Meet the Gharavi Lab

Photos from our lab events.

Faculty

Ali Gharavi
Ali Gharavi, MD

Jay Meltzer Professor of Medicine
Chief, Division of Nephrology
Interim Chair, Department of Medicine

ag2239@columbia.edu

My objective is to bring personalized genomic nephrology from the laboratory into patient care. Owing to the recent progress in genomic technologies, we now have the opportunity to make a precise genetic diagnosis for many patients and individualize care based on the specific molecular mechanism of disease.

Profile on columbiadoctors.org.

Ali Gharavi
Miguel Verbitsky

Associate Research Scientist

mmv2003@columbia.edu

Thomas Hays, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the CUIMC

I am a neonatologist specializing in the care of critically ill infants and newborns. I completed my MD, PhD, and pediatric residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and my neonatology fellowship at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. I study the genetic basis of congenital diseases, particularly anomalies of the kidneys, and how genetic diagnoses can be used to improve the care of critically ill infants.

Laboratory Manager

Kelsey Stevens

Laboratory Manager

I am a graduate of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering with a Bachelor’s degree in Biomolecular Science. Within the Gharavi Lab, I am responsible for the maintenance and organization of our sample biobank, as well as facilitating our lab’s efforts across a number of projects related to kidney genetics and immunology.

Laboratory Coordinator

Alexandria Taylor

Laboratory Coordinator

Bioinformatician

Daniel Bivona

Bioinformatics Analyst

Associate Research Scientist

Naama Elefant, MD

Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Medicine

Postdoctoral Fellows

Martina Tedesco, MD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

I completed my MD at the University of Milan. Currently, I am specializing in Nephrology at the University of Brescia. My main interests are glomerular diseases and nephropathology.

Blanca Tarragon Estebanez, MD

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Administrative

Danielle Herb

Administrative Coordinator

I am an administrative professional with experience in Project Management, Finance, and Event Marketing. My qualifications and hands-on style when working with stakeholders allow me to anticipate needs and get the bigger picture — all crucial skills for decision making in a thriving lab environment.

Technicians

Jenna A. Simpson

Lab Technician

I am a graduate from Florida Southern College with a Bachelor of Science in marine biology. I am looking to get my masters and further my education in the biology field. Working in the Gharavi lab allows me to reach my future goals.

Sharvari S Pathak

Lab Technician

I am a recent graduate from University of Michigan Flint. I earned my degree as a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. I hope to attend graduate school in the future and Gharavi lab gives me the opportunity to gain essential knowledge for the same.

Isabel Emily Robbins

Student/Lab Technician

I am a current undergraduate student at Columbia University from New York City. I am majoring in psychology and biology on the pre-med track. After attending medical school, I hope to focus on studying preventative healthcare and its role in public health.

Recruitment Team

Rafael Gras Pena, PhD

Associate Research Scientist

Maria Mercedes Morban, MD

Clinical Research Coordinator

I’m medical doctor from Universidad Autónoma in Santo Domingo. I am a research coordinator working on studies related to the genetics of chronic kidney diseases. Our goal is to identify genetic factors predisposing individuals to chronic kidney diseases. I also work on the All of Us Research Program which seeks to extend precision medicine for all diseases by building a national research cohort of one million or more participants in the United States.

Chensy Marquez Mejia, MD

Clinical Research Coordinator

Vanna Nicasio, MD

Clinical Research Coordinator

Maayan Sofer

Clinical Research Coordinator

Rachel A. Mufson

Clinical Research Coordinator

Elena Tsang

Clinical Research Coordinator

Michael Youssef

Clinical Research Coordinator

Alumni

Mingyao "Becky" Ma
(former Postdoctoral Research Fellow; returned to the clinic)

Chivell Mendoza
(former Clinical Research Coordinator)

Maria Alejandra Muñoz Cifuentes
(former Clinical Research Coordinator; current Clinical Research Coordinator with Cardiology)

Nicholas Steers, PhD
(former Instructor in Medical Sciences; current Assistant Professor of Medical Sciences)

Hila Milo Rasouly, PhD
(former Instructor in Medical Sciences; current Assistant Professor)

Hilda Elena Fernandez, MD
(former postdoctoral fellow; current Assistant Professor of Medicine)

Jordan G. Nestor, MD
(former postdoctoral fellow; current Assistant Professor of Medicine)

Pavan Khosla
(former bioinformatician; left for medical school)

Enrico Cocchi, MD
(former postdoctoral fellow; returned to the clinic)

Mark D Elliott, MD FRCPC
(former postdoctoral fellow; returned to the clinic)

Maddalena Marasa, MD
(former postdoctoral fellow; returned to the clinic)

Iman Ghavami
(former clinical research coordinator)

Samson Yuan
(former genetic counseling graduate student; graduated)

Sara Acosta Villarreal
(former genetic counseling graduate student; accepted genetic counselor position)

Judy Liang
(lab technician)

Anna Ng (formerly Anna Mo)
(Former project coordinator and lab technician)

Stacy Piva
(clinical research coordinator, left to attend medical school )

Xueru Mu
(clinical research coordinator, left to attend medical school)

Debanjana Chatterjee, PhD
(Took a job as Clinical Research Manager at Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation )

Jason Zheng
(clinical research coordinator, left to attend medical school)

Byum Hee Kil
( clinical research coordinator, left to attend dental school)

Swetha Kodali
( left to attend MD/PhD program at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School)

Elisa Delbarba, MD
( postdoctoral fellow, left to work as nephrologist at the Spedali Civili of Brescia, University of Brescia, Italy )

Jordann Lewis
( clinical research coordinator, left to attend medical school)

Cesia Rosamilia
( clinical research coordinator, left to attend physician assistant school)

Arielle Coughlin
( clinical research coordinator, left to attend medical school)

Rachel Reingold
( clinical research coordinator, left to attend medical school)

Lucrezia Carlassara, MD
(Nephrologist at AULSS1)

Natalia DeMaria
(lab technician, currently Research Support Specialist at SUNY Upstate Medical Hospital)

Emily Groopman, PhD
(returned to Medical School)

Priya Krithivasan
Bioinformatician (Left to work as bioinformatics scientist at Covance in Redmond, WA)

Katelyn Burgess
Instructor of Pediatrics, At Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Yasar Caliskan, MD
Transplant Nephrologist at Saint Louis University School of Medicine

Travis CreveCoeur
Lab tech (Resident, Columbia, Neurosurgery)

David Fasel
Director of Bioinformatics at CPMG

Clara Fischman
Lab tech (Resident in Internal Medicine, Penn Medicine)

Krzysztof Kiryluk, MD, MS
Associate Professor of Medicine at CUMC and now heads the Kiryluk Lab.

Francesca Lugani, MD, PhD
Returned to Pediatric Nephrology, Gianni Gaslini Institute, Italy

Jason McCutchan
Lab tech (left to work as a software developer at TD Securities.)

Shannon Nees, MD
Took job as a House Officer in Pediatrics, Morgan Stanley Children Hospital at Columbia University

Ami Patel
Lab manager (left to attend medical school)

Brittany Perry
Lab tech (left to attend medical school)

Sindhuri Prakash-Polet, M.D/Ph.D
MD/PhD student (Renal fellow at CUIMC)

Mersedeh Rohanizadegan, MD
clinical geneticist in Boston, Massachusetts

Simone Sanna-Cherchi, MD
Associate Professor at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and now heads the Sanna-Cherchi lab

Samantha Shapiro, MD
Medical Student (left to complete residency at Mt. Sinai Hospital)

Meghan Sise, MD
Research Fellow (took job as a Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital)

Roel Sterken, PhD
Left to become Project Development Manager at DROiA, Belgium

Rosemary Thomas, MD
Associate Professor, Children’s National, Washington, DC

Katarina Vukojevic MD, PhD, MSc
Postdoctoral Fellow (left to head the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology and Laboratory for Early Human Development at the University of Split Croatia, School of Medicine,Associate Professor)

Patty Weng, MD
currently Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics - Nephrology, Medical Director, Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program, UCLA

Rik Westland, MD, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow (pediatric nephrology fellow at Amsterdam UM)

Others:

Elena Sanchez-Rodriguez, PhD Youngji Na, PhD; Sergey Kisselev; Wan Yee Lam; Nicola Mongera, MD; Sheena Kapoor; Shreya Sirivolu; Javier De Andre Cattle Kelvin Chan; Michael DiVecchia, LPN; Feyan Dong, MD; Nilgun Kacak, MD; Hussein Karnib, MD; Anita Konka, MD; Sneh Lata; Yifu Li, MD; Esther Lopez-Rivera, PhD; Riccardo Magistroni, MD; Jeremiah Martino, PhD; Natalia Papeta, PhD; Adam Reese, MD; Holly Snyder; Jingyuan Xie, MD; Shouhong Xuan, PhD