Principal Investigators
Reynold A. Panettieiri, Jr, MD (Contact Principal Investigator)
Vice Chancellor, Translational Medicine and Science
Director, Rutgers Institute for Translational Medicine and Science
Reynold A. Panettieri, Jr, MD, is professor of medicine, vice chancellor for translational medicine and science at Rutgers University, and the director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Science. Previously, he was the Robert L. Mayock and David A. Cooper Professor of Medicine in the Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Division of the Department of Medicine, and served as Deputy Director of the Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine where he remains Professor Emeritus.
Panettieri is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Robert E. Cooke Memorial Lectureship at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology Annual Meeting, the Joseph R. Rodarte Award for Scientific Distinction and the Recognition Award for Scientific Accomplishments from the American Thoracic Society (ATS). He is also an active member of national professional and scientific societies including the American College of Chest Physicians and ATS; in 2013, he was elected Chair of the Respiratory Structure and Function Assembly of ATS. Panettieri served as chair of the NIH Lung Cellular, Molecular, and Immunobiology Study Section, is a member of the NIH Distinguished Editorial Panel, and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians.
A principal investigator on several NIH-sponsored grants and industry-sponsored clinical studies, Panettieri is also director of a program project grant examining novel approaches in modulating G protein-coupled receptor function and is the Principal Investigator of the CTSA Hub called New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science. He is the author of over 475 peer-reviewed publications. He manages the comprehensive clinical care of patients with asthma and is engaged in clinical investigations focused on the management of asthma and COPD.
Renata Pasqualini, PhD
Chief, Division of Cancer Biology, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
Renata Pasqualini, PhD, is a professor of medicine and the chief of the division of Cancer Biology at CINJ/Rutgers University. She also serves as chief scientific officer, PhageNova Bio and MBrace Therapeutics. Both companies are located at the T.O. Daniel Research Incubator and Collaboration Center, BMS/Celgene Summit West Campus, NJ.
Pasqualini received her PhD from the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and did postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and at the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, CA. In addition to her activities as the principal investigator and head of a large research laboratory, first at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and now at Rutgers University, she serves as a board member, reviewer, and chair in multiple review panels for the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, along with several other American, Asian, and European Foundations that support basic and clinical research.
She is a Referee for several top journals featuring cutting edge research and technology, and has published more than 200 papers and multiple patents.
Steven K. Libutti, MD, FACS
Director, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
Vice Chancellor for Cancer Programs, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Senior Vice President, Oncology Services, RWJBarnabas Health
Steven K. Libutti, MD, FACS was appointed director of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and vice chancellor for Cancer Programs, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences in January 2017. In addition to his leadership roles within Rutgers University, Libutti serves as senior vice president of oncology services for RWJBarnabas Health. He is also a professor of surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and an Affiliated Distinguished Professor in Genetics, School of Arts and Sciences.
After graduating magna cum laude from Harvard College, Libutti received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. He remained at Presbyterian Hospital in New York where he completed his residency in surgery, followed by a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in surgical oncology and endocrine surgery. He continued at the NCI where he became a tenured senior investigator and chief of the tumor angiogenesis section in the surgery branch.
Libutti is an internationally known expert in endocrine surgery and the management of neuroendocrine tumors and past president of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons. His clinical practice focuses on gastrointestinal malignancies including cancers of the liver and pancreas. The recipient of funding from the NCI for the past 20 years, Libutti is also a researcher whose work focuses on developing novel cancer therapies through an understanding of the tumor microenvironment as well as on a better understanding of the tumor suppressor genes MEN1 and FILIP1L. He has published over 300 peer reviewed journal articles, is Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the Springer-Nature Journal Cancer Gene Therapy and holds 11 U.S. patents.
Executive Committee
Michael E. Zwick, PhD (Chair)
Senior Vice President for Research
Michael E. Zwick was named senior vice president for research effective September 2021. In his role, Zwick will guide an expanding university research enterprise that continues to exceed that of all other New Jersey institutions of higher education combined. Prior to joining Rutgers, Zwick served as associate vice president for research of the Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University and the associate dean of research and professor of human genetics and pediatrics in the Emory University School of Medicine. He spent over 16 years at the Atlanta-based research institution, beginning as an assistant professor in 2005.
Zwick received a bachelor of science degree from Cornell University in biological sciences in 1989 and earned his Ph.D. in population biology at the University of California at Davis in 1998. Prior to enrolling at UC Davis, he served as a Navy surface warfare officer and was on active duty during Operation Desert Storm before being recalled to active duty for the Iraq War. Zwick conducted his postdoctoral work at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and continued to serve in the Navy Reserve through 2017, retiring with over 25 years of service.
Trained as an experimental population geneticist in both the Drosophila (fruit flies) and human systems, Zwick's research uses principles of genetics and bioinformatics to discover the causes of rare and common disorders. He has had continuous NIH funding since 2005, and through his research he has pursued diverse areas of human disease that include autism, dystonia, congenital heart defects, early-onset inflammatory bowel disease, biliary atresia and schizophrenia.
Brian Strom, MD, MPH
Chancellor, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Dr. Brian Strom is the inaugural chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences and the executive vice president for Health Affairs at Rutgers University. During his five years at Rutgers, Strom has spearheaded the creation of an interprofessional faculty practice group, the Rutgers Health Group; established a formal partnership with RWJBarnabas Health, to create the New Jersey’s largest and most comprehensive academic health system; and led a major recruitment drive to bring the nation’s most talented biomedical researchers and clinicians to Rutgers.
Prior to joining Rutgers, Strom was the executive vice dean for Institutional Affairs, founding chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, founding director of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and founding director of the Graduate Program in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to writing more than 600 papers and 14 books, he has been principal investigator for more than 275 grants, including over $115 million in direct costs alone. Strom has been the recipient of multiple awards in recognition of the contributions he has made in his career to clinical research.
Strom earned a BS in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University, an MD degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and an MPH degree in Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley.
Christopher J. Molloy, PhD
Chancellor Emeritus, Rutgers–New Brunswick
Christopher J. Molloy, PhD served as interim chancellor of Rutgers University–New Brunswick from July 2018 to February 2019, and as chancellor from 2019 to June 2021. Now Chancellor-Emeritus, Dr. Molloy holds a faculty position as Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.
He has played a pivotal role at Rutgers again and again, including his exceptional management of the largest single merger in American higher education history when he led the integration of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey into Rutgers.
Dr. Molloy previously served as Rutgers University’s senior vice president for research and economic development since December 2013. In 2011, he was appointed Rutgers interim provost for biomedical and health sciences and successfully managed the complex integration of Rutgers University and most of the former University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He has also served as the interim chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences and dean of the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.
Molloy received his BS degree in pharmacy from Rutgers University and his PhD from the joint Rutgers-UMDNJ Graduate Program in Toxicology. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Prior to joining Rutgers, Molloy held senior research and management positions at Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development L.L.C., 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals Inc., and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute.
Steering Committee
Reynold Panettieri, Jr., MD
Steven K. Libutti, MD, FACS
Renata Pasqualini, PhD
Prabhas V. Moghe, PhD
Yair Harel, MBA
Sangya Varma, MSc, PhD