Joshua Boyce, M.D., Professor in Medicine at HMS and Senior Investigator at BWH
Dr. Boyce is the Albert L. Sheffer Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the chief of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has done pioneering work on the mechanisms by which lipid mediators of inflammation control airway function and mast cell responses in type 2 immunity and aspirin sensitivity. His research has been continuously funded by NIH since 1995, and he currently holds two R01 grants, an R37, and a U19. Dr. Boyce also leads one of the most successful NIH-funded research training programs in Allergy and Immunology. He has trained over 25 postdocs who have gone on to successful academic or industry careers. was the recipient of the 2020 Mentoring Award from the AAAAI, chaired the NIH-chartered Food Allergy Guideline Committee, and has been an Associate Editor at JACI since 2005.
Jun Nagai, Ph.D., Assistant Professor In Medicine at HMS and Investigator at BWH
Jun obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical sciences at Nagasaki University before completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Pharmacology. He came to the lab in 2016 as a Postdoctoral Fellow and was promoted to the faculty in 2019 as an Instructor. Dr. Nagai focuses on the molecular mechanisms involved in cysteinyl leukotriene receptor and purinergic receptor signaling pathways, and their role in the pathophysiology of type 2 immunopathology in the airway. He was recently awarded an R21 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease to support his studies.
Barbara Balestrieri, M.D., Assistant Professor in Medicine at HMS and Senior Investigator at BWH
Barbara completed her MD and her fellowship training in Allergy and Immunology at the University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy before coming to the division for a postdoctoral fellowship. She joined the faculty in 2006. She is an expert in the role of bioactive lipids in innate and adaptive immune responses, with a special expertise in macrophage biology. She is currently funded through an R56 award.
Dinah Foer, M.D., Instructor in Medicine at HMS and Investigator at BWH
Dinah, obtained her M.D. at Yale and trained in both Internal Medicine and Allergy/Immunology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital before joining the faculty in 2020. Her work focuses on the role of the glucagon like peptide receptor-1 pathway in metabolic homeostasis and platelet-driven airway inflammation in asthmatic patients with type 2 diabetes. She was awarded a Brigham and Women’s Hospital Pilot Grant to support her studies, and was the recipient of first prize for her presentation at the 2020 National Jewish Health Young Investigator’s Forum.
Hiroaki Hayashi, M.D., Ph.D., Research Fellow at HMS and BWH
Dr. Hayashi obtained his MD from Gifu University, Gifu, Japan, and his PhD in medicine at Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan; and National Hospital Organization Sagamihara National Hospital, Sagamihara, Japan. He completed training in Allergy and Immunology prior to arriving in the lab to begin a postdoctoral fellowship in 2020. Dr. Hayashi is studying the molecular mechanisms of aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD), with a particular focus on the role of platelet-adherent eosinophils in the control of airway pathology and interleukin 33 production.
Tahereh (Mina) Derakhshan, Ph.D., Research Fellow at HMS and BWH
Mina, completed her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at Oklahoma State University before joining the lab in 2018, in a joint mentoring relationship with the lab of Dan Dwyer, a close collaborator of the Boyce lab. She is interested in tissue engineering to understand how elements of tissue stroma regulate the function of mast cells, and has developed 3-dimensional ex vivo culture systems to study the regulation of mast cell function and development by epithelial cells and fibroblasts. She uses analysis of RNA sequencing data to identify the relevant receptors and signaling pathways.
Kinan Alhallak, Ph.D., Research Fellow at HMS and BWH
Dr. Alhallak has completed all the requirements for his combined MS/Ph.D. from Washington University, St. Louis, MO on March 11, 2021. He will work in the ACI DIVISION in my laboratory with me as mentor on studies examining the role of endogenous prostaglandin E2 in regulating epithelial responses to type 2 inflammation, especially the expansion of tuft cells and goblet cells.
Virinchi Kuchibhotla, Ph.D., Research Fellow at HMS and BWH
Dr. Kuchibhotla received his B. Tech in biotechnology from the National Institute of Technology, Warangal, Telangana, India in 2013 and his MSc. In biomedical science from the Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, Wales in 2015. He will complete all the requirements for his Ph.D. in Medical Biology from the University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherland and in Immunology and microbiology from the University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australian, June 28, 2021. He will work in the ACI DIVISION in my laboratory with me as mentor on experiments utilizing a combination of ex vivo cultures, in vivo modeling, single cell genomics and flow cytometry to identify changes in epithelial progenitor cell dynamics in a mouse model of asthma.
Chunli(Lily) Feng, M.D., Research Specialist at BWH
Lily has been a research specialist for Dr. Boyce’s lab for many years. She is an experienced technician, fluent in the proposed ELISA and flow cytometry techniques. Lily also does maintenance of the mouse strains, and the performance of functional assays on the samples collected from the in vivo experiments for Dr. Boyce’s Lab.
Sofia Marshall, Research Technician at BWH
Sofia graduated from Skidmore College in 2022 and has recently joined Dr. Boyce’s lab as a Research Technician. Sofia was a member of the Skidmore Varsity Field and Hockey Team and was elected captain for her junior and senior years. She expects to go to medical school after working for Dr. Boyce’s lab.
Kendall Zaleski, Research Technician at BWH
Kendall graduated from Skidmore College in 2022 and has recently joined Dr. Boyce’s lab as a Research Technician. She is a recipient of Skidmore’s SGA’s Responsible Citizen Award and the Faculty Student Summer Research Award. She expects to go to medical school after working for Dr. Boyce’s lab.
Graduates:
Tanya M. Laidlaw, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Chief, Clinical and Translational Research Section, Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Katherine Cahill, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Medical Director of Asthma Clinical Research, Vanderbilt University
Sailaja Paruchuri, PhD. Professor of Medicine, University of Toledo, College of Medicine and Life Sciences
Kathleen Buchheit, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Associate Director, Brigham and Women’s Hospital AERD Center
Dinah Foer, M.D., Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Larry Borish, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine, Asthma & Allergic Diseases Center, Division of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA
Hey Jin Chong, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh, Chief, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital
Juan Carlos Cardet, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of South Florida
Qian Yuan, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School
Timothy Kyin, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia
Haley Cirka, Research Assistant Neuroscience, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Anya Cutler, Postdoctoral Fellow, Emory University
Denise M. Garofalo, MD, Resident in Surgery, University of Colorado
Giorgio Giannattasio, MD, Senior Medical Manager at Biogen Idec Italia, Milan Area, Italy
Yongfeng Jiang, MD, PhD, Research Scientist, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Anders Lundequist, PhD, Postdoc, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Samridhi Nallamshetty, MD, Allergist, Wesley Chapel, FL
Hiroyuki Tashimo, MD, PhD, Pulmonologist, National Hospital Organization Kochi Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
Shin Ohta, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Allergy and Respiratory Medicine, Showa University, School of Medicine
Katherine Murphy, Medical Student, Quinnipiac University
Hannah Raff, Medical Student, Rush University
Molly Kidder, MD, Pediatrician, Tampa, FLA
Dingxin Pan, PhD, Research Associate, King’s College, London, UK
Nidia DeJesus, MD, PhD, Plastic Surgeon, Miami, FLA
Laura Fanning, MD, Senior Medical Director, Global Medical Safety, Biogen
Hannah Cummings, Ph.D. Medical Director and Product Lead, Medical Strategy at Alkermes
