Current Members
Marcus D. Goncalves, MD, MSE, PhD
Director, Systemic Metabolism Research
Associate Professor
Lab head
Marcus is a physician scientist at NYU Langone Health in beautiful New York City. His lab is focused on the effects of diet and cancer on the host tissues that regulate systemic nutrient metabolism. As a practicing endocrinologist, he has helped to develop therapeutic and dietary strategies to modulate systemic glucose and insulin levels in patients with obesity, diabetes, and cancer. MG’s clinical practice focuses on the care of patients with metabolic diseases like insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, low testosterone, and complications from cancer and cancer therapy like cachexia. Come watch me present
Maurice Hurd, MA
Clinical RESEARCH SPECIALIST
Lab member since 2019
Maurice is a senior clinical research coordinator and manager for the Goncalves lab. He handles the day-to-day lab operations of the lab and oversees coordination of our clinical studies. Maurice obtained his MA in Applied Exercise Physiology from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Ezequiel Dantas, MD, PhD
Instructor
Lab member since 2019
Ezequiel is a physician and scientist with a PhD in Immunology. He is studying the effects of dietary interventions on the immune system using mouse models and human samples. Cancer is another example where diet can influence immunity so Ezequiel is studying the crosstalk among tumor cells, the immune system, and the regulators of systemic metabolism that ultimately lead to the wasting syndrome called cachexia. This research has also sparked his interest in finding and validating early biomarkers for cachexia and lung cancer.
Maira Di Tano, PhD
Post-Doctoral FelLow
Lab member since 2022
Maira is a postdoctoral fellow. She obtained her PhD in Molecular Oncology from the European School of Molecular Medicine (SEMM) in Milan (Italy). In Goncalves lab, she is interested in identifying cancer metabolic vulnerabilities, focusing on colorectal and pancreatic cancer. Specifically, Maira is studying how cancer genetic alterations leads to specific metabolic dependencies and how nutrients, in particular fructose, impact on tumor progression and therapy response, with the ultimate goal to identify novel thera-peutic targets for the treatment of these aggressive tumor types.
Shiri Li, BM, PhD
Research Associate
Lab member since 2021
Carolina Echeverría, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Lab member since 2022
Carolina is a biotechnologist with a PhD in Biomedicine from Universidad de los Andes, Chile. She is studying how fructose can induce metabolic adaptations in prostate and colorectal cancer overtime. Specifically, Carolina is focused on the molecular mechanism related to glucose transporters and fructolysis pathway with the aim to extrapolate these findings into aggressiveness biomarkers for prostate and colorectal cancer.
Jack Sanford, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Lab member since 2023
Jack is a postdoctoral fellow who received his PhD in genetics and molecular biology from UNC Chapel Hill. In the Goncalves lab, he is investigating how lung-derived secreted proteins influence cancer cachexia and whole-body metabolism. Given that these proteins influence weight loss, blocking their associated pathways could prove to be a useful strategy for the treatment of cancer cachexia, while activating them could also benefit patients who are struggling with obesity
Azrul Kadir, DPhil
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Lab member since 2023
Isaac Nathoo
MD-PhD Student
Lab member since 2023
Mujmmail Ahmed
Technician II
Lab member since 2021
Tiffany Perrier
Technician II
Lab member since 2022
Tanvir Ahmed
Technician I
Lab member since 2022
Zoha Syed
Technician I
Lab member since 2024
Jonathan Gao
Undergraduate Volunteer
Lab member since 2022
Jeshua Kim
Undergraduate Volunteer
Lab member since 2023
Adina Shamieva
Undergraduate Volunteer
Lab member since 2023
Lourdes Pajuelo
PhD Student
Lab Rotation 2024
Former Members - Off to Bigger and Better Things
Henning Langer, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Lab member 2021-2023
Postdoctoral Scientist in Cardiometabolic-Disease Research at Boehringer Ingelheim
Michael Lyashenko
Undergraduate Volunteer
Lab member 2019-2022
Medical Student University of Rochester School of Medicine
Samuel R. Taylor, MD, PhD
MD/PhD Student
Lab member 2018-2022
Internal Medicine Resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Heme-Onc Fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Shakti Ramsamooj
Research specialist
Lab member 2018-2022
Graduate Student at Weill Cornell Medicine
Anirudh Murthy
Technician
Lab member 2020-2022
Medical Student at Stony Brook Medicine
John N. Falcone, MD
Endocrine Research fellow
Lab Member 2020-2022
Endocrinologist and Clinical Instructor in Medicine at Weill Cornell
Andre Queiroz, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Lab member 2019-2021
Hired as a scientist at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Rita Pozovskiy
Undergraduate Volunteer
Lab member 2019-2021
Graduate student at the Donald & Barbara Zucker School of Medicine and Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
Roger Liang
technician
Lab member 2018-2020
UT Southwestern Medical School Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP)
Seo-Kyoung "Katie" Hwang, MS
Research Specialist
Lab member 2018-2019
Scientist for Pfizer
Weill Cornell Area of Concentration Medical Students
Sarah Stewart
Medical Student
AOC student 2022
Atkins Foundation Scholar
Erica Nagase
Medical Student
AOC student 2022
Atkins Foundation Scholar
Tiffany Lam
Medical Student
AOC student 2021
Tahj Blow
Medical Student
AOC student 2021
Rahmi Elahjji
Medical Student
AOC student 2020
Internal medicine resident at NYP-Weill Cornell Medicine
Rahul Grover
Medical Student
AOC student 2019
Internal medicine resident at Montefiore