Raj K. Tiwari, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology, associate professor of otolaryngology and graduate program director, has been named interim chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, succeeding Ira Schwartz, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology, medicine and biochemistry and molecular biology, who recently retired from his role as chairman. Dr. Tiwari joined the NYMC faculty in 1996 and has maintained an active, funded research program in immunological aspects of cancer biology.
Dr. Tiwari received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in biochemistry from the University of Calcutta in India and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Toronto in Canada and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Prior to joining the NYMC community, he held faculty positions at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Dr. Tiwari’s research interests in chemoprevention, tumor immunology and cancer therapy has resulted in the publication of numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, review articles and abstracts and he has lectured all over the world. He also holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Otolaryngology, where he led a joint collaboration in the area of thyroid neoplasms.
Dr. Tiwari has attracted peer reviewed extramural support that includes the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense and the American Institute of Cancer Research. He has also been successful in enhancing clinical translational research through an active collaboration with academic clinicians, especially in the NYMC Department of Otolaryngology and the Department of Surgery at NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan. This clinical collaboration enabled him to secure an Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program (ECRIP) training grant for both Westchester Medical Center and Metropolitan. He holds several patents, which have played a key role in collaborating with industry to attract research funds at NYMC.
Dr. Tiwari is an honorary distinguished professor of Amity University in India. He holds membership in many academic societies including the American Association for Cancer Research and he is an international reviewer of Cancer Research for many countries including France, Denmark, Israel, India and Italy.
“This opportunity in a leadership position will allow me to enhance our departmental research enterprise to train graduate students at the masters and doctorate level, foster clinical translational research and train the next generation of academic physicians and attract extramural funding and young talent for the next phase of discovery. We have an amazing supportive team in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology to accomplish the task at hand,” said Dr. Tiwari.