Principal Investigator
Dr. Cameron McAlpine, Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator.
Cameron completed his PhD at McMaster University in Canada where he studied macrophage function and inflammation in atherosclerosis. He pursued his postdoctoral training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School under the supervision of Dr. Fil Swirski. As a postdoctoral fellow and later an instructor at MGH, Cameron investigated sleep and neuropeptidergic circuits in the regulation of hematopoiesis and atherosclerosis, and the role of IL-3 in glial cell function in Alzheimer’s disease. Cameron joined the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and opened his independent lab in June 2021 in the Cardiovascular Research Institute, Department of Medicine, and the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience.
email: cameron.mcalpine@mssm.edu
Twitter: cam_phd
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Pacific Huynh
Dr. Pacific Huynh is a biomedical researcher interested in the pathological features that drive the progression of cardiovascular diseases. Having completed his PhD at Monash University, Victoria, Australia and a 2 year postdoc position at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia, he joined the McAlpine lab in August 2021 to further his postdoc training. Throughout his scientific career, Pacific has dabbled in research focused on pathological processes such as inflammation, fibrosis and angiogenesis, in various chronic diseases, including diabetic nephropathy, atherosclerosis, aortic aneurysms and peripheral artery diseases. His current research focuses on the effect of sleep on immune networks and subsequent atherosclerosis development.
When he isn’t holding a pipette in his hand, he can be seen wandering the streets of New York City with his trusty camera, capturing the sprawling cityscape and vibrant life inhabiting this great city.
Dr. Abi Yates
Dr. Teresa Gerhardt
Teresa has been passionate about the immune mechanisms implicated in cardiovascular diseases ever since she completed her doctoral research at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in San Diego in 2015. Having obtaining her MD from Albert-Ludwig University Freiburg, Germany, she joined the Charité in Berlin, Germany, as a clinical fellow in cardiology and clinician-scientist in 2019. With the goal to seek out the effects of lifestyle factors on vascular aging, clonal hematopoiesis and atherosclerosis, Teresa joined the McAlpine lab in January 2023.
PhD Students
Annie Khamhoung
Annie is a PhD student in immunology at Mount Sinai. She completed her B.S. in Biochemistry at Northeastern University. Annie worked for several years in biotech as a research assistant developing cancer immunotherapies before beginning graduate school. She is passionate about immunology and looking forward to delving into neuroimmunology and brain-body interactions governed by the immune system. Annie is currently focused on neurodevelopmental diseases. When Annie isn’t in the lab, she enjoys rock-climbing, and spending time in central park.
MD Students
Jake Jacob
Walter “Jake” Jacob is a medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Class of 2025. He completed a B.S. degree in biology from Providence College in Rhode Island where he used a yeast model to interrogate how ER-associated leak channels regulate programmed cell death. He then worked for two years as a postbaccalaureate research fellow at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the NIH where he studied prion proteins and molecular chaperones. Now, as a medical student, his research interests lie at the intersection of different organ systems. He is particularly interested in how sleep modulates hematopoietic stem cell differentiation and how this impacts the subsequent development of atherosclerosis.
Visiting Students
Lena Gaebel
Lena is a visiting student, with particular interest in immune cell crosstalk in the context of neurodegeneration. She completed her B.Sc. in Biology in her hometown Hannover, Germany. Currently, she is finishing up her master’s program in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience at Maastricht University, by completing a research internship in the McAlpine lab. Her current research focuses on the role of IL-3 in tauopathy. In her free time Lena enjoys travelling and is thrilled to explore different places in and around New Yok City in the upcoming months.
Merlin Heiser
Merlin holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Physical Technologies and is an MD student at the Charité in Berlin, Germany. He is interested in the role of immune cells and brain-body interactions in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases. As part of his doctoral studies, he joined the McAlpine lab in January 2024, focusing on the interplay of lifestyle factors, particularly sleep, and the immune system in cardiovascular diseases.
Past Members
Agustin Clemente Moragon
Su Goswami
Dr. Jan Hoffman