Our Team
Our Team
Ya-Wen Chen Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Ya-Wen is an Isidore Friesner Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, the Department of Cell, Developmental, and Regenerative Biology, and the Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-based Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She serves as the Scientific Director for the Institute for Airway Sciences, the Co-Scientific Director for the Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration, and the Director for the Developmental Origin of Health and Disease biorepository at Mount Sinai. Additionally, She is the Director of Basic Science Research for the Department of Otolaryngology. Ya-Wen is also a member of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Black Family Stem Cell Institute at Mount Sinai.
She pioneered work in lung organoid development and directed differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells to respiratory epithelial cells.
Ya-Wen received her M.S. in Tumor Biology from Georgetown University, Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She completed her postdoctoral work at the Columbia Center for Translational Immunology and the Columbia Center for Human Development at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She was a Parker B. Francis Fellow, Baxter Faculty Fellow, Catalyst Awardee, and Isidore Friesner Scholar.
Ya-Wen is an active advocator for gender equality and LGBTQIA+ rights!
Ya-Wen Chen Ph.D.
Principle Investigator
Ya-Wen is an Isidore Friesner Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, the Department of Cell, Developmental, and Regenerative Biology, and the Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-based Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She serves as the Scientific Director for the Institute for Airway Sciences, the Co-Scientific Director for the Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration, and the Director for the Developmental Origin of Health and Disease biorepository at Mount Sinai. Additionally, She is the Director of Basic Science Research for the Department of Otolaryngology. Ya-Wen is also a member of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Black Family Stem Cell Institute at Mount Sinai.
She pioneered work in lung organoid development and directed differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells to respiratory epithelial cells.
Ya-Wen received her M.S. in Tumor Biology from Georgetown University, Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She completed her postdoctoral work at the Columbia Center for Translational Immunology and the Columbia Center for Human Development at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She was a Parker B. Francis Fellow, Baxter Faculty Fellow, Catalyst Awardee, and Isidore Friesner Scholar.
Ya-Wen is an active advocator for gender equality and LGBTQIA+ rights!
Ya-Wen Chen Ph.D.
Principle Investigator
Ya-Wen is an Isidore Friesner Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, the Department of Cell, Developmental, and Regenerative Biology, and the Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-based Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She serves as the Scientific Director for the Institute for Airway Sciences, the Co-Scientific Director for the Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration, and the Director for the Developmental Origin of Health and Disease biorepository at Mount Sinai. Additionally, She is the Director of Basic Science Research for the Department of Otolaryngology. Ya-Wen is also a member of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Black Family Stem Cell Institute at Mount Sinai.
She pioneered work in lung organoid development and directed differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells to respiratory epithelial cells.
Ya-Wen received her M.S. in Tumor Biology from Georgetown University, Ph.D. in Molecular Medicine from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She completed her postdoctoral work at the Columbia Center for Translational Immunology and the Columbia Center for Human Development at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She was a Parker B. Francis Fellow, Baxter Faculty Fellow, Catalyst Awardee, and Isidore Friesner Scholar.
Ya-Wen is an active advocator for gender equality and LGBTQIA+ rights!
Clinical Faculties
Caterina Tiozzo M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
NICU Attending, Mount Sinai
Fellowship NICU, Columbia University
MD, PhD, MPH, Padua University, Italy
Benjamin Laitman M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Fellowship, Laryngology, Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai
Residency, Otolaryngology, Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai
MD,PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at
Mount Sinai
Postdoctoral Fellows and Clinical Fellows
Susan Kim, M.D.
NICU Fellow
Fellowship, Neonatology,
Kravis Children’s Hospital,
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Residency, Pediatrics,
Children’s Hospital at Montefiore,
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
MD, University of Washington
School of Medicine
BS, University of Washington
Jaden J.A. Hastings Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD, University of Melbourne, Australia
MA, Central Saint Martins
MS, Bioinformatics, University of Oxford
MA, Harvard University
BA, New York University
Gbalekan Dawodu, M.D.
Cardiothoracic Surgery Fellow
Fellowship, Cardiothoracic Surgery,
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Residency, Montefiore Medical Center,
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
MD, International American University
College of Medicine, St. Lucia
BS, Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria
Graduate Students
Aaron (Po-Jen) Yun M.D.
Ph.D. Candidate
MD, National Defense Medical Center,
Taiwan
Martha Rea-Moreno
Ph.D. Student
CoA, Pasadena City College
BS, University of California, San Diego
Medical Students
Shubham Gulati
Medical Student
MS, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
BE, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Alessandra Moscatello
Medical Student
BA, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA
Helena Bugacov Ph.D.
Medical Student
Ph.D., University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA
BA, University of California, Berkeley.
Associate Researchers
Min-Chi Yang
Associate Researcher
MS, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
BS, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan
Pamela Cruz-Encarnacion
Associate Researcher
MS, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
BA, Hunter College
BA, Long Island University
Mikal Kizilbash
Associate Researcher
BS and BA, Brandeis University
Tara N. Tavakol
Associate Researcher
BS, University of Virginia
Volunteers
Bushra Islam
Volunteer
4th year, biomedical engineering
Stony Brook University, New York, NY
Alumni
Lu Tian Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD, University of Lille, France
MS, Sorbonne University, France
BS, University of Paris-Saclay, France
Now: Scientist, 858 Therapeutics
San Diego, CA
Irving Garcia
Lab Manager
Now: Lab Manager, AcuraStem
Viktoriia Goriainova, M.D.
Associate Researcher
MS, New York University
MD, Belgorod State National Research
University, Russia
Now: Ph.D. student, New York University
Jessica Hui
2023 Volunteer
Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
Olam Ho
2023 Volunteer
Hunter College High School, New York, NY
Hanks Tsai
2023-2024 Volunteer
Columbia University Class 2028!
Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, NY
Yong Bin Choh
2024 Volunteer
3rd year, medical student
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
Taipei, Taiwan
Farhan Rafat
2024 Volunteer
1st year, pre-med student
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Melissa Lu
2024 Volunteer
Spence School, New York, NY
Juliette Bourrel
2024 Volunteer
Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, NY
Zainab Ahmed
2024 Volunteer
Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, NY
Rick Zong
2024 Volunteer
Bronx High School of Science, Bronx, NY