Neil Vasan Lab

Neil Vasan, MD, PhD

Neil is a physician scientist and Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He received his AB/AM from Harvard University and MD/PhD from Yale University School of Medicine, and completed clinical training in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and in medical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. As a postdoctoral fellow, he identified double PIK3CA mutations as an oncogenic alteration, which has gone from bench to bedside as a cancer genomic biomarker. His research awards include the NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2), NCI Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (K08), AACR NextGen Star, and ASCI Young Physician-Scientist Award. He has also received research funding from Susan G. Komen, Breast Cancer Alliance, and Gilead. Neil is an active clinical oncologist treating patients with breast cancer, and serves as the Scientific Advisor for the PIK3CA Pathbreakers patient advocacy group, and as a standing member of the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) for the FDA.

Hanna Karvonen, PhD

Recipient of EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship

Hanna received her PhD in cell and molecular biology from Tampere University, Finland, in the lab of Daniela Ungureanu where she studied the role of ROR1 pseudokinase signaling in B-cell malignancies and ovarian cancer and aimed to identify drugs that could work in combination with ROR1-targeted cancer therapies. In the Vasan lab, her research focuses on understanding how kinases regulate cancer cell growth using genome editing screens.

Remkes Scheele, PhD

Remkes Scheele obtained his BSc in Life Science and Technology from the University of Groningen. During his MSc, he performed graduate internships in the laboratories of Gerard Roelfes and Frances Arnold on artificial metalloenzymes and tryptophan synthase evolution, respectively. Remkes went on to complete his PhD in droplet microfluidics in the Hollfelder group at the University of Cambridge. Currently, Remkes is involved in genome editing screens to uncover vulnerabilities for cancer therapeutics.

Ruchita Rathod, MS

Ruchita received her master's degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from St. John’s University, New York, USA. She worked on the Bone Morphogenic Protein (BMP) signaling pathway. She then worked at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell in Dr. Lewis Cantley’s lab as a research assistant assisting Dr. Neil Vasan in investigating genetic heterogeneity in tumors with PIK3CA mutations.

Fun fact: I enjoy relieving stress through cooking and baking. I love dancing to Bollywood music.

Sophia Abrahamson

Sophia is a junior at Columbia College where she is majoring in Biochemistry. She has a long-standing interest in oncology research, having interned in Los Angeles at labs focusing on rhabdoid tumors and salivary gland cancer. Sophia is an intern at the lab, where she has continued her research in the Vasan Lab exploring the proteomic basis of breast cancer with Remkes.

Ananya Raghavan

Ananya is majoring in biomedical engineering at Columbia University. She is interested in studying cancer biology and hopes to be a physician or physician-scientist in the future. In the lab, she is working with Ali to understand the function of PIK3CA mutations using high throughput techniques. In her free time, she can be found painting, playing with her Goldendoodle Copper, or watching Bollywood.

Ben Herzberg, MD

Dr. Herzberg is a thoracic oncologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). He received his AB from Princeton University, an MD from the combined Harvard Medical School and MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST), and an MSc in the History of Science and Medicine from Imperial College, London. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was a Stanbury Physician-Scientist trainee, and fellowship in medical oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he was Chief Fellow.

His research interests are in lung cancer and cancers with special difficulties repairing damage to their DNA. He develops clinical trials using novel agents targeting DNA repair, bringing these drugs directly to my patients in the clinic. His laboratory work aims to define new vulnerabilities in cancer cells which can be leveraged for more effective, less toxic therapy. This work has been recognized by several awards from the NIH and other organizations.

Julia McGuinness, MD

Dr. McGuinness is a breast oncologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). She serves as the PI for multiple clinical trials at CUIMC that evaluate novel treatments for patients with breast cancer. She received her BA in Biology from Williams College, and her MD from Baylor College of Medicine. She completed both her Internal Medicine residency and Hematology/Oncology fellowship at CUIMC where she served as Chief Fellow. She also completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biomedical Informatics at CUIMC and an MPH from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. 

She has received numerous awards and grants including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Young Investigator Award, ASCO Career Development Award, and Susan G. Komen Career Catalyst Research Award. She collaborates with the Vasan Lab to analyze clinical samples from patients receiving PI3K inhibitors.

Abiha Kazmi

Abiha is a first year medical student at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. As a high school student she worked with Neil Vasan in the laboratory of Jose Baselga at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center where, as a recipient of the PBS and Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) Emperor Science Award, she contributed to their discovery of double PIK3CA mutations. She graduated in 2023 from the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Brooklyn College, where she majored in sociology and biology and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Abiha also received the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship in 2021.