Project Coordinator
He serves as the Project Coordinator Rubenstein Pancreatic Cancer Center. He is an experienced Administrator who joined Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2016. After obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in Community Health from Hofstra, he is now pursing his Masters in Health Care Administration hoping to bridge the gap between translational and clinical research. He is responsible for the project management for Director and associate directors of the Center for Pancreatic Caner Research and working with investigators to establish pipelines and workflows.
Before joining MSK in 2019, he was an associate researcher for the Cancer Cell Organoid Core at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. While there, he was tasked with generating conditioned media for organoid growth and processing tumor and normal tissue from surgical resections and biopsies of breast cancer patients for cell culture. Now, as the biospecimen coordinator for the David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, it is his responsibility to work closely with multiple departments at MSK to flag and collect pancreatic biospecimens, administer the Pancreas Center biobank, and, upon request, distribute biological material to PI’s within and outside of the institution.
Senior Research Technician
He has worked in various biomedical groups focusing on Immunology, Stem cell biology and Cancer. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from New York University. His research is focused on culturing and characterizing Circulating Tumor cells isolated from peripheral circulation.
Clinical Trials Nurse II
She is a Registered Nurse who has been with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center since 2009. After holding an administrative role with the center, she obtained her Bachelors of Science in Nursing at Long Island University in 2015. She worked on the colorectal and gastric-mixed tumor surgical oncology inpatient unit at MSK until her transition as Clinical Trials Nurse for the Pancreas Center. In her role, she assists with identifying and enrolling appropriate patients for both biospecimen and therapeutic clinical research trials, cares for patients during their continuum on trials, and participates in trial initiation to facilitate transition into clinical practice.
Project Coordinator
Prior to joining the pancreas center, Amanda had different experiences with research, with the most recent being a clinical research coordinator working with breast cancer clinical trials. Some of her other research experiences include working as a research assistant working with inpatient cannabis trials. She completed her Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medicine Program at City College in 2017 and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Barnard College in 2015. She is currently a project coordinator working for the center working with different initiatives to help gather more information about pancreas cancer. With realizing the need for more research on pancreatic cancer, her goal is to help bridge the gaps in the current research through her work on different projects. Her previous research experiences and dedication to the center allow her to cultivate different methods to get closer to some of the answers the center is looking for. Her future career goals include entering medical school.
Senior Research Scientist
He obtained his Engineering diploma at UTC (University of Technology of Compiegne) and completed a PhD in Biology and Biotechnology at Paris-Diderot-Paris VII University. Under the mentorship of Dr. Steven Leach he has developed a large repository of in vitro models of Pancreatic cancer using newly established human organoid culture system from tumor resection or biopsies offering the unprecedented opportunity to concurrently perform multidimensional characterization of patients tumors (NGS, proteomic and metabolomic studies) and to explore and evaluate their sensitivity to current treatment options and promising new therapies. His research includes the investigation of the full spectrum of molecular alterations contributing to the BRCAness phenotype in Pancreatic cancer with the goal to broaden the scope of patients that most likely may benefit from Platinum and PARP inhibition therapy. As a senior research scientist in the Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, he is using this unique living bio-bank as a drug discovery platform for precision medicine aiming to unveil and test therapeutic vulnerabilities in Pancreatic cancer. By mobilizing resources and expertise within the Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research and across MSK departments, this ambitious project realistically aim to fuel and accelerate preclinical evaluation of promising therapeutics.
Research Technician
Hope is a research technician for the Thompson Family Foundation, facilitating clinical trials with emphasis on early detection for pancreatic cancer. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in biology from Vassar College in 2020. Prior to joining the pancreas center, Hope’s research encompassed various fields including but not limited to biochemistry, microbiology & immunology, cancer genetics, and spectroscopy. Her most recent undergraduate research focused on profiling Hantavirus cells, as well as using fluorescently labeled SH2 domains as a flow cytometry tool to profile B-cell malignancies. Within her current role, she is responsible for the collection, processing, tracking, storing, and shipping of all blood sample specimens. In the future, Hope aspires to earn admission into an MD program and achieve her goal of becoming a physician.
Senior Research Scientist
Before joining MSKCC as a senior research scientist, Hulya graduated from Hacettepe University School of Medicine in 2014. She completed her pathology residency at Marmara University in 2019. Then she worked as a pathologist at the same institution for two years. Her research and daily pathology practice were focused on solid organ tumors including pancreatobiliary, gastrointestinal, and breast cancers as well as hematopathology. In her current role, she is handling Whipple specimens, providing tissues for Pancreas Cancer biobank, conducting research on pancreatobiliary tumors and precursor lesions, and supporting other researchers with their work as a pathologist. Her research goal is to investigate these tumors from histopathologic, molecular, and clinical perspectives.