Our Team
Our Team
Ya-Wen Chen Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Ya-Wen is an Isidore Friesner Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, Department of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, and Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-based Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She serves as the Co-Scientific Director of the Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration and is the Director of Basic Science Research for the Department of Otolaryngology. Additionally, Ya-Wen is a member of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Black Family Stem Cell Institute, and the Institute for Airway Science at Mount Sinai.
She pioneered the work in lung organoid development and directed differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells to respiratory epithelial cells.
Ya-Wen received her 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, the Catalyst Awardee, and the Isidore Friesner Scholar.
Ya-Wen is an active advocator for gender equality and LGBTQ rights!
Ya-Wen Chen Ph.D.
Principle Investigator
Ya-Wen is an Isidore Friesner Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, Department of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, and Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-based Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She serves as the Co-Scientific Director of the Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration and is the Director of Basic Science Research for the Department of Otolaryngology. Additionally, Ya-Wen is a member of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Black Family Stem Cell Institute, and the Institute for Airway Science at Mount Sinai.
She pioneered the work in lung organoid development and directed differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells to respiratory epithelial cells.
Ya-Wen received her 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, the Catalyst Awardee, and the Isidore Friesner Scholar.
Ya-Wen is an active advocator for gender equality and LGBTQ rights!
Ya-Wen Chen Ph.D.
Principle Investigator
Ya-Wen is an Isidore Friesner Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, Department of Cell, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, and Department of Pathology, Molecular and Cell-based Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She serves as the Co-Scientific Director of the Center for Epithelial and Airway Biology and Regeneration and is the Director of Basic Science Research for the Department of Otolaryngology. Additionally, Ya-Wen is a member of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Black Family Stem Cell Institute, and the Institute for Airway Science at Mount Sinai.
She pioneered the work in lung organoid development and directed differentiation from human pluripotent stem cells to respiratory epithelial cells.
Ya-Wen received her 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, the Catalyst Awardee, and the Isidore Friesner Scholar.
Ya-Wen is an active advocator for gender equality and LGBTQ rights!
Postdoctoral Fellows
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
Graduate Students
Aaron (Po-Jen) Yun M.D.
Ph.D. Candidate
MD, National Defense Medical Center,
Taiwan
Helena Bugacov Ph.D.
Medical Student
Ph.D., University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA
BA, University of California, Berkeley.
Martha Rea-Moreno
Master Student
CoA, Pasadena City College
BS, University of California, San Diego
Alessandra Moscatello
Medical Student
BA, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA
Shubham Gulati
Medical Student
MS, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
BE, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Associate Researchers
Min-Chi Yang
Associate Researcher
MS, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
BS, Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan
Pamela Cruz-Encarnacion
Associate Researcher
Mikal Kizilbash
Associate Researcher
BS and BA, Brandeis University
Tara N. Tavakol
Associate Researcher
BS, University of Virginia
Volunteers
Hanks Tsai
Volunteer
The Bronx High School of Science
Jessica Hui
Volunteer
Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
Olam Ho
Volunteer
Hunter College High School, New York, NY
Clinical Collaborators
Caterina Tiozzo Ph.D., M.D.
Associate Professor
NICU Attending
Mount Sinai
Susan Kim, M.D.
Clinical Fellow
NICU Fellow
Mount Sinai
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, USC
Viktoriia Goriainova, M.D.
Associate Researcher
MS, New York University
MD, Belgorod State National Research
University, Russia
Now: Ph.D. student, New York University