Director
Dr. Xiu-Min Li is an Professor of Pediatrics and Immunobiology at The Icahn School of Medicine. Dr. Li’s research interests are focused on asthma and allergy, including work on the immuno-pathological and epigenetic mechanisms of asthma, food allergy, and atopic dermatitis. She has developed novel experimental therapies including cytokine, CpG ODN, and engineered allergen immunotherapy. She has also developed novel complementary and alternative medicine approaches such as probiotics and herbal medicines. Dr. Li has a unique combined expertise in allergy, immunology, molecular biology, and Chinese herbal medicine; she is a leader in the scientific study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) for allergic disorders. She is the director of the Center of Excellence for Research in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CERC), Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy for Asthma. Dr. Li is the sponsor of the US-FDA approved phase I and II clinical study of a botanical drug (ASHMI) for treating asthma and US-FDA approved clinical study of a Chinese herbal medicine (FAHF-2) for food allergy. She has established immunobiology and botanical chemistry laboratories. Her research has been funded by NIH/NCCAM (P01 and R01) and the Food Allergy Initiative. As a faculty of the graduate school and pediatric department, she is also a mentor to clinical and research fellows, PhD students, and junior faculties. Dr. Li is establishing a CAM practice program at Mt. Sinai that will provide additional healthcare options for children and adults with allergic disorders. Her research has been reported by the New York Daily News.
Changda Liu, Ph.D.
Post Doctoral Fellow
Changda Liu, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Pediatric Allergic and Immunology, Pediatric Department, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He received his doctor degree of Natural Products Chemistry in Shenyang Pharmaceutical University in 2002. He has tremendous experience in identification and isolation of small active molecules from medicinal herbs, molecular mechanisms determination underlying raw material and individual bioactive compounds in vitro and in vivo.
Assistant Professor
Ying Song, MD, MS has combined expertise in immunology/medicine and molecular biology. She holds MD and MS degrees after completing a 5-year program at Zhengzhou University in China and then was trained to perform molecular in vitro studies in a post-graduate immunology program. Her research has focused on investigating mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of allergic diseases including food allergy and other immune disorders, and on developing novel therapies for these diseases. She has extensive experience in conducting animal studies of peanut allergy and established the first high risk murine models of peanut allergy, which permitted the discovery that epigenetic factors can be transferred from allergic mothers to their offspring. Ying has also explored the correlation of basophil activation as a marker for response to food challenge. She has also developed the new methodology for micro RNA assay and DNA methylation assay applied on peanut allergy model in our group. I have solid publication record in peer-reviewed journals in food allergy field. In Dr Li’s laboratory, she is significantly involved in research design, experiment conducting, results interpretation, and publishing. She came to Sinai as a post-doc and is now holds the title of Assistant Professor, Allergy and Immunology Division, Department of Pediatrics.
Kamal Srivastava, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor (Pending)
Member of the Immunobiology Lab for the Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy for Asthma and Allergy since 1999. Kamal has contributed to animal model studies at the center in food allergy and asthma research resulting in several articles in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at the annual meetings of the AAAAI. She is currently a PhD candidate attending Graduate School at the The Icahn School of Medicine with a Ruth L. Kirschtein pre-doctoral fellowship awarded by NIH/NCCAM. Her present research projects involve animal studies with ASHMI and FAHF-2 formulas.
Assistant Professor
Nan Yang, PhD is an assistant professor of the Botanical Chemical Lab for the Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy for Asthma and Allergy. Dr. Yang received a PhD from Clark University and has diverse experience in biochemistry. Dr. Yang has expertise in a wide range of techniques including analytical chemistry, High Performance Liquid Chromatography, Mass Spectrometry (LC MS), immunobiology, and molecular biology. He has played a key role in ensuring the quality and consistency of two herbal products (FAHF-2 and ASHMI) used in clinical studies. He is co-author of a publication related to the development of herbal interventions for asthma. As group leader of the botanical laboratory, he supervises two technicians to identify effects of active fractions and compounds in B-FAHF-2 on Th2 cells and TNF-a producing cells. He has developed collaborations within the group and outside the institution to determine effects of active fractions and compounds on mast cells and B cells. He has generated substantial data and is preparing two manuscripts.
Administrative Coordinator
Sharon Hamlin is the Administrative Coordinator for the Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy for Asthma and Allergy. She joined the Center for Chinese Herbal Therapy for Asthma and Allergy in May 2008.
Serife Uzun
Graduate Student
Serife Uzun is a student in the Master of Biomedical Sciences program at the Icahn School of Medicine. Her undergraduate degree in Cell Biology and Neuroscience has lead her to an interest in pediatric medicine and allergy. She has been involved in research in Chinese herbal medicine (FAHF-2) for food allergy. She has presented at the Mindich Child Health and Development Institute retreat as well as the East-West Integrative Medical Practice and Scientific Technology for Allergies and Wellness conference.
Linda Zambrano
Graduate Student
Linda Zambrano is a student in the Masters of Biomedical Sciences program at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She received a BS in Biology from Duke University and is interested in pursuing a career in medicine. Linda’s present research projects involve the use of Chinese herbal medicine as novel treatment for allergy related diseases, such as Eosinophilic Esophagitis. She has presented at the East-West Integrative Medical Practice and Scientific Technology for Allergies and Wellness Conference, as well as at the Annual Child Health Research Day at Mount Sinai.