Master of Science in Epidemiology & Clinical Research

Clinical Research Mentors

The Program in Public Health has agreements with various clinical research faculty.
Prior to admission, a research mentor-match process takes place. This is conducted by the program but all matriculating students will have an identified mentor prior to starting the program. Applicants are encouraged to review the list of mentors in advance of submitting an application.

Name	Research Focus
Anissa Abi-Dargham, MD, Professor and Chair, Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Anissa.Abi-Dargham@stonybrookmedicine.edu	Dr. Abi-Dargham directs the Multi Modal Translational Imaging Lab and oversees a multidisciplinary team with expertise in multiple neuroimaging modalities used in tandem to address important questions about the brain mechanisms of schizophrenia, including the complex alterations of dopamine transmission in schizophrenia and their relationship to clinical symptoms, cognition and response to treatment, as well as their interrelatedness to glutamate dysfunction.
Scott Moeller, Ph.D. Vice Chair for Research & Associate Professor, Psychiatry Scott.Moeller@stonybrookmedicine.edu	Dr. Moeller’s research uses behavioral and neuroimaging (including MRI and PET) approaches to investigate cognitive and emotional impairments in human drug addiction. One of his main interests is in studying compromised self-awareness of addiction severity and cognition (insight), such that individuals addicted to drugs (including opioids) do not sufficiently perceive the extent of their impairments and need for treatment.
Stella Tsirka, Ph.D. Professor, Pharmacology styliani-anna.tsirka@stonybrook.edu	Dr. Tsirka’s research focuses on neuroimmune interactions in the physiological and pathological central nervous system (CNS); specifically she examines the interactions between the resident immune cells of the brain and the spinal cord, the microglia, with the cells of the CNS parenchyma and the peripheral immune system.
Apostolos Tassiopoulos, MD Vascular Surgery Apostolos.Tassiopoulos@stonybrookmedicine.edu	Dr. Tassiopoulos has expertise in open and minimally invasive endovascular surgery for the management of aortic aneurysms, lower extremity vascular disease (PAD), treatment of venous disease (including minimally invasive percutaneous closure for varicose veins), renal and mesenteric artery stenosis, surgery for stroke prevention (carotid stenting and endarterectomy), dialysis access and limb salvaging procedures.
Elliott Bennett-Guerrero Vice Chair for Clinical Research & Professor, Anesthesiology & Critical Care Medicine Elliott.Bennett-Guerrero@stonybrookmedicine.edu	Dr. Bennett-Guerrero’s research interests include the safety and effectiveness of blood transfusion, surgical site infection, postoperative morbidity, and cancer recurrence. He is currently leading a 2,000 patient multicenter randomized trial to prevent death after cancer surgery. Dr. Bennett-Guerrero has diverse clinical research interests and has led projects including large multicenter randomized trials, pharmacokinetic studies, healthy volunteer studies, and large database analyses. He has mentored numerous individuals, including medical students, residents, junior faculty and has been the primary mentor for Masters and PhD level candidates.
Paolo Boffetta, MD, MPH Professor, Family, Population & Preventive Medicine Paolo.Boffetta@stonybrookmedicine.edu	Dr. Paolo Boffetta is an epidemiologist. He is conducting research on cancer and other chronic diseases, where he contributes to the understanding of the role of occupation, environment, alcohol, smoking and nutrition in disease development. He is currently involved in numerous studies both in the USA and Internationally.
Reza Dashti, MD, Ph.D., IFAANS, FACS Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Radiology, Department of Neurosurgery Reza.Dashti@stonybrookmedicine.edu	Dr. Dashti’s area of expertise is cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery. Especially his clinical interest is surgical and endovascular treatments for revascularization of intracranial and extracranial vessels. His research is focused on factors affecting outcomes of various disease process presenting with hemorrhagic and ischemic stroke.
Alexander Stessin, MD, Ph.D. Radiation Oncologist Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Pharmacology, Radiation Oncology Residency Program Director Alexander.Stessin@stonybrookmedicine.edu	Dr. Stessin is a radiation oncologist specializing in cutting-edge radiotherapeutic treatments for breast cancer, GI cancers, as well as CNS and pediatric malignancies. He has successfully conducted several investigator-initiated clinical trials on novel uses of SBRT for pancreatic cancer patients, breast cancer patients not undergoing surgery, and is currently leading a clinical trial of combination treatment with pre-operative stereotactic radiosurgery and immunotherapy for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. He has also co-directed a radiation biology laboratory where his investigations have focused on novel treatments for glioma and strategies to mitigate radiation-induced cognitive dysfunction in patients receiving radiation to the brain.