Postdoctoral Trainees

Our postdoctoral scholars land high-profile biomedical careers in various areas, including biology, surgery, periodontics and antiviral development. They hold tenured academic and leadership positions at major universities, government agencies and private-sector firms across the nation and beyond. They have excelled as researchers, educators and administrators.

James D. Bangs, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Mary Ann McDowell, PhD 1995-1997 Associate professor, Notre Dame, University, Ind.
David Alexander, PhD 1998-1999 Senior scientist/lecturer, Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, UC Santa Cruz, Calif.
Ron Peck, PhD 2002-2006 Assistant professor, Colby College, Waterville, Maine
Shaheen Sutterwala, PhD 2004-2008 Science research associate, UW-Madison Institute for Biology Education, Madison, Wis.
Ngii Tazeh, PhD/MD 2007-2008 Urology intern, University of Wisconsin Hospital, Madison, Wis.
Julia Gilden, PhD 2011-2015 Research scientist, Promega Corp., Madison, Wis.
Emilia Kruzel, PhD 2012-2017 Scientific Adviser, EResearch Technologies
Calvin Tiengwe, PhD
 2012-2017  
Mohamed Sharif, PhD   Research Scientist, Johnson & Johnson

Richard B. Bankert, VMD, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Swapan K. Ghosh, PhD 1979-1988 Professor and chair of biology, Indiana State University, Terre Haute
Harvery L. Bumpers, PhD 1994-1996 Professor of surgery, Michigan State University, Lansing, Mich.
Nejat Egilmez, PhD 1995-2001 Professor and chair of immunology and microbiology, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, Ky.
Michael S. Sabel 2000-2002 Professor of surgery, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Lori Broderick, PhD/MD 2002-2007 Assistant professor of pediatrics, University of California San Diego, Calif.
Gautam Shenoy, PhD 2013-2016 Research scientist, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University at Buffalo, N.Y.

Piero Bianco, PhD

Name Years
Tak Liu Lo, PhD 2014-2017

Ira J. Blader, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Celia Florimond, PhD
 2014-2019 Scientist at Pasteur Institute, Paris, France

Elsa Bou Ghanem, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Michael Battaglia, PhD 2023-2025 Postdoctoral Scholar, NIH Clinical Center (CC)
Manmeet Pal Singh Bhalla, PhD 2018-2023 Lecturer, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University at Buffalo

Terry D. Connell, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Sergio Arce, PhD 2003-2007 Clinical associate professor, University of South Carolina, Columbia
Christopher Greene, PhD 2014-2015 Post-doctoral fellowship, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, N.Y.
Hesham Nawar, PhD 2006-2007/2009-2010 Manager/research Scientist of Sanofi Pasteur, North York, Ontario, Canada

John Hay, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Svavec Witkovski, PhD 1971-1972 Professor, University of Lvov, Poland
Mark Buller, PhD 1978-1981 Associate professor, St. Louis University, Mo.
Mike Wathen, PhD 1983-1986 Chief, Antiviral Advance Development, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington D.C.
Paul Kinchington, PhD 1983-1990 Associate professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pa.
L.P. Perera, PhD 1990-1992  Senior staff fellow, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.

Thomas Melendy, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Shu Ru Kuo, PhD 1998-2006 R&D research scientist, Scott and White Healthcare, Dallas
Jen-Sing Liu, PhD 1998-2006 Vice president of research and development, Molecular Templates, Austin, Texas 
Adam Kawinski, MD 2017 Attending Physician, Sisters of Charity Hospital, Buffalo, N.Y.
Aliaa Aboulela, PhD 2023 Associate Professor, Alexandria University Medical Research Institute, Alexandria, Egypt
Shilu Malakar, PhD 2023 Postdoctoral Scholar, Emory University, Altanta, GA

John Panepinto, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Amanda Bloom, PhD 1998-2009 Research Scientist, University at Buffalo
Corey Knowles, PhD 2023-2024 Postdoctoral fellow, National Institutues of Health

Laurie Read, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Michel Pelletier, PhD 1998-2009 Associate professor, SUNY Brockport, Brockport, N.Y.
Michelle Ammerman, PhD 2006-2013 Assistant professor, Kettering University, Flint, Mich.
John Fisk, PhD 2006-2015 Research scientist, For-Robin, Inc., Buffalo, N.Y.
Sara Zimmer, PhD 2008-2013 Assistant professor, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Duluth
Joseph Sakyiama, PhD 2009-2012 Research scientist, Eurofins Scientific, Philadelphia, Pa.
Kaylen Lott, PhD
 2011-2016 Instructor, The College at Brockport, Biology Department
Natalie McAdams, PhD
 2013-2018 Research Scientist III, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Joseph Smith, PhD 2018-2023 Assistant Professor, Depatment of Microbiology and Immunology, University at Buffalo Jacobes School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

Michael W. Russell, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Arthur A. DeCarlo, PhD 1996-1998 Associate professor of periodontics, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Katerina Dvorakova, PhD
 2001-2002 Assistant professor, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Christine Gockel, PhD 2001-2005 Manager, Northern Sydney Local Health Directorate, Office of Commercialization, BioMed North, Australia
Yingru Liu, PhD/MD 2009-2010 Senior associate scientist, TherapyX, Inc., Buffalo, N.Y.
Weiwei Zhao, PhD/MD 2006-2012 Research scientist, UB Research Foundation, Buffalo, N.Y.

Yijun Sun, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Yunpeng Cai, PhD 2007-2011 Associate professor, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
Qi Mao, PhD 2014-2016 Senior research scientist, The HERE Company, Chicago, Ill.
Jin Yao, PhD 2015-2016 Research scientist, GlaxoSmithKline, Philadelphia, Pa.

Noreen Williams, PhD

Name Years Current Position
Chioma Okeoma, PhD
 2004-2005 Assistant professor of microbiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Bing Wang, PhD 2005-2007 Clinical instructor/director of medical microbiology, University of British Columbia, Canada