Alumnae

Munazza Alam
Graduate Program: Harvard University- Astronomy & Astrophysics PhD

Munazza received a BA in Physics and Astronomy. While at Hunter, she received a National Geographic Young Explorers grant in exoplanetology to study low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in an observatory in Chile known for having the best telescopes and clearest skies. At graduation, she received the Rosalyn S. Yalow Achievement in Science Award.

Munazza is currently a National Science Foundation Research Fellow in the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University. Her work involves investigating the atmospheres of nearby exoplanets (called “hot Jupiters”) using data from the Hubble Space Telescope and focuses on the study of clouds in directly imaged exoplanets which was highlighted in an article in The Harvard Gazette called, “Cloudless, Jupiter-like planet discovered”. At Harvard, she also organized a chapter of Open Labs, an outreach program in which graduate students inspire students in grades six through 12 by organizing “science cafes” and visiting local schools.

Recent Publication:
Munazza K. Alam et al, The Astrophysical Journal Letter (2021),”Evidence of a Clear Atmosphere for WASP-62b: The Only Known Transiting Gas Giant in the JWST Continuous Viewing Zone”

Vivienne Baldassare
Graduate Program: University of Michigan- Astronomy and Astrophysics PhD

Vivienne received a BA in Physics. She went on to earn a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Michigan. Following graduation, Vivienne was a NASA Einstein Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Astronomy at Yale University. She joined the faculty as an assistant professor of Physics and Astronomy at Washington State University in August 2020.

Vivienne’s research focuses on extragalactic astronomy, active galactic nuclei, galaxy structure, formation and evolution, high energy astrophysics, and black holes. Vivienne searches for and studies active galactic nuclei at the centers of dwarf galaxies in order to gain a better understanding of the formation and growth of massive black holes over cosmic time.

Recent publications:
Baldassare VF, Geha M, and Greene J, The Astrophysical Journal (2020), “A Search for Optical AGN Variability in 35,000 Low-mass Galaxies with the Palomar Transient Factory”
Baldassare VF, Dickey C, Geha M, and Reines AE, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2020), “Populating the Low-mass End of the Black Hole Mass-Stellar Velocity Dispersion Relation“

Naxhije (Gia) Berisha
Graduate Program: CUNY Grad Center- PhD

Gia received a BA in Chemistry and Biochemistry. She is currently a PhD student at CUNY Graduate Center, researching peptide nanotechnology in the lab of Dr. Rein Ulijn, founder of the Nanoscience Initiative at CUNY’s Advanced Science Research Center. In her first two years as a nanotechnology graduate student, Gia worked with Dr. Charles M. Drain. She also collaborated with Dr. Moritz F. Kircher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on a project using silicated gold nanoparticles for applications in precision imaging of tumors and cancer diagnostics. Her research focuses on the fields of nanotechnology, imaging, bio-engineering and cancer research.

Sara Camnasio
Graduate Program: New York University- Integrated Digital Media MS

Sara received a BA in Physics. She then went on to earn an MS in Integrated Digital Media from the New York University Tandon School of Engineering. While at NYU, Sara was a Graduate Fellow at NYU Steinhardt School of Education in a $1.2 million NSF project developing STEM curriculum for kids with autism spectrum disorder. Sara has been the recipient of three separate National Geographic grants over the years, including the National Geographic Early Career Grant, which recognizes individuals in the early stages of their career leading promising and potentially transformative projects in conservation. She collaborated with fellow National Geographic Young Explorers on a project that combined conservation and filmmaking, “Grandpa’s Reef,” an underwater 360-degree film that aims to encourage kids and young students in the Philippines to protect coral reefs and the ocean. Find out more in her TED Talk.

Sara is currently a service and UX designer at Designit NYC, an international strategic design firm where she works at the intersection of design and environmental justice by applying design methods and principles to projects tackling issues such as species reintroduction, human-wildlife conflict, environmental education and marine pollution.

Avelyn Mae De Los Reyes
Graduate Program: Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences- Chemistry and Pharmacology PhD

Avelyn is currently working as a research assistant in the Derek Tan Lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute, focused on identifying small-molecule probes and therapeutic lead compounds to address novel biological targets and current challenges in chemical biology and drug discovery.

Karen Ebenezer
Graduate Program: Rutgers New Jersey Medical School- MD

Karen holds an MA in Biotechnology, and BA in Classical Studies and Biology cum laude from Hunter College. As a McNulty scholar, Karen conducted research in Dr. Jayne Raper’s lab, where she studied the novel presence of an anti-parasitic immune complex called trypanosome lytic factor (TLF) in human breast milk. During her time at Hunter, she was also a Thomas Hunter Honors student, a member of the Eta Sigma Phi Classics Honor Society, and the recipient of both the Yalow Scholarship and the Solomon Bluhm Classics Scholarship.

Upon graduating, Karen worked as a research scientist at the Yale School of Medicine under Dr. Shuta Ishibe, where her research in podocyte maintenance and endocytic processes resulted in three publications in the journals JCI Insight, JASN and Kidney 360 (ASN affiliate). Following her time at Yale, she spent a productive year working with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ COVID-19 research team, while evolving her independent project on interferon-signaling functionalities involved in tumor cell antiviral state creation. Karen then obtained an MBS (master’s in biomedical sciences) cum laude from Rutgers School of Graduate Studies and rotated in Dr. Terri Wood’s lab, where she studied the role of inhibitive signaling in breast cancer metastasis.

Karen Ebenezer is an MD candidate currently attending Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. She is also a 2023-24 Fellow of The Writers’ Institute at the Graduate Center. Her written works and publications can be found on her website Lyre and Scalpel, at lyreandscalpel.com.

Saipriya Iyer
Graduate Program: Rutgers University – Graduate School of Professional and Applied Psychology PsyD

Saipriya majored in Psychology with a Behavioral Neuroscience Concentration and a minor in Spanish at Hunter College. She also conducted clinical research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. After graduating, she worked in Buenos Aires, Argentina with researchers at Hospital Garrahan to gain a more global perspective. She organized a STE(A)M summer camp for foster care youth at Hope For Youth, an agency in New York.

Saipriya later pursued a master’s in clinical psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, conducting clinical interviews with families whose children had encountered adverse life circumstances at the Developmental Affective Neuroscience Lab. She played a pivotal role in founding the Child Protection Lab, focusing on topics including child fatality, near-fatality, maltreatment, neglect, and abuse.

Currently, Saipriya is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Rutgers University, Graduate School of Professional and Applied Psychology. She is passionate about actively participating in decolonizing research methodologies and collaborating directly with communities to advance community-based participatory research. She has experience in delivering psychotherapy across a range of clinical settings, including hospitals, inpatient units, college counseling centers, schools, and community mental health centers. Her clinical interests revolve around community healing, social justice, trauma-informed care, and initiatives that promote diversity, equality, and inclusion.

Daphne Ko
Graduate Program: Washington University in St. Louis- Biology and Biomedical Sciences PhD

Daphne received a BA in Biology. While at Hunter, she served as a research assistant in biotechnology in Dr. Jayne Raper’s laboratory. Her role included leading research projects and studying serum resistance associated protein structure and the apolipoprotein-L1 lysis mechanism in trypanosoma brucei species. Daphne also assisted Dr. Raper’s module in the Biology of Parasitism course at the Marine Biological Laboratory; moderated and organized events such as the NYC Parasitology Conference (2018), and attended weekly lab meetings and departmental seminars. Daphne’s research with Dr. Raper used biochemistry (protein biology) to search for a novel form of trypanosome lytic factor (TLF). TLF is a high-density lipoprotein that can kill African trypanosomes, the parasite that causes African trypanosomiasis, also known as African sleeping sickness.

Nicola Kriefall
Graduate Program: Boston University- Marine Biology PhD

Nicola received a BA in Neuroscience. While at Hunter, Nicola received the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and was class valedictorian. Nicola is currently a PhD student in marine biology at Boston University, working in the Davies Marine Biology Genomics Lab. Her research focuses on genomic analysis to investigate how divergent local environments—nearshore and offshore reef zones—influence the population structure of corals and their symbionts. She works with Boston University Professor Gerardo Morfini on neurodegenerative diseases in squid populations.

Emily Lau
Graduate Program: University of California, Santa Barbara- Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology PhD

Emily is currently a PhD candidate in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology at University of California, Santa Barbara, supported by funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Her research studies include integrating biochemical assays, molecular biology techniques and bioinformatics tools to investigate the convergent, or independent, evolution of bioluminescence. She has recently published in Biological Reviews and Toxins.

Recent publications:
Lau, E.S. and Oakley, T.H., Biological Reviews (2021), “Multi‐level convergence of complex traits and the evolution of bioluminescence”
Gorson J, Fassio G, Lau ES, Holford M., Toxins (2021), “Diet Diversity in Carnivorous Terebrid Snails Is Tied to the Presence and Absence of a Venom Gland“

Brigid Maloney
Graduate Program: Rockefeller University- Bioscience PhD

Brigid received a BA in Psychology. Brigid has always been fascinated by the behavior and ecology of marine species, first studying the population ecology of Atlantic Bay scallops. At Hunter, she studied the behavioral response of bottlenose dolphins and antillean manatees to anthropogenic disturbances off the coast of Belize.

Brigid entered the John D. Rockefeller PhD program at Rockefeller University. She is currently working as a research assistant in Dr. Erich Jarvis’s lab studying neurogenetics of language. Her current research focuses on characterizing the brain regions responsible for vocal learning in cetacean species, allowing for comparative studies across vocal learning taxa, including humans, songbirds, parrots and more.

Carina Sirochinsky
Graduate Program: Columbia University- MD

Carina received a BA in Chemistry. While at Hunter College, she conducted research on the mechanical and chemical properties of exosomes in order to develop targeted drug delivery and to elucidate breast cancer metastasis pathways. She also worked on creating novel iron-oxide nano-particles to improve tissue imaging by MRI, as well as for drug delivery.

Carina was also a 2016 Amgen Scholar at Columbia University, where she developed and optimized an injectable, engineered cartilage matrix to facilitate the healing of osteoarthritic wounds utilizing synovial stem cells.

Since graduating from Hunter College, Carina has gained research experience in designing mouse models of healthy and disease state human hematopoiesis. She has also gained experience designing and screening drug candidates and cellular therapies for hematological and rheumatic diseases and disorders such as acute myeloid leukemia and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Carina is currently working as a scientist at Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals LLC and director of operations at Immugenyx LLC. She is also pursuing her MD at Columbia University.

Afsana Rahman
Graduate Program: Tri-Institutional Program- Computational Biology PhD

Afsana Rahman received a BA in Computer Science and minored in German. She has a strong interest in using technology to address large-scale biological problems. As a Yalow Honors student, McNulty Scholar, and Cooperman Fellow, she conducted research at Weill Cornell Medical College under Dr. Benjamin Kleaveland’s Laboratory. Afsana has also gained research experience at Hunter College with Dr. Weigang Qiu and Memorial Sloan Kettering with Dr. Christina Leslie.

Her academic focus is on exploring the non-coding genome and its impact on cancer, and she is skilled in both experimental and computational projects. In addition to her research work, Afsana was actively involved in the Hunter College community, participating in student government and serving as a lead mentor in the Rosalyn Yalow Honors program, where she helped organize research workshops and science conferences. Her efforts led to her committing into a prestigious computational biology PhD program: The Tri-Institutional Program, which spans Cornell University, Rockefeller University, and Memorial Sloan Kettering. Afsana aims to apply her interdisciplinary approach to problem-solving, research, and leadership roles in fields that integrate healthcare and technology.

Rawlica Sumner
Graduate Program: SUNY Downstate- College of Medicine MD/MPH

Rawlica received a BA from Hunter in Human Biology. During her time as a John P. McNulty scholar, she worked on bacteriology and virology in the Microbiology Laboratory at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) alongside her principal investigator Dr. Esther Babady. There, she studied the prevalence of Enterovirus and Adenovirus in an oncologic setting with hopes to contribute to the scientific literature that seeks to understand the impact of these viruses. She presented her research at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students and the Hunter Undergraduate STEM Research Conference.

Rawlica is currently a MD/MPH student at State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences seeking to combine her passion for public health and medicine to aid underserved and disadvantaged communities. As a medical student, she is seeking opportunities to build on her research experiences by pursuing clinical and community-based research in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. She is involved with several student organizations such as the Brooklyn Free Clinic and the Daniel Hale Williams Society which serves as SUNY Brooklyn’s chapter of the Student National Medical Association.