Dr. Segal is director of the Lung Microbiome Program, and an associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He received his MD from Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina, and his Master of Science from New York University. He is licensed in pulmonary medicine and critical care medicine. Dr. Segal is the principal investigator of multiple projects obtaining lower airway samples through research bronchoscopies as well as through clinically-indicated bronchoscopy. These projects include subjects with different pulmonary conditions wherein multiple culture-independent assays can be used to uncover bacteria presence in the lower airways and elucidate how they affect the host immune tone.

Dr. Tsay is the director of the NYU Lung Cancer Biomarker Center and an assistant professor of medicine at NYU Grossmann School of Medicine. He received his MD from Temple University and completed his internal medicine residency and pulmonary and critical care fellowship at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue. Dr. Tsay completed an MS in clinical investigation at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and his research interests include lung cancer screening and biomarkers, and the role of lung microbiome in lung cancer.

Benjamin G. Wu is an instructor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. His interest in research started in the laboratory of Dr. Melissa Spencer at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was trained in laboratory science techniques and inspired to pursue a career in translational research to dissect mechanisms. During his residency training, he pursued pulmonary research with Drs. Leopoldo N. Segal and Martin J. Blaser. His research focuses on the use of in vivo murine models and ex vivo microbiological methods to assess host-microbial interactions. Dr. Wu has expertise in the use of bioinformatic tools to dissect the model organisms and their response to human oral commensals and continues to work in human clinical trials.

Dr. Sulaiman is an adjunct professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He received his MD from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and completed his internal medicine residency, pulmonary fellowship, and PhD in Ireland, during which he studied the impact of inhaler adherence on clinical outcomes in both asthma and COPD patient populations. It was then that he began developing skills in trial design, data management, statistics and bioinformatics. Dr. Sulaiman subsequently began a pulmonary and critical care fellowship at NYU Grossman School of Medicine where he began working with Dr. Leopoldo N. Segal. His research thus far has focused on the host-microbial interactions in bronchiectasis and lung cancer with a special interest in functional microbiomics.

Dr. Li obtained her MD from Qingdao Medical University in Shandong, China, in 1987. She then earned her PhD in microbiology from the Peking University Health Science Center in 2005. She came to the United States in 2006 and worked in HIV-related research within NYU Langone’s Department of Pediatrics. In 2014, Dr. Li joined the Segal Lab as a senior scientist.

Ms. Schluger received her nursing training at Mercy Hospital in Cork, Ireland. She worked primarily as a surgical nurse and received additional training as a nurse anesthetist. She came to the United States in 1992, worked at Mt. Sinai Hospital, and thereafter began working in research in 1994 at Rockefeller University, assisting with Dr. David Ho’s and Dr. Marty Markowitz’s pioneering work in HIV anti-retroviral therapy. She then worked in the Laboratory on the Biology of Addictive Diseases, headed by Dr. Mary Jeanne Kreek, assisting in studies ranging from the neuroendocrine physiology to genetics of drug addiction. Rosemary came to NYU Grossman School of Medicine in 2015, initially working in the Department of Gastroenterology. Since 2017, she has been with the Segal Lab and is the primary liason for all clinical activities: identifying, consenting, and enrolling patients; collecting samples and managing data; and coordinating with other laboratories and clinicians.

Ms. Scott is the senior program manager of the Segal clinical research team, and she received two Master of Science degrees at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where she is from. Her research was in the area of cardiorespiratory physiology and an experimental model of cigarette smoke induced pulmonary fibrosis at the Meakins-Christie Laboratories. She has held many clinical research positions within the last 20 years and provides experienced leadership and career development guidance to the Research Associate team in their fulfillment of their roles and career development.

Mr. Carpenito joined the lab in Fall of 2017 after finishing his undergraduate studies in biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Joseph's area of focus in our lab is the study of bacterial metabolites, particularly short-chain fatty acids, from oral commensal bacteria in the lower airway. He studies their role in immune modulation of macrophages in the lower airway during non-tuberculosis mycobacterium infection using ex-vivo culture models of macrophage infection and bacterial culture techniques. Joseph plans on pursuing a degree in medicine.

Mr. Olsen graduated from the University of Delaware with a bachelor's degree in exercise science and applied nutrition. He joined the Segal Lab in 2017 with a specific interest in exploring the relationship between the lung microbiome and lung cancer. Evan is planning on attending medical school with specialty interests in surgery and sports medicine. Outside of the lab, he has experience working as an EMT.

Mr. Franca graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 2017 where he received a BA in biology. As an undergraduate, he began his research experience working in both biochemistry and oncology laboratories. Brendan joined the lab in July 2017 and is currently working in the wet lab assisting with mouse studies and processing clinical samples.

Dr. Balasubramaniapandian received her medical degree from Theni Government Medical College in India. After graduation, she worked as a Medical Officer in an underserved population in her home country. Having now moved to the United States, she is hoping to do a residency in internal medicine. In 2018, she worked in cardiology research on misclassification of type 2 myocardial infarction and its implications on outcomes. She joined the team in April 2019 as a research coordinator and worked on a research project developing biomarkers for disease progression among asymptomatic emphysema patients. Dr. Balasubramaniapandian is simultaneously working at a community hospital to gain clinical experience in the U.S.

Ms. Harris graduated from the University of Pennsylvania University and her passion in life is music. In parallel, however, she has been instrumental in supporting the NTM/Bronchiectasis clinical program as a research data associate, overseeing the clinical data entry for our expansive bronchiectasis cohort.

Ms. Clementi graduated from Colgate University and is a research data associate supporting the enrollment and clinical data entry for our NTM/Bronchiectasis clinical program. She is focused on gaining research experience while pursuing acceptance into medical school.

Ms. Drengler graduated from Princeton University and is a research data associate supporting the enrollment, clinical data collection, and biological sample collection for our lung transplant and COPD cohorts. She has a lifelong interest in medicine and is currently interviewing for medical school.

A graduate of the University of Miami, Marla recently joined the team as a research data associate supporting the enrollment, clinical data collection, and biological sample collection for our lung cancer studies. She, like many of our research team members, is pursuing a career in medicine.