Clinical Advisors

Mathias P. G. Bostrom, MD

Dr. Bostrom is an orthopaedic surgeon at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Dr. Bostrom is an arthroplasty surgeon who specializes in hip and knee surgery. He is known for performing complex reconstructions and treating musculoskeletal infections.

Dr. Bostrom has collaborated with Professor Marjolein van der Meulen on bone adaptation and osseointegration preclinical projects for more than two decades.

David Calfee, M.D., M.S.

Dr. David Calfee currently serves as the Chief Hospital Epidemiologist for NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine. He received a BA in Biology from West Virginia University.  He also received his medical degree from West Virginia University.  He then completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Virginia. He received an MS in Health Evaluation Sciences (Epidemiology) from the University of Virginia. During fellowship, Dr. Calfee received additional training in healthcare epidemiology and infection control. His research interests are in the areas of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance. 

Dr. Calfee works with Professor Ilana Brito to understand the spread of antimicrobial resistance genes in the hospital setting.

Roger Hartl, M.D.

Dr. Hartl is Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and is Chief of Spinal Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Hartl studies the pathophysiology of brain injury. He is interested in the treatment of brain edema in brain-injured patients and the surgical management of patients with brain and spinal injuries.

Dr. Hartl is collaborating with Professor Larry Bonassar to critically evaluate the performance of tissue engineered intervertebral discs developed in Professor Bonassar's laboratory. Dr. Hartl is working with graduate students in Professor Bonassar's group to develop rat models of intervertebral disc replacement.

Constantino Iadecola, M.D.

Dr. Iadecola is George C. Cotzias Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Cornell Medicine and Chief of the Division of Neurobiology. Dr. Iadecola studies the cerebral circulation, brain injury and stroke. He is interested in cerebrovascular biology and regulation of the cerebral microcirculation in the normal state and in disease. He is also interested in the molecular pathology of cerebral ischemic injury and the changes ischemia produces in gene expression.

Dr. Iadecola works with Professor Chris Schaffer to investigate the interactions between small strokes and Alzheimer's disease through studies in animal models. This work is revealing a vicious cycle of damage, where microvascular dysfunction in the brain exacerbates the pathology associated with Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease triggers cerebrovascular injury, with both injuring brain cells.

Michael Kaplitt, M.D.

Dr. Kaplitt is Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine and Associate Attending Neurosurgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Kaplitt is director of the Laboratory of Molecular Neurosurgery, which applies gene therapy to the treatment of neurological diseases. He recently completed the first clinical trial of gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease for FDA approval. His laboratory is examining the mechanism of cell death in Parkinson’s and other diseases.

Dr. Kaplitt and Prof. Chris Schaffer are co-directors of the course BME 4110, “Science and Technology Approaches to Problems in Human Health,” which is taken by advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Dr. Kaplitt brings expertise in clinical practice as well as clinical and translational research to the course design.

Robert J. Min, M.D.

Dr. Min is Chairman of Radiology at Weill Cornell medical College, Radiologist-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine, and President of Weill Cornell Imaging at NewYork-Presbyterian. He is developer of endovenous laser for treatment of venous insufficiency — when the leg’s veins cannot effectively return blood to the heart.  Now 12 years old, the minimally invasive technique is used by thousands of physicians around the world to treat a variety of conditions, including varicose veins.  Dr. Min also developed transcatheter duplex-guided sclerotherapy, another minimally invasive method of treating venous insufficiency. Dr. Min’s other areas of clinical and research interests include non-invasive treatments of tumors.

Dr. Min is a multiple principle investigator with Prof. Yi Wang on an NIH training grant that supports the summer immersion term for first-year BME Ph.D. students. He enjoys teaching, including weekly interactions with our students during the summer immersion. 

Hollis G. Potter, M.D.

Dr. Potter is a radiologist and Chief of Magnetic Resonance Imaging at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Dr. Potter is involved in a variety of clinical and research projects in orthpaedic imaging, including critical evaluations of MRI in the clinical and research area.

Dr. Potter is collaborating with Professor Larry Bonassar on projects relating to meniscus repair and regeneration. Dr. Potter is working with graduate students in Professor Bonassar's laboratory on image-based design of meniscus implants.

Martin R. Prince, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Prince is Professor of Radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine and Chief of Magnetic Resonance Imaging at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Prince develops techniques that improve MRI both in research and in clinical care, such as contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography. He also develops methods to improve data acquisition and processing in MRI and to eliminate artifacts in MRI data.

Dr. Prince is collaborating with the BME department in several ways. He is a co-investigator with Dr. Yi Wang on an NIH grant that supports the summer immersion term for first-year BME Ph.D. students. Dr. Prince is helping the department in the design of its new MRI imaging facility on the Ithaca campus. He also routinely lectures in the department's imaging course, BME 6180, and he actively helps in the advising of BME Ph.D. students working on imaging problems in their doctoral research.

Christopher Sales, M.D.

Dr. Sales is Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA and Associate Medical Director of the Iowa Lions Eye Bank in Coralville, IA. He was previously at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, NY and the Lions VisionGift Eye Bank in Portland, OR and Boston, MA.

He is interested in eye banking and targeted forms of corneal transplant surgery, specifically selective replacement of the inner 10 microns of the cornea in a procedure known as DMEK (Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty), and selective preservation of the inner 10 microns of the cornea in a procedure known as DALK (deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty). He is also interested in femtosecond laser-assisted ophthalmic surgery, virtual reality surgical simulation, and surgical ergonomics. He collaborates with David Putnam to evaluate new surgical biomaterials as well as with Newton DeFaria to mentor students in the Master’s in Biomedical Engineering Program.

Sanjay A. Samy, M.D.

Dr. Samy is a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Guthrie Clinic, which is headquartered in Sayre, PA adjacent to the Robert Packer Hospital. Dr. Samy joined Guthrie in 2008.

Dr. Samy and several of his collaborators at Guthrie are working with Professor Jonathan Butcher to study valvular heart disease. Guthrie is a primary care facility, which provides access to extensive pre- and post-operative data on patients who undergo valve replacement surgery.

Michael Satlin, M.D., M.S.

Dr. Satlin is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and Assistant Attending Physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine. His clinical work specializes in infectious diseases supportive care for patients with hematologic malignancies and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. His research interests are in the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections in immunocompromised hosts and he currently possesses a K23 Mentored Career Development Award from NIAID to support this work. 

Dr. Satlin works with Professor Ilana Brito on the surveillance of antibiotic resistance genes in pathogens and throughout the human microbiome. They are currently focused on a cohort of neutropenic patients at high risk for developing multi-drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae infections. 

Andrew Schafer, M.D.

Dr. Schafer is the E. Hugh Luckey Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. He is also Physician-in-Chief at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Schafer is interested in platelet biology and metabolism and abnormalities of platelet function in myeloproliferative disease. He also studies the role of hemodynamic forces on platelets and on vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells.

Dr. Schafer is collaborating with BME faculty members Chris Schaffer and William Olbricht to study how blood flow to the brain is altered in disorders that lead to overactivity of the bone marrow and elevated blood hematocrit.

Theodore Schwartz, M.D.

Dr. Schwartz is Professor of Neurological Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine and Attending Neurological Surgeon at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Schwartz specializes in the surgical treatment of brain tumors, pituitary tumors and epilepsy using computer-guided surgical navigation, minimally invasive endoscopy and microsurgery.

Dr. Schwartz works with Prof. Chris Schaffer to study mechanisms of initiation and propagation of cortical seizures in animal models. This work also involves the development of a novel, laser-based surgical treatment for focal epilepsy.

Jason Spector, M.D., FACS

Dr. Spector is Assistant Professor of Surgery (Plastic Surgery) at Weill Cornell Medicine. His clinical interests include reconstructive surgery and aesthetic plastic surgery. He also directs the Laboratory for Bioregenerative Medicine and Surgery, which conducts a number of projects on ischemia reperfusion, hydrogel scaffolds, microfabricated constructs for tissue engineering, and use of ultrasound for local delivery of medications.

Dr. Spector is working with a number of BME investigators. He collaborates with Prof. David Putnam to implement new animal models of surgical procedures and to evaluate the efficacy of new surgical biomaterials. Dr. Spector and Prof. Jonathan Butcher collaborate on a project involving a minimally invasive, nondestructive biopsy device invented in the Butcher lab that could be used to detect margins between normal and cancerous breast tissue. Dr. Spector and Prof. Olbricht are developing an oxygen sensor to monitor viability of tissue flap transfers. He also works with Prof. Claudia Fischbach-Teschl to generate culture models representing adipose tissue characteristics of patients as a function of obesity and cancer. Dr. Spector has also been a mentor to several BME graduate students during the summer immersion term at Weill.

Linda T. Vahdat, M.D.

Dr. Vahdat is Professor of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and an Attending Physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Vahdat specializes in the treatment of breast cancer, especially metastatic disease. Her research interests include strategies to prevent metastases as well as new therapies for controlling breast cancer and preventing recurrence.

Dr. Vahdat collaborates with Professor Claudia Fischbach-Teschl to identify the relevance of breast cancer microenvironmental conditions with patient-derived clinical samples.