Yasmin Thanavala, PhD – Principal Investigator Roswell Park Cancer Institute Elm and Carlton Streets Buffalo New York USA 14263 Tel: 716 - 845 - 8536 Fax: 716 - 845 - 8407 E-mail: yasmin.thanavala@roswellpark.org Dr. Yasmin Thanavala joined the staff of Roswell Park Cancer Institute in 1985, as a Cancer Research Scientist in the Department of Immunology and she is currently Professor and Member in the same department. Click to read her complete biography.
	Galina Elkin – I obtained my MS degree in Microbiology from Odessa State University in the former Soviet Union. Prior to my family immigrating to the US, I worked as a research scientist at the Odessa Hospital of Dermatology and Venereal Diseases Research Department. In fall of 1979 our family came to Buffalo, NY. When we arrived, I had two little children, a 5-year old son and a baby daughter. For a few months I stayed at home with the kids, while my husband was expeditiously taking “English as a Second Language” classes at the local school. Needless to say we had our firsthand painful experiences of a typical East European family arriving to the United States with no prior exposure to the free world institutions and, for all practical purposes, extremely limited English vocabulary. I vividly remember, at the time my worst fear was answering the phone! After improving my language skills, by going to night school, I had the good fortune to get a job in Dr. Avery Sandberg’s lab at RPCI. Dr. Sandberg was a Head of Genetics and Endocrinology, and as I quickly found for myself he was a world-renowned scientist and a great teacher. I am also very fortunate to be associated with other well-known scientists at Roswell. Presently, I am with Dr. Thanavala. I truly enjoy my work, the project team experiences and the lab contributions to Roswell Park's ongoing battle with most terrible diseases known to humanity.
	Amit Lugade – I graduated from Duke University with a BS in Biology. From there, I began my graduate work at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. I received my PhD in Microbiology and Immunology for my dissertation on the effects of localized tumor irradiation on the generation of anti-tumor immunity. Before joining Dr. Thanavala's group at RPCI, I spent a year at the University of Chicago studying the effects of a Gram-negative bacteria, Sphinomonas, on the activation of natural killer T cells during the course of an autoimmune liver disease, Primary Biliary Cirrhosis.

Alumni

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