Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Co-Director, CLIA Diagnostic Laboratory: Schiff Center for Liver Diseases
Director, Department of Pathology Pilot Grant Program
Champion of Strategic Development
Founder and Director, Oncology Pathway for Medical Students
Board of Directors, University of Miami Medical School Alumni Organization
Member, Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee, SCCC
Standing Study Section Member, NIH HIV Coinfections and Cancer Study Section (HCAC)
Board Chair, National Board of Directors, American Liver Foundation
Biography
Having been raised in Miami-Dade county, in the underserved community of West Perrine, I have a strong commitment to improving the health of our local community. I am a Fellow of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (FAASLD). I am the Board Chair for the National Advisory Board of the American Liver Foundation and was on the editorial board of Hepatology. I have had over $4 million dollars in program support through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Gilead Sciences. Through our community screening program, we are identifying HCV infected individuals and linking them to care so that they can be cured of this deadly virus. In addition, I am also facilitating the ability of uninsured patients to receive these costly HCV medications through patient assistance programs.
Education & Training
Education
2007: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami Florida
MD, Medicine
2005: University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida
PhD, Virology/Innate Antiviral Immunity
1998: Florida International University, Miami Florida
BA, Chemistry
1998: Florida International University, Miami Florida
BS, Biology
Post Graduate Training
2012: NIH-NIDDK, Bethesda, MD
Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Virology and Liver Disease
My teaching philosophy is underscored as a service to the University of Miami. Specifically, I founded and lead the Oncology Pathway that is the largest medical student pathway. I am also the faculty director for several medical student organizations including the American Physician Scientist Association (APSA) and the UM-Med IBIS medical student research publication. I also serve on both the MSTP admission committee and have led the medical student research distinction committee for over 5 years. As a faculty member, I am active in training the next generation of researchers as part of the Microbiology/Immunology, Cell Biology, Biomedical Engineering and Cancer Biology graduate programs. I provide lectures for these programs and serve on many thesis committees. I actively teach graduate students in the areas of virology, viral oncology and innate antiviral immunity.
Research Interests
The mission of my program is to develop integrated, multidisciplinary approaches to the study of liver cancer/liver diseases and to bridge clinical medicine and basic science with translation of fundamental knowledge to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of liver diseases and related viral malignancies. We focus on model development and leverage multiple -omics technologies to glean novel scientific insight from our innovative models and pertinent patient samples.
Publications
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