Michael A. Frohman, MD, PhD
MSTP Program Director
Email: michael.frohman@stonybrook.edu
Distinguished Professor Michael Frohman has directed the MSTP for the past 17+ years. Dr. Frohman graduated from the U. Pennsylvania MSTP in 1985 with an MD and a PhD in Immunology, was a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF, and joined the Pharmacology Dept. at SBU in 1992. His research interests center on signal transduction; disease models include diabetes, thrombosis, fertility, cancer and immune responses. Dr. Frohman’s research group has authored or co-authored more than 180 papers, chapters, and reviews, including recent ones in Nature Cell Biology, Molecular Cell, Developmental Cell, Science Signaling, and Science. Dr. Frohman has trained more than 50 undergraduate students, graduate students and fellows; 6 undergraduates, 2 graduate students and a postdoctoral fellow and a research assistant professor are in training at present in his lab, in addition to a technician. Dr. Frohman is also the Chair of Pharmacology.
Danielle Mauro-Hernandez
MSTP Administrator
Email: danielle.mauro-hernandez@stonybrook.edu
Danielle Mauro-Hernandez (BS, St. John’s University) joined the Medical Scientist Training Program in 2023. She comes with 19+ year’s healthcare administration experience. Responsibilities of the administration office include the entirety of the admissions process, facilitating and tracking student academic progression, and coordinating program activities such as new student orientation, the biweekly student seminar series, and the annual graduation dinner, research day, and retreat. Danielle also serves as the liaison with other MST Programs nationally.
Cinthia Alvarez-Buonaiuto
MSTP Financial Administrator
Email: cinthia.alvarez-buonaiuto@stonybrook.edu
Cinthia Alvarez-Buonaiuto has been with the Department of Pharmacology since 2012. As a staff assistant to the Director of the Laboratory of Chemical Biology (LCB), she is the primary liaison for human resources, payroll, budget, ordering, invited speaker reimbursement, and general office issues. Responsibilities include fund management for all research grants and Stony Brook Foundation accounts, including detailed record-keeping of expenditures. Her role in the MSTP is to handle financial aspects such as detailed record-keeping, processing tuition waiver requisitions, initiating fellowship forms, enrolling students in health care, paying fees, and managing reimbursements.
Helen Hsieh, MD, PhD
MSTP Associate Director
Email: Helen.Hsieh@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Assistant Professor Helen Hsieh studies how general anesthetics affect synaptic function, plasticity and develop¬ment in immature neurons. She graduated from the Stony Brook MSTP in 2008 with a PhD in Neuro¬science, showing that amyloid, a protein associated with Alzheimer’s Disease, causes synaptic depression through AP-2 mediated endocytosis of AMPA-receptors. For the MSTP, Dr. Hsieh participates in the interview, selection and recruitment of new students to the program. She is also involved in mentoring MSTP students and provides the opportunity for PhD students to participate in clinical medicine during their research years. A major goal for her involvement with the program has been to assist in facilitating the experiences of female MSTP students and she has been an active participant in the development of the program’s efforts in this direction.
Carine Maurer, MD, PhD
MSTP Associate Director
Email: Carine.Maurer@stonybrookmedicine.edu
Assistant Professor Carine Maurer focuses on the pathophysiology and management of motor control disorders. She is a graduate of the Tri-Institutional MSTP, having earned her PhD in developmental genetics at Rockefeller University. She completed neurology residency at UCLA and a clinical and research fellowship in movement disorders at NIH. Current research includes biomarker development and therapies for parkinsonian disorders, in addition to maintaining a movement disorders clinic. Dr. Maurer provides one-on-one mentoring to prospective and current MSTP students on a variety of topics, including the transition from MSTP to residency. She has also lectured to MSTP students on topics including the trajectory of a physician-scientist and integrating clinical and research interests.
Paul A. Fisher, MD, PhD
MSTP Associate Director
Email: paul.fisher@stonybrook.edu
Professor Paul Fisher graduated from the Stanford MSTP in 1980 (PhD, Biophysics), was a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University and joined the Pharmacology Department at SBU in 1983. He became an MSTP Associate Director and was then Director from 1988-2003. His research interests centered on DNA replication and repair.
Maurizio del Poeta, MD
MSTP Associate Director
Email: maurizio.delpoeta@stonybrook.edu
Professor del Poeta received his MD in 1992 at the University of Ancona in Italy. He joined SBU as a Professor in 2010. With the increasing number of immunodeficient individuals and their increase in lifespan due to advances in medicine, there has been a concomitant rise in the number of cases of life-threatening fungal infections. Current antifungal treatments are often inadequate due a tardy diagnosis, collateral effects, and drug resistance. Dr. Del Poeta’s research team is attempting to identify new markers for early diagnosis and specific microbial enzymes/molecules essential for causing infection to develop new antifungal targets.
Mailing Address:
Medical Scientist (M.D./Ph.D.) Training Program
Basic Science Tower, Floor T-8, Room 140
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY 11794-8651
Office Phone: (631) 444-3051
Office Fax: (631) 444-9749
