Sciences Department. I earned a BS in Biology from Brooklyn College (CUNY) in 2019, and an MPH in Epidemiology with an Advanced Certificate in Public Health and Humanitarian Action from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in 2021. Previously, I served as a clinical research coordinator at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, where I managed all aspects of research and administration for the Stroke Division. My previous research has focused on a range of mental, neurological, and substance use issues in humanitarian settings. As a doctoral student, my research efforts are focused on evaluating neurodevelopmental outcomes amidst the complex landscape of mental health and substance use among adolescents and their caregivers in diverse conflict-affected settings. My research interests include global mental health, substance use epidemiology, child development, and disability advocacy. 

• Global Mental Health
• Substance Use Epidemiology
• Child Development
• Disability Advocacy

Nicole Itzkowitz

• [email protected]

I am a 2nd year PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology and a pre-doctoral fellow in the Advanced Training in Environmental Health and Data Science T32 Training Program. I entered the program in 2022 with an MSc in epidemiology from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a BA in public health from the University of Rochester. My research interests are broadly concerned with quantifying urban environmental and built environment exposures and exploring their relationship with injury and other non-communicable disease outcomes. My previous work at Imperial College focused on examining the causal relationship between acute noise pollution exposure and cardiovascular disease hospitalizations and creating a composite metric to estimate smoking behavior at small spatial resolutions. I am currently working with Dr. Andrew Rundle and the Built Environment and Health research group on several projects related to pedestrian and micromobility injuries and fatalities in the context of the built environment and alcohol use.

• Environmental Exposures
• Built Environment
• Non-communicable Disease 

Skip to content

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Message from the director.

A welcome message from Sabrina Diano, PhD, Director, Institute of Human Nutrition.

IHN alumni are advancing nutrition around the world through work in the health care industry, clinical research, medical education, and more.

Research Laboratories

Learn more about the Institute for Human Nutrition's research.

In the Community

Local initiatives.

IHN is a proud supporter of local organizations and activities here in Washington Heights and the surrounding communities.

PhD in Nutritional and Metabolic Biology

The Nutritional and Metabolic Biology (NMB) PhD training program prepares students to work at the frontiers of biomedical research in nutritional and metabolic sciences, exploring the role of nutrition in maintaining optimal human health.  The objective of the training program is to prepare individuals who will conduct original basic science research, teach in medical schools and universities, and hold positions of leadership in community and international nutrition.

Housed within the Institute of Human Nutrition (IHN) at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), this inter-disciplinary and multi-departmental training program is highly structured and comprises both coursework and basic research. The NMB program is one of the few pre-doctoral training programs in nutrition in the United States that is located within a medical school and is unique among the other PhD programs at CUMC with an equal number of MDs and PhDs as faculty mentors (including ten MD/PhDs). The location of the NMB training program in a medical school offers trainees a wide array of research opportunities in laboratories headed by established senior scientists as well as NIH-funded younger independent investigators, all focused on the role of nutrition and metabolism in health and disease.

nmb_phd_program_faculty_-_life_at_columbia

nmb_phd_program_students_-_life_at_columbia

For information on NMB faculty, please visit the Faculty page on the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) site .

Lori Zeltser, PhD

• Co-director

Anthony Ferrante Jr., MD, PhD

Skip to content

Degree Programs

Student life.

• Job Opportunities

Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies

The Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Studies (CMBS) is an interdepartmental degree-granting program offering predoctoral training for students at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. The CMBS program presents students with a unique opportunity to obtain rigorous training in an individualized environment. The underlying rationale for this program was to provide graduate students with a thorough grounding in the basics of biochemistry, genetics, cell and molecular biology. 

The CMBS program has multiple tracks as delineated below.  These tracks are areas of specialization for research and many have specific course requirements for electives. Prospective students apply to the CMBS program, and can indicate specific tracks that they are interested in pursuing.  Applicants can apply to one of several tracks and there is flexibility to switch tracks after they join the program.

Umbrella Track

The Umbrella track gives the students a wide variety of topics for choosing elective courses and for their research.  One of the unique aspects of the CMBS program is that students can stay in the “umbrella” track throughout their graduate career, thereby also allowing them to choose their own program of courses that fit their scientific interests.    

Thesis Defense

Biochemistry, Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology 

Students in the Biochemistry, Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology track take the same core courses as the other CMBS students, except that they also take courses in Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology as their electives and pursue dissertation research in this area in labs within. 

Stem Cell Biology and Cell Biology

Stem cell biology and regenerative medicine is a rapidly developing area with applicability to multiple disciplines and diseases. Students in this track take courses in stem cell biology and related areas, and pursue dissertation research in laboratories within the Stem Cell Initiative , or Cell Biology Research Group. 

Microbiology and Immunology

The Microbiology and Immunology track offers research in microbiology including bacterial generics, physiology, virology, parasitology, and host defense including anti-pathogen immunity. Students in this track take graduate courses in Immunology, and Advanced Topics in Microbiology and Immunology as their electives.  Research in this area is further augmented by Center for Translational Immunology  and a newly formed Initiative for Human Tissue Immunity and Disease, along with the Center for Host Defense at CUIMC.

Pathobiology and Mechanisms of Disease

The Pathobiology and Mechanisms of Disease track offers a curriculum that examines the basic science of a number of diseases in great detail. Diseases like cancer, hematopoietic or blood borne diseases, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, neuromuscular diseases, liver diseases and diabetes are major areas of research focus and covered in a one-year course called “Mechanisms in Human Disease” that is taken by students in this track.

Cancer Biology 

The Cancer Biology track covers all areas of cancer research, including cancer genetics, stem cells, tumor microenvironment, hematopoietic malignancies, tumor immunology, systems analyses, among others. This track will foster educational, scientific and social interactions with the other cancer-focused graduate students on campus, and students will benefit from the extensive and multi-disciplinary research in cancer being conducted in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) and many departments at CUIMC.  Students in this track are required to complete one graduate-level cancer course, such as Cancer Biology.

Systems Biology

The Systems Biology track includes research areas taking mathematical and computational approaches to understand fundamental biological processes including development, gene regulation, the function of cells, organs, and tissues, and disease mechanisms. Students in this track will take elective courses in computer science, statistics, and computational biology, in addition to the CMBS core courses. Students will typically choose laboratories in the Department of Systems Biology , which includes leaders in multi-disciplinary investigations of systems biology across diseases. 

Other tracks

There are additional tracks in: Cellular & Molecular Physiology and Biophysics ,  Genetics & Development , Molecular Pharmacology & Therapeutics , and Nutritional & Metabolic Biology . 

Directors of Graduate Studies

Ronald liem, phd.

• Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology
• [email protected]

Rebecca Haeusler

• Associate Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology
• [email protected]

Associate Directors of Graduate Studies

Nicholas arpaia.

• Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
• [email protected]

Vilas Menon, PhD

• Assistant Professor of Neurological Sciences
• [email protected]

Administrative Contact

• 212-305-8393
• [email protected]

Figure Legend : (Left Panel) Representative image of lymphocytes in human tonsil acquired by imaging mass cytometry as part of a study aimed at defining the spatial localization of human natural killer cell development. NKp80 (red), CD20 (green), CD3 (purple), CD34 (orange), collagen type I (light blue), smooth muscle actin (dark blue). Image generated by Everardo Hegewisch Solloa (Mace Lab). (Middle Panel) A bispecific antibody simultaneously binds to two different epitopes on the same SARS CoV-2 spike molecule as observed by cryoEM.  One arm (red Fab) recognizes the receptor binding domain (RBD, green) and the second arm (blue Fab) recognizes the N-terminal domain (NTD, orange).  Image generated by Ryan Casner (Shapiro lab). (Right Panel) Larval Drosophila ventral nerve cord showing axons from somatosensory (green) and nociceptive (magenta) neurons. Image generated by Nova Qi (Grueber lab).

Skip to content

Doctoral Program

Education and training of doctoral students is a core mission of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. Faculty members mentor graduate students from the Coordinated Doctoral Programs in Biomedical Sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) as well as from the Departments of Applied Physics, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, and others at the Arts and Sciences and Manhattanville campuses.

At any given time approximately 50 graduate students are conducting doctoral research in laboratories within the department. After completion of the doctorate, the majority of students go on to postdoctoral positions at leading research institutions.

Prospective students interested in research at the department's laboratories most commonly apply through the Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Studies or the Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, both of which are within the Coordinated Doctoral Programs.

The Integrated Program is an umbrella program that includes more than 200 faculty members from the basic sciences departments at the medical center as well as other campuses of Columbia University. The program presents students with a unique opportunity to obtain individualized training in basic cell and molecular biology, microbiology, structural biology, biophysics, genetics, immunology, neurobiology, and computational biology, as well as translational biomedical disease-related research.

The Program in Neurobiology and Behavior is founded on the principle that the study of the biological roots of behavior is essential for an understanding of animal and human behavior, as well as for insights into the causes and cures of nervous system disorders. The program offers a diverse set of research and academic experiences that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of neuroscience.

• Publications

Systems Biology Home Columbia University Department of Systems Biology

Columbia university medical center.

• › --> News

Xuebing Wu, PhD receives Schaefer Research Scholar awards

Xuebing Wu, PhD receives Schaefer Research Scholar award for project: “Noncoding translation surveillance in tumor immunogenicity and immunotherapy”.

Wu’s Schaefer study could lead to the development of new cancer vaccines or therapies that improve the effectiveness of immunotherapies.

Immunotherapies are transforming cancer treatment but are ineffective for pancreatic cancer and many other tumors that are adept at hiding from the immune system.

The immune system can easily spot cancers covered with antigens that contain tumor-specific mutations. Tumors with fewer mutations, like pancreatic cancer, can more easily evade detection.

Recent studies have found that tumors can also be covered with “dark” antigens, which do not contain tumor-specific mutations but are generated by aberrant translation of noncoding sequences in cancer cells. Dark antigens, when present in large quantities, can trigger an attack from the immune system. Wu has found clues that cancers that evade the immune system might be suppressing the production of these dark antigens.

Wu will test the hypothesis that pancreatic cancer cells suppress the production of dark antigens by downregulating the BAG6 pathway, a process recently discovered in Wu’s lab, that partially degrades noncoding products and processes them into antigens. If so, he will then determine if increasing BAG6 expression will sensitize tumor cells to immunotherapies.

Read full article on the Irving Medical Center news page. 

Latest News

• Columbia Genome Center
• Center for Computational Biology & Bioinformatics (C2B2)
• Center for Cancer Systems Therapeutics (CaST)
• Center for Topology of Cancer Evolution and Heterogeneity
• Cancer Target Discovery & Development Center (CTD2)
• International Serious Adverse Event Consortium (iSAEC)

Infrastructure

• Genome Sequencing and Analysis
• High-Throughput Screening
• Information Technology (DSBIT)

Education & Training

• Graduate Education
• Postdoctoral Training

About the Department

Columbia University  |  Columbia University Irving Medical Center   © 2019 Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Columbia University Department of Systems Biology Irving Cancer Research Center 1130 St. Nicholas Avenue, New York, NY 10032 (212) 851-4673

• School of Medicine Columbia
• Location Location
• Contact Contact
• Colleges and Schools
• Biomedical Sciences

Ph.D. Program

Students entering through the Integrated Biomedical Sciences program have the opportunity to study with research faculty from the School of Medicine and across USC.

All of our Ph.D. students enter through the Integrated Biomedical Sciences program that includes primary core courses and research rotations that allow you to decide the exact research you want to conduct.

Research Areas and Faculty Mentors

Choosing your research mentor and research area will be two of the biggest decisions you will make during your Ph.D. program. While we encourage you to have an idea of who you would like to work with before you apply, we also give you the opportunity to explore all your options. 

Admission and Application

Admission into our program is on a rolling basis with submissions opening in the Fall semester and decisions being made in the Spring semester.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Tuition and financial aid information for students applying to and entering the Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program.

PREP Program

USC PREP seeks to increase the number of applicants to biomedical graduate programs from under-represented communities by offering the opportunity to work for a year in a biomedical research laboratory while preparing for graduate school in the biomedical sciences.

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

Biology Graduate Program Ranked in U.S. News & World Report

More than 30 University of Iowa colleges and programs were recognized among the best in their field in the U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings including Biology's graduate program! Click on the link above to see the full list. 

SC State student spearheads water drive to support Marching 101 Band