Christine Marizzi, PhD, is one of the Principal Investigator and Program Director for New York City Virus Hunters and Director of Community Science in Harlem at BioBus, Inc. Christine received her PhD from the University of Vienna in Genetics and has vast experience in national and international science communication and outreach, including building Community Science infrastructure. When she is not with the Junior Scientist interns at our BioBase Harlem community lab or gathering samples in one of NYC’s parks, you’ll find her at the lab bench at Mount Sinai or working with students anywhere in Harlem. Christine is the primary contact for the program and can be reached at christine@biobus.org.
Philip Meade, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Associate, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Meade has been a member of the Krammer laboratory since 2014. His work includes assessing influenza protein microarrays to answer questions about the antibody response to infection with influenza virus. Phil directly mentors the Junior Scientist interns and brings scientific expertise in classification and further characterization of novel viruses (laboratory and bioinformatics) to this program.
Florian Krammer, PhD, is an endowed tenured full Professor in the Department of Microbiology and co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development and Pandemic Preparedness (C-VaRPP) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He is an expert in influenza viruses, vaccine design and analysis of immune responses to influenza virus antigens, including understanding correlates of protection. Florian is thrilled to host the Junior Scientist interns in his laboratory, and supports the training of the next generation of virologists.
Rita McMahon is co-founder and director of the Wild Bird Fund (WBF). WBF is New York City’s only wildlife rehabilitation and education center, treating over 7,000 animals a year and educating over 3,000 school children about New York City’s wildlife. Rita studied at NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts where she was a Ford Fellow. When she found an injured Canada Goose, she discovered that New York was the only major city in the US that did not have a wildlife rehabilitation center. In 2011, she quit her career in television in order to open the Wild Bird Fund.
Sadia Choudhury, is a Virus Hunters program alumni and now serves as Near-Peer Mentor to the Junior Scientist interns. Sadia is currently a freshman at NYU on the pre-med track and specializes in Public Health and Public Policy.
Former Mentors
Paul Kehinde Ajayi, MPH, is a Support Community Scientist at BioBus, Inc. and served as Near-Peer Mentor to the Junior Scientist interns since 2020. Paul is a trained epidemiologist who received his MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health on a Mailman Leader in Public Health Scholarship. When he is not mentoring Junior Scientists and analyzing data, you’ll find him at Columbia University serving as Residence Hall Director of the East Campus. Paul is an alumnus of BioBus programs.
***Isabel Francisco, DVM.