Meet The Team

Dong Zhang

Expertise: Cancer development, diagnosis, and therapy

Dong Zhang teaches medical biochemistry and specializes in cancer biology, cell biology, and molecular biology. His research focuses on DNA damage checkpoint and repair…read more

Bhuma Krishnamachari

Expertise: Epidemiology and cancer genetics

An epidemiologist and genetic counselor with a focus on oncology, Bhuma Krishnamachari, Ph.D., earned her doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Illinois…read more

Maria M. Plummer

Expertise: Pathology

Maria Plummer is a board certified pathologist who teaches extensively at the NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is also involved in teaching Physician Assistants…read more

Haotian Zhao

Expertise: Cancer biology and developmental biology

Haotian Zhao, Ph.D., holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in medicine from China Medical University, as well as a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology…read more

Claude E. Gagna

Expertise: Molecular biology, anatomical sciences and DNA nanotechnology

Claude Gagna is a Professor in the Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences (i.e., biology), holding a central position (i.e., Course Director) as a senior educator…read more

Bryan Gibb

Expertise: Biochemistry, biophysics, molecular biology, and microbiology

Bryan Gibb completed his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in the laboratory of Gregory D. Van Duyne and studied the molecular mechanisms of DNA…read more

Niharika Nath

Expertise: Cancer biology, cell biology, and microbiology

Niharika Nath specializes in research on cancer biology and prevention. She focuses on the regulation of signaling molecules relevant to cellular processes…read more

Azhar Ilyas

Expertise: Biomedical engineering, nanoscience, and nanotechnology

Azhar Ilyas is an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. Prior to joining New York Tech, he was a post-doctoral fellow at Texas A&M…read more

Leonidas Salichos

Expertise: Computational biology and bioinformatics

Leonidas Salichos, Ph.D., is a computational biologist. His research focuses on studying evolving systems, such as the spread of infectious diseases and…read more

Amerigo Rossi

Expertise: Applied exercise physiology

Amerigo Rossi earned his B.A. in Biological Sciences from Columbia University in 1999, his M.A. in Exercise Science from Cal State Los Angeles in 2005, and his Ed.D. in Applied Exercise…read more

Subhabrata Chaudhury

Expertise: Cancer therapeutics

Subhabrata Chaudhury, Ph.D., is an organic chemist. His research is focused on developing small molecule-based therapeutics for several diseases including cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease. He has developed…read more

Karrer Alghazali

Expertise: Tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, medical device development, and biomaterial

Karrer Alghazali received his B.S. in Applied Physics from the University of Technology in Baghdad in 2008 and subsequently earned a master’s degree in Material Science from the same university in 2010. …read more

Steven Zanganeh

Expertise: Cancer immunoengineering and iron immunometabolism

Dr. Steven Zanganeh is an Assistant Professor in the Bioengineering Program at the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). His research focuses on cancer immunoengineering, with an emphasis on macrophages in the tumor immune landscape, inflammatory responses, iron metabolism, and ferroptosis-based therapies.

Johnny Kao, MD

Expertise: Clinical and translational radiation oncology and cancer metastasis

Johnny Kao, MD is the Chairman of Radiation Oncology at Good Samaritan University Hospital and is the Director of the Cancer Institute at Good Samaritan. Dr. Kao graduated from Mount Sinai School of Medicine and completed radiation oncology residency and research training at University of Chicago.

As a high volume radiation oncologist, Dr. Kao’s primary interest is improving outcomes for patients with distant metastases requiring radiation therapy through designing more effective treatment regimens through applying advances in novel clinical and biological technologies. Dr. Kao’s group is also actively pursuing clinical research in breast, prostate and lung cancers.