Resident Scientists and Core Members

Arnold B. Rabson is Professor of Pediatrics, Pharmacology and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. After completing his MD at Brown University, Dr. Rabson moved to Harvard Medical School, where he pursued residency training in anatomic pathology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. He then moved to NIH where he studied the molecular biology and pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS and cancer. Dr. Rabson moved to Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 1990 as a Resident Member of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine.

Dr. Gaëtan Barbet is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Child Health Institute of NJ, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He received his Masters degree in Immunology for the Pasteur Institute and the University of Paris VII, Denis Diderot in 2005 and obtained his PhD in 2009 for his work on the ion channel TRPM4 on innate immune cells at the Bichat Medical School, University of Paris VII. Dr. Barbet joined the faculty of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in January 2021.

Dr. Moshmi Bhattacharya is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Prior to joining Rutgers University, she was an Associate Professor in the Departments of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Oncology, at the University of Western Ontario. She did her PhD in the Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics at McGill University. Her research interests include a better understanding of the molecular regulation of tumor metastasis and metabolism.

Dr. Lisa Denzin is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Child Health Institute of NJ, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She received a BS degree in Medical Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987 and a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Illinois-Urbana in 1992. Her research interests include the control of immunity and autoimmunity and also in the molecular control of hematopoiesis.

Bobby Brooke Herrera is an assistant professor of global health at Rutgers Global Health Institute.  He holds joint appointments in the Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine and Child Health Institute of NJ, both part of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Herrera received a PhD degree at Harvard University and performed postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School.  

Dr. Jimenez is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics & Family Medicine and Community Health. Dr. Jimenez's interests focus on making the health system more responsive to the needs of vulnerable populations. His research has focused on understanding the relationship between early adversity and child development, improving access to developmental services and therapies for young children, and promoting optimal child development in the medical home.

Dr. Lawrence Kleinman is a pioneer and national leader in children's health.  He received his MPH from UCLA, where he was a RWJ Foundation Clinical Scholar.  He joined Rutgers University in 2019 to serve as Vice Chair for Academic Development and to help to develop a new Division of Population Health, Quality, and Implementation Sciences (PopQuIS) within the Department of Pediatrics at Rutgers RWJ Medical School.

Dr. M. Chiara Manzini is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology. She was initially trained in Human Genetics at the University of Pavia in Italy and received her PhD in Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University. The main goal of Dr. Manzini’s research is to bridge the genetics and mechanisms of disease to identify genes that are essential for human cognition and to define the molecular mechanisms underlying neuromuscular and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr. Zhiping Pang, Professor of Neuroscience and Cell Biology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, is a neuroscientist with a broad background in neurobiology and stem cell biology. Both his graduate and postdoctoral trainings were under the supervision of Dr. Tom Südhof at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Stanford University, where he mainly focused on elucidating the molecular mechanism of calcium-triggered synaptic vesicle release.

Dr. Nancy E. Reichman is a health economist with a broad portfolio of research focusing on linkages between socioeconomic status and health, including studies of determinants of infant and child health, effects of child health on family resources, socioeconomic disadvantage and health accross the lifecourse, and health in an international comparative context.

Dr. Mark A. Rossi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. He received his BA in psychology from the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2009. He received his PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from the systems and integrative neuroscience program at Duke University in 2015. Dr. Rossi joined the faculty of CHINJ in July 2021.

Dr. Derek Sant’Angelo received his BS from the University of Michigan, and his PhD from Rutgers University. In 2015 he was appointed Associate Director for Basic Science of the Child Health Institute. Current interests include TCR mediated control of adipose resident iNKT cells and how alteration of PLZF expression impacts the onset of obesity and related metabolic disorders.

Dr. Max Tischfield is an assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences. He earned his BA degree from Rutgers College, was a member of the General Honors Program, and was a Henry Rutgers Thesis Scholar in the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience. 

Dr Yang received her PhD from University of Pittsburgh in 2010 and MD from Tongji Medical College in 2004. She completed postdoc training at University of Pennsylvania before joining Albany Medical College in 2016 and then CHINJ as in 2021. The goal of Dr. Yang’s lab is to understand the immune cell pathways and network in vital organs such as lung and brain at homeostasis and in inflammatory disorders, focusing on innate and innate-like lymphocytes.