Biography
Dr. Rafii is the Arthur B. Belfer Professor of Genetic Medicine, co-director of the Ansary Stem Cell Institute and Tri-SCI Stem Cell Center at Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Rafii, who is a board certified Hematologist-Oncologist, is engaged in patient care, and a physician scientist known an investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute engaged in basic and translational research. He has expertise in basic tumor biology, vascular and stem cell biology.
Dr. Rafii graduated from Cornell University in 1982, with a degree of Cum Laude in Chemistry and was awarded Phi Beta Kappa. He received his MD degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine with Honors and was elected to AOA society in 1986. Subsequently, in 1989, he completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine followed by a fellowship in Hematology-Oncology at Weill-Cornell in 1992. By 1996, he completed his post-doctoral training in vascular and hematopoietic stem cell biology under supervision of Dr. Ralph Nachman at Weill-Cornell. He became a full professor in Genetic Medicine in 2002, at which time he was appointed to be the co-director of the Ansary Stem Cell Center.
Dr. Rafii is funded by multiple R01 grants from the NIH. He is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (Young Turks), an American Cancer Society Scholar, and a Translational Researcher of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He has organized Keystone conferences, and actively participates in stem cell meetings both in the U.S.A., and internationally. He has trained many post-doctoral graduate students, and others, resulting in being appointed to independent tenure track positions in the U.S.A., Europe, and Asia. He is a consulting editor for the Journal of Clinical Investigation and is a member of Editorial Board of Stem Cells Journal and Journal of Cardiovascular Regeneration.
Dr. Rafii introduced the concept that both tumors and regenerating organs rely on stem cells from the bone marrow to help build new blood vessels. By deciphering the molecular pathways that orchestrate recruitment, differentiation, and patterning of these vessels, he hopes to exploit those pathways for multiple clinical applications. He is principal inventor in several patents on therapeutic use of vascular stem cells for organ regeneration. Many of his basic science findings have endured the scrutiny of scientific enquiry and have been translated into the clinical arena.
