Technology Specialist: Aster Q. Perkins
Pronouns: they/them
Aster graduated largely unscathed and only a little bitter from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University in 2016 with a BSc in Biology. Since then, they have self-actualized. They are a fifth year PhD candidate in the Rich Lab, where they pretend it hasn’t been ten years since they took a real math course. If not for their remarkable temperament, they would have already withered in the face of bureaucratic diablerie, but as it is, they are comprised of boundless spite and therefore make a good mentor for new students.
Outside of research, they write paranormal horror and compose for the piano. One can frequently find them losing sleep over the DARPA – BRAIN Initiative collaborations.
Chair: Tristan Fehr
Pronouns: he/they
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Treasurer: Eziwoma Alibo
Pronouns: she/her
Ezi graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. She went on to get her Masters in Biotechnology from Brandeis University. Currently, Ezi is a fourth year MD/PhD candidate in Immunology in the lab of Brian Brown, where she works on elucidating oncogenic regulators of immune mediators of escape in colorectal cancer. At Sinai, Ezi also serves on the executive board of Students for the Equal Opportunity in Science (SEOS) and as a Biomedical Inclusion Representative on Student Council.
For fun, Ezi is a Marvel nerd, who enjoys watching movies, playing Injustice, and seeing musicals with her sister.
Technology Specialist: Nicholas Barbieri, PhD
Pronouns: they/he
Nicholas obtained their PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Milan-Bicocca where they developed in silico models of biological systems at different level of magnitude. As a postdoc at ISMMS they have applied systems biology approaches to study complex diseases, such as metabolic disorders. Before joining oSTEM, they had been the co-chair of the Postdoc Executive Committee at Mount Sinai and co-director of the advocacy working group with a particular focus on LGBTQ and minorities rights.
Outside of the lab, Nicholas loves spending time in nature, painting, learning about other cultures and playing with their cat.
Secretary: Abby Lubin
Recruitment Coordinator: Mike Espino
Pronouns:
Michael graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2015 where he majored in Molecular and Cellular Biology, and minored in Ethnic Studies. He then spent two years as a Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) Scholar at Mount Sinai where he worked on Zika virus replication. Michael is currently a first-year MD/PhD Student and plans to complete a PhD in immunology; he serves on the boards of Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (oSTEM), Students for Equal Opportunity in Science (SEOS), and the Latinx Medical Student Association (LMSA).
Outside of his studies, Michael enjoys cooking his grandma’s recipes, drinking wine (or sangria), reading financial blogs, and rearranging his apartment furniture.
Post-doc Liaison: Jo Crimins
Pronouns: she/her
Technology Specialist: Gavi Hecht
Pronouns: she/her
Gavi graduated from Binghamton University with a BS in Biochemistry 2016. She then worked a year and a half in an ophthalmology clinic before coming to Sinai. Gavi is currently an MPH student in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and works full time in the department of infectious diseases on the behavioral HIV research team. She is currently working on an NIH-funded clinical trial focused on improving substance use screening amongst the HIV patient population
Outside of school, Gavi enjoys playing guitar, cooking, and running around with her 4 dogs.
Technology Specialist: Phil Cohen
Post-doc Liaison: Zeb Vance
Pronouns: he/him
Zeb graduated from the University of Kentucky with his BS in Biosystem Engineering in 2013 before obtaining his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of South Carolina in 2018. His dissertation focused on tools to modulate and manipulate amyloid-β protein aggregation. His current research uses rationally designed peptides to stimulate angiogenesis related to Alzheimer’s disease.
Treasurer: Elise Ball
Technology Specialist: Zelong Liu
Pronouns: he/him/his
Zelong comes from China, and is a second-year Master Student (MSBS program). He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2019 and got the Bachelor degree of Biological Science and German.
At Sinai, Zelong joined Dr. Stuart Aaronson’s lab to study the role of TEAD4 transcription factor in Hippo pathway. His research studied the expression pattern of TEAD4 in different glioma cell lines and discovered the effect of dominant-negative TEAD4.
Outside the lab, Zelong spends time on being a Crisis Counselor at Crisis Text Line and runs the social media of Mount Sinai oSTEM. He also likes video games, food and Bilibili.