Christopher James Panebianco

About Me
Christopher James Panebianco
Meet 2022 Award Recipient

Christopher James Panebianco

Chris came to the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 2016 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Chemical Engineering. Upon earning his degree, Chris completed a 1-year Postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health. In 2017, Chris joined the Ph.D. Program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) in the Development, Regeneration and Stem Cells Multidisciplinary Training Area. Chris’ research focuses on developing novel tissue engineering strategies for repairing injured intervertebral discs.

Throughout his Ph.D. training, Chris made consistent efforts to teach and mentor. As a teacher, Chris was a Teaching Assistant for an ISMMS Graduate Biostatistics Course, a Teaching Assistant for a Cooper Union Undergraduate Biomaterials Course, and a Saturday Session Teacher for the Young Eisner Scholars Program, which empowers teenagers from underserved communities. As a mentor, Chris served as a Research Mentor for undergraduate and medical students, a Peer Mentor to 1st year PhD students, and an Engineering Alumni Mentor to Cooper Union undergraduates. In addition to these service roles, Chris had several leadership roles, including Director of the PhD Peer Mentorship Program, Vice President and PhD Representative of Student Council, and Social Chair for Out in STEM (oSTEM).

Chris is truly humbled to be receiving The Arthur Cederbaum Mentoring by a Graduate Student Award. His achievements were only made possible by the investment of numerous mentors throughout my training, so he is honored to pay it forward to the next generation of incredible scientists. He’d like to thank Dr. Anand Swaroop (his postbaccalaureate research advisor), Dr. Jennifer Weiser (his engineering education mentor), and Dr. James Iatridis (his PhD research advisor), for training him scientifically and showing him the value of compassionate mentorship. Next, he’d like to thank Dr. Deepak Kaji, for being an amazing peer mentor and friend throughout his PhD training. Chris would also like to thank his friends and family for their continuous love and support throughout his PhD training. Lastly, he would like to thank his mentees for nominating him for this award and ISMMS for presenting him with this incredible honor!

Chris will graduate with his Ph.D. and pursue a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship studying regenerative medicine. To fund his future research endeavors, Chris received an Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) Fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. This fellowship combines a traditional mentored postdoctoral research experience with teaching at minority serving institutions.

Christopher James Panebianco is receiving:

The Arthur Cederbaum Mentoring by a Graduate Student Award