I graduated with a Bachelor's in Biology from Johns Hopkins University and knew I wanted to focus on laboratory research. I spent time in several academic and industry research labs executing pre-clinical studies, working with mouse models and at the bench. Specifically, I worked for Mount Sinai and Pfizer separately managing animal colonies and performing drug testing experiments, which taught me a lot of bench science and how to work in a laboratory environment.
By 2020 I realized I wanted to take my career in a different direction and focus on research support and administration, and applied to the GVN lab as a Lab Manager. I have been learning all about tissue engineering and BME in my time here, and have used my background as a researcher and skills for planning and organizing to the current role.

I was born and raised in Israel and lived there until I moved to NYC for my postdoc at Columbia University. During my childhood, my father was an enthusiastic chemistry graduate student who constantly devised “kid-friendly” scientific experiments for my sisters and me. That experience paved my way to choose a scientific career, and many years after, I earned my B.Sc from Tel-Aviv University in Biotechnology. Immediately after, I started my Graduate studies under the mentorship of Dr. Tal Dvir at Tel-Aviv University, in which I developed engineered cardiac tissues for regenerative medicine applications.

My initial interest in BME began when I was 12 and happened to meet a veteran who had a prosthetic leg. I remember thinking that the artificial limb was the coolest thing I had ever seen, and I decided right then that I wanted to be able to help people and improve their lives by making devices like that prosthesis. Since then, I’ve discovered that BME is a very diverse field, and have shifted from my initial interests in biomechanics over to a focus in tissue engineering, but the underlying motivation remains the same. I’m drawn to BME because it sits at the intersection of engineering and medicine, and aims to improve human health at all levels.

I grew up in Huntington, NY and remember wanting to join my high school's science research program after being amazed by the use of CRISPR-Cas9 for genome editing. My senior project investigating platinum-based chemoresistance in ovarian cancer then prompted me to study Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia. There, I learned both about the fascinating field of organs-on-chip (OOC) engineering and about the historical negligence of women's health in biomedicine. Thus, for my capstone project, I decided to apply OOC methods towards studying this underserved area and created the first design for a 'vagina-on-chip' model. All this led me to become a research assistant at the GVN lab, where I get to work on the most incredible, cutting-edge OOC development!

In 2013, I received by BA in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. I earned my medical degree at Albany Medical College in 2018. I joined the lab in July 2021 after completing three years of General Surgery residency at NYP-Weill Cornell and am currently taking time off for research prior to returning to residency for the final two years of training.

As a child, I had wanted to be a pediatrician. However, during my college years, I realized that I'd rather help with inventing new medical solutions. I ended up majoring in Chemical Engineering, International Studies, and Spanish at Lafayette College. My first experience in tissue engineering was my summer internship at Virginia Tech with Dr. Aaron Goldstein attempting to create a novel biomaterial for ACL repair. I then joined the Clark Hung and Nadeen Chahine labs to pursue my PhD at Columbia University.

Since I was a child I wished to “build” legs for someone who needs them. I was an active and athletic teenager and I was fascinated by paraplegic sportsmen, nevertheless appearing strong and successful. Growing up, I found my way to be part of a project focused on design prostheses. This became my area of expertise during my Bachelor’s years at Politecnico of Milan. What I learned on the engineering of prosthesis became my bachelor’s thesis on silicone implants. And from there, to Master and PhD.

I have bachelor's degrees in Molecular Biology and Genetics and in Chemistry, and MSc degree in Biotechnology. My analytical chemistry instructor during my bachelor's was studying biomaterials and tissue engineering, and I was introduced to the field during a presentation he gave, later joining his lab for my MSc degree.

My love for science and experimentation started at a young age. My dad is an engineer, and growing up we were always building things or turning household tasks into mini science experiments. As an undergraduate in Chemical Engineering at the University of Virginia, I worked in the Lampe Biomaterials Group where I was first introduced to the wonderful world of tissue engineering. This experience led me to pursue a PhD focused on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley undecided about what to study, I found myself in a survey course on bioengineering topics. It hadn't occurred to me that we could grow body parts in the lab until I saw a picture of the infamous Vacanti mouse in that class, and then I couldn't stop thinking about it. I went on to receive my Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley in 2017 and joined the GVN lab that fall to start my Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Columbia.

I received my PhD degree at Hunter College, City University of New York, where I worked on mechanisms of transcriptional control and regulation in mammalian cells. I then conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University, on the effect of enzyme acetylation and metabolism on cardiac function in human cardiovascular diseases, especially in heart failure. I joined the lab working with Dr. Barry Fine in 2019, using induced pluripotent stem cells and bioengineered tissues to further study human cardiac diseases.

I did my undergraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at UMass Amherst. There, I began my career in materials engineering research working under Prof. Al Crosby to study high-impulse, bioinspired materials and novel rheological techniques. I also dabbled in industry for a bit, but learned my passions lied in research and teaching. Thus, I transitioned to Biomedical Engineering for my PhD where I leverage my materials engineering background to develop novel biomaterial platforms to model the dynamic extracellular microenvironment.