Staff Directory

Vicky studied Chemistry at the University of Ioannina, Greece where she received her undergraduate and master degrees (2017). She received her PhD in Chemical Biology from the Technical University of Dortmund and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology. During her PhD, Vicky worked on the development of novel hypervalent iodine-mediated transformations, Lewis acid catalyzed asymmetric synthesis and on the development of novel methods for the synthesis of heterocycles. In her current position as a postdoctoral research scientist aims to synthesize and evaluate using chemistry tools a series of compounds that can act as ferroptosis-inducing and ferroptosis-inhibiting agents leading to novel therapeutic strategies.

Throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies, I have worked as a researcher for 7 years in laboratories specialized in cancer cell and membrane biology, where I have enquired extensive academic knowledge in understanding various molecular mechanisms controlling signaling and membrane trafficking in cancer cells, affecting tumor growth and progression. In my current position as an Associate Research Scientist in the Stockwell lab, I study cell death mechanisms and drug discovery in cancer cells. My focus is on selective induction of ferroptotic cell death through inhibition of metabolic biosynthesis of CoQ10 in a breast cancer model system. My responsibilities at the Stockwell lab include the role of Project Manager, which involves grant and progress report writing.

Olivia Chan is a veterinary resident/post-doctoral research scientist at the Institute of Comparative Medicine at the Columbia University. Prior to joining the program, she earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Tufts University Cumming School of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Public Health from Columbia University. After graduation, she spent ten-plus years in a primary care and second opinion veterinary clinic in Hong Kong. She volunteered to work with farms, government offices, and community animal programs in low-resource settings. While in clinic, she focuses on soft tissue surgery and internal medicine in geriatric patients and patients with chronic diseases. She also developed a few veterinary phytochemical formulas to treat chronic kidney disease. She later earns her Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong. She focuses in building pharmacoepidemiology and policy implementation models. Her publications and teaching focus on applying statistical and epidemiology models in pharmacology and policy implementation studies.

Shadi Khalil is a physician-scientist dermatologist and dermatopathologist in the lab.  His interests include nutritional metabolism of the skin with a focus on nutrient metals in inflammation.  More broadly, he is interested in spatial biology and computer vision.

Rachel Freilich is an undergraduate student at Columbia College, studying Biochemistry with a special concentration in Linguistics. She joined the Stockwell Lab in 2024 and is interested in exploring the biological methods used to identify the microenvironments of cancer cells.

I am currently a neurosurgery resident at Columbia University Medical Center interested in local delivery of therapeutics to the central nervous system. During my undergraduate studies I studied the impact of oxytocin on muscle stem cell repair.  As a research fellow during medical school I worked on understanding how  dietary interventions could help sensitize glioma cells to  ferroptosis. Now as part of the Stockwell lab I work on inhibition of ferroptosis in various models of neurodegeneration, either through dietary intervention or local delivery of ferrostatins.  The ultimate goal of this work is to develop translational therapies that can be taken into clinical practice. 

Noreen Hosny is a junior at Princeton University majoring in Molecular Biology and minoring in Visual Arts. At the Stockwell Lab, she is mentored by Dr. Presha Rajbhandari, and her research focuses on novel 3D reconstruction of healthy and diseased liver architecture.

Mark has been the Lab Manager for the Stockwell Laboratory since June 2022, and a Staff Researcher since February 2022. In addition to management, administrative, and maintenance roles in the lab, Mark investigates small-molecule inhibitors of Ferroptosis in neurodegenerative diseases, mechanisms of Ferroptosis inducers, assists with animal studies involving Cancer mouse models, and provides oversight of the lab's in vivo studies. Formerly a member of the Kirby Lab at The Ohio State University, Mark received his BSc in Neuroscience while primarily doing research on the vascular architecture of hippocampal neural stem and progenitor cells in transgenic mouse models.

Liam is a 2nd year biochemistry student at Columbia University and is a native New Yorker. Prior to Columbia, he interned with Vitara Biomedical, a company that is developing an artificial womb biosystem in order to reduce comorbidities associated with preterm birth, specifically looking at the serum concentration of key electrolytes and their relationship to poor or favorable outcomes. He is also a 2nd year Laidlaw fellow planning to intern with a team at University College London working to improve lung cancer screening in London.

Outside of lab, Liam trains in jiu jitsu and also wrestled competitively. He also loves photography and backpacking.   

Lela DeVine is a B.A. candidate at Barnard College majoring in molecular biology and minoring in science & public policy and anthropology. Her prior research experience encompasses marine pharmacology, microbiology, and cancer. Currently, she is interested in studying extremophile environments and lipid metabolism.

I am an M.D.-Ph.D. student in the Stockwell lab studying the interplay among ferroptosis, diet/nutrition, and cancer therapy. I received my B.A. in Biochemistry from Columbia University, where I worked in the Stockwell lab to characterize and optimize ferroptosis biomarkers. Outside of the lab, I enjoy reading books from all different genres, attempting the NYTimes crossword, and exploring NYC (especially the food scene).

Jana Choe is an undergraduate student at Columbia College, majoring in Applied Mathematics with a minor in Chemistry.  She joined the Stockwell Lab in 2025 and is mentored by Dr. Arie Zask. 

Brent R. Stockwell, Ph.D. is Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences and a Professor at Columbia University in the Departments of Biological Science and Chemistry. His research involves the discovery of small molecules that can be used to understand and treat cancer and neurodegeneration, with a focus on biochemical mechanisms governing cell death. In a series of papers from 2003-2012, Dr. Stockwell discovered a new form of cell death known as ferroptosis. Since then, his lab has defined many of the major mechanisms governing ferroptosis, as well as key reagents for studying this new form of cell death.

Dr. Stockwell has received numerous awards, including a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface, a Beckman Young Investigator Award, an HHMI Early Career Scientist Award, the BioAccelerate NYC Prize, the Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award, the Great Teacher of Columbia College Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates, the Dean Peter Awn Commitment to the LGBTQ community Faculty Award, and an NCI R35 Outstanding Investigator Award.

He has been in the top one percent of highly cited researchers the last three years, and was named as one of the 50 most influential life science individuals in New York. He has developed a new blended learning approach to teaching biochemistry, performed randomized controlled trials to examine the effectiveness of teaching methods, and introduced the use of virtual reality and augmented and mixed reality into his biochemistry course.

He has given more than 120 seminars around the world, trained more than 100 undergraduate and graduate students, technicians and postdoctoral scientists, published >160 scientific articles, been awarded 23 US patents, and received >50 research grants for >$40 million. He is also the author of The Quest for the Cure: The Science and Stories Behind the Next Generation of Medicines.

 I am a rising senior in Columbia College, majoring biochemistry. I am mentored by Arie Zask here at the Stockwell Lab, where I work on the synthesis of organic small-molecule kinase inhibitors for ALS. 

Aidan Comiskey received a B.S. in Biochemistry and B.A. in Plan II Honors from the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked on a variety of projects spanning supramolecular chemistry. In the Stockwell lab, he is interested in leveraging high-throughput experimentation and novel machine-learning methods for the design of small-molecule protein degraders.