We are deeply grateful for the hard work by all our faculty in teaching the core and elective graduate courses, serving on advisory committees, and providing opportunities for doctoral research projects. Our students are successful because they gain discipline-specific knowledge and critical thinking skills in a curriculum led by Course Directors and expert teaching faculty.
We require that first-year students complete 3 different rotations and rotate only with approved trainers who might serve as PhD trainers.
In general, PhD trainers are expected to have a high quality independent research program, recent research publications and available funding for student support. Faculty with "research" professor designations, and those with mentored awards (eg K awards) are not eligible to host a PhD student, although many actively contribute to research education efforts. The list below is reviewed annually by research leadership at GW and Childrens, to include potential PhD trainers. Please note that in any particular year, not every research group will have an opening for a graduate student, and additional faculty may apply to be PhD trainers. FY21 Funding Model Update
| Last | First | Title | Research Interests | Inst. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bethony | Jeff | PhD | Vaccine preclinical and clinical research, including clinical trials; controlled human infection models (hookworm); HIV/AIDs-associated malignancies; biospecimen science research. | GW |
| Bollard | Catherine | MD | Development of novel cell therapeutics for cancer and infection | CNHS |
| Bosque-Pardos | Alberto | PhD, MBA | Development of therapeutic strategies towards an HIV cure | GW |
| Brindley | Paul | PhD | Neglected tropical diseases. Functional genomics for schistosomes and other helminth pathogens; gene-editing, transgenesis. Helminth infection-associated malignancy. Schistosome-HIV molecular interactions. | GW |
| Bukrinsky | Michael | PhD | Molecular pathogenesis of HIV-associated metabolic diseases | GW |
| Chiappinelli | Katherine | PhD | Epigenetic regulation of immune signaling in cancer, specifically focusing on noncoding regions of the genome and the tumor cell immune response | GW |
| Chiaramello | Anne | PhD | Epigenomic and metabolomic-based approaches to understand mitochondrial pathogenesis; Therapeutic targets for rare mitochondrial diseases | GW |
| Chung | Inhee | PhD | Studies of underlying biophysical and biomechanical mechanisms of cancer metastasis and cancer dormancy, using cutting edge tools such as single-molecule tracking and super-resolution microscopy, in conjunction with conventional cell/cancer biology methods | GW |
| Colonnese | Matthew | PhD | Circuit specializations of the developing brain | GW |
| Corbin | Joshua | PhD | Genetic and cellular basis for development of mammalian amygdala | CNHS |
| Cruz | Russell | MD, PhD | Development of immune based therapies for cancer and opportunistic infections for patients with various degrees of immune deficiency | GW |
| Fernandes | Rohan | PhD | Immunoengineering approaches to treat cancer and HIV. Designing nanoimmunotherapies, cell-based immunotherapies, and/or combinations of nano or cell-based immunotherapy approaches. | GW |
| Fiorillo | Alyson | PhD | The role of dysregulated microRNAs in inflammatory muscle disorders. | CNHS |
| Freishtat | Robert | MD, MPH | Gene-environment interactions in asthma | CNHS |
| Gallo | Vittorio | PhD | Neurogenesis and gliogenesis; oligodendrocyte development myelination; glial signaling; regulation of glial ionic channels during brain development | CNHS |
| Hashimoto-Torii | Kazue | PhD | Environmental factors/pharmacological agents in fetal brain malformations related to mental illnesses in adulthood | CNHS |
| Hawdon | John | PhD | Hookworm infective process, nematode growth and development, genetic mechanism of anthelmintic resistance, entomopathogenic nematodes | GW |
| Heier | Christopher | PhD | Next generation drugs and biomarkers for childhood diseases | CNHS |
| Hsieh | Michael | MD, PhD | Anti-pathogenic inflammation induced by bacteria such as uropathogenic E. coli, and chronic inflammation mediated carcinogenesis studied using models of nitrosamine and Schistosoma haematobium exposure | CNHS |
| Hu | Yanfen | PhD | Germline mutations in BRCA1 predispose women to breast and ovarian cancers. Dr. Hu’s research investigates: 1. What is the molecular mechanism of BRCA1 as a tumor suppressor? 2. Why do BRCA1-associated tumors display sex- and tissue-specificity? 3. BRCA1-associated cancer treatment and therapeutic resistance. | GW |
| Ishibashi | Nobuyuki | MD | Neurodevelopment and injury in congenital heart disease | CNHS |
| Jaiswal | Jyoti | PhD | Cell biology of tissue repair and regeneration with a focus on muscle diseases; Cell biology of viral diseases | CNHS |
| Jose | Pedro | MD,PhD | Genetic and pharmacogenetic bases of human essential hypertension and the metabolic syndrome; role of dopamine, adrenergic, and angiotensin receptors subtypes and dopamine regulatory genes | GW |
| Khan | Imtiaz | PhD | Immune responses to infections by opportunistic pathogens | GW |
| Lee | Jiyoung | PhD | Molecular signaling for cancer metabolism and cancer metastasis | GW |
| Lee | Norman | PhD | Cancer genomics; cancer health disparities; molecular mechanisms of metastasis and cancer drug resistance; regulation of RNA splicing | GW |
| Leitenberg | David | MD, PhD | Regulation of T-cell activation and differentiation; modulation of signal transduction during T-cell development | GW |
| Li | Rong | PhD | Molecular understanding of risk factors for breast cancer | GW |
| Li | Wei | PhD | Using genome editing technology (including CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR/Cas9 screening) and new computational algorithms to better understand how coding and non-coding elements function especially in human cancer, and to further identify novel molecular targets to inform precision medicine | CNHS |
| Limperopoulos | Catherine | PhD | Novel, patient-centered clinical and translational research in pregnant women and neurodiagnostic and neurodevelopmental surveillance in high-risk fetuses and preterm infants. | CNHS |
| Lu | Hui | PhD | Mechanisms and rescue of neural circuit dysfunction | GW |
| Lynch | Rebecca | PhD | Harnessing antibodies for HIV therapy and cure and flavivirus antibody responses. | GW |
| Maggirwar | Sanjay | PhD, MBA | Underlying mechanisms of HIV-associated illnesses such as thrombosis, atherosclerosis, cancers and neurocognitive impairments | GW |
| Marvar | Paul | PhD | Characterization of the neurocircuitry in the brain that contributes to stress-induced hypertension and other stress-related disorders such as PTSD | GW |
| Mazumder | Raja | PhD | Applied bioinformatics; comprehensive comparative analysis at the genomic level | GW |
| Mendelowitz | David | PhD | Focus on the autonomic nervous system, and particularly how this system is altered in cardiorespiratory diseases. Our overarching goal is to identify novel targets for treating diseases such as sleep apnea and heart failure. | GW |
| Miller | Robert | PhD | CNS neural development, biology of neural diseases including Multiple Sclerosis, brain tumors and Cerebral Palsy; cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate glial cell determination | GW |
| Moody | Sally | PhD | Transcriptional specification of neural and cranial placode ectoderms; proteomics of inner ear development; role of Six1 mutations and its cofactors in branchio-oto-renal syndrome. | GW |
| Nino | Gustavo | MD, MSHS | Developmental immunology of the human airway epithelium, pathobiology of respiratory disorders in infants born prematurely, novel tools for respiratory phenotyping in young children | CNHS |
| Pei | Yanxin | PhD | Molecular mechanisms underlying tumor development and therapy resistance in pediatric brain tumors and identifying novel therapeutic approaches to treating the disease | CNHS |
| Polter | Abigail | PhD | Circuit and synaptic-level effects of stress and adversity. | GW |
| Posnack | Nikki | PhD | Cardiovascular physiology, pharmacology and pediatric heart models | CNHS |
| Preciado | Diego | MD, PhD | Otolaryngology | CNHS |
| Sandler | Anthony | MD | Solid tumors in childhood | CNHS |
| Sarvazyan | Narine | PhD | Cellular origins of ectopic arrhythmias, ischemia-reperfusion injury, cell-to-cell coupling, targeted stem cell differentiation | GW |
| Scafidi | Joseph | PhD | Metabolic adaptations after perinatal brain injury in the acute and long-term recovery phase and development of novel targeted therapies that promote this neurorehabilitative process | CNHS |
| Sepulveda | Antonia | MD, PhD | Investigation of novel regulatory pathways and early biomarkers of cancer and precancer lesions of the esophagus, stomach, colorectum, and pancreas using innovative genomics, transcriptomics, and computational image analyses | GW |
| Seto | Edward | PhD | Epigenetics; histone deacetylase (HDAC), enzymes that catalyze the removal of acetyl groups from the lysine residues of histones | GW |
| Shanmugam | Victoria | MD | Wound healing; Scleroderma | GW |
| Shibata | Maho | PhD | Prostate stem/progenitor cells, patient-derived prostate cancer organoids, KRAB zinc finger proteins in prostate organogenesis and cancer | GW |
| Shook | Brett | PhD | Molecular and cellular regulation of immune cells in mammalian skin | GW |
| Sidorov | Michael | PhD | Neural circuits and behavior in autism-like neurodevelopmental disorders; mechanisms of visual encoding and plasticity. | CNHS |
| Simon | Gary | MD, PhD | HIV/AIDS Pathogenesis | GW |
| Stepp | Mary Ann | PhD | Cell-cell and cell-substrate interactions; integrins; wound healing; re-epithelization | GW |
| Torii | Masaaki | PhD | Molecular and cellular regulation of neuronal and glial subtypes in normal development of the cerebral cortex; etiology of cognitive and psychiatric disorders | CNHS |
| Triplett | Jason | PhD | Mechanisms of visual circuit development; analysis of visual dysfunction and circuit disorganization in neurodevelopmental disorders | CNHS |
| Tzatsos | Alexandros | MD, PhD | Epigenetic progression model of pancreatic cancer; Epigenetic regulation of Hematopoietic Stem Cells | GW |
| Vilain | Eric | MD, PhD | The impact of genetic changes on human development in health and disease; the genetics of sexual development, focusing on the molecular mechanisms of gonad development; genetic determinants of brain sexual differentiation, including sexual orientation and gender identity | CNHS |
| Villagra | Alejandro | PhD | Tumor immunoepigenetics and molecular basis of immunotherapy | GW |
| Watkins | David | PhD | Immune response to viruses including HIV, Zika, Dengue, Yellow fever and the new coronavirus encompassing MHC genetics, viral evolution, CD8+ T cell responses, antibody cloning and expression, vaccine development and diagnostics. | GW |
| Wu | Ray-Chang | PhD | Chromatin remodeling proteins in the development and therapy resistance of cancers | GW |
| Young | Colin | PhD | CNS molecular mechanisms underlying cardiovascular and metabolic diseases | GW |
| Zheng | Xiaoyan | PhD | Identification of target genes regulated by the Hedgehog signaling pathway and molecular mechanisms activated by Hedgehog in regulating cell-cell interactions | GW |
| Zhu | Wenge | PhD | DNA replication. DNA damage checkpoint and repair, histone modification, and identification of small molecules for cancer therapy | GW |
| Zhu | Yuan | PhD | Using mouse models and human patient-derived induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to investigate the role of neural stem and progenitor cells in the pathogenesis of low-grade and high-grade gliomas as well as other nervous system tumors | CNHS |
| Zohn | Irene | PhD | Developmental mechanisms mediating gene-environment interactions underlying structural birth defects such as spina bifida and congenital heart defects | CNHS |