The internship program provides trainees access to world-class biomedical research facilities and scientific programs of the three participating institutions. Animal resource programs across these institutions maintain and use a variety of species including mice, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, amphibia, livestock, dogs, cats, and non-human primates. The combined Tri-Institutional average daily animal census exceeds 300,000 animals, and more than 250 professional and technical personnel staff the animal resource programs. Animals are housed in ten distinct animal facilities on the Tri-Institutional campus. Specialized facilities include BSL-2 and BSL-3 animal facilities and laboratories; a multidisciplinary laboratory of comparative pathology and a genetically engineered animal phenotyping service; rodent barrier facilities; gene-targeted mutant mouse core laboratories; surgical facilities; and small and large animal multimodality imaging centers. Additionally, trainees may be exposed to the operation of several off-site animal research laboratories and a field research center.

The faculty of the Tri-Institutional Training Program in Laboratory Animal Medicine and Science is composed of laboratory animal specialists, comparative pathologists, research scientists and regulatory specialists. Currently, seven of the faculty are board certified by the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine and three are board certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathology or the European College of Veterinary Pathology.

Each postdoctoral fellow is assigned to a member of the program faculty who will serve as a mentor. Fellows meet with their mentors monthly to discuss their progress. Each clinical rotation is supervised by a faculty member or a senior management staff member to ensure that fellows meet the established goals for the rotation.

Christopher Cheleuitte-Nieves, PhD, DVM

Dr. Cheleuitte is a Clinical Veterinarian in the Research Animal Resource Center, which serves both Memorial Sloan Kettering and Weill Cornell Medicine. He holds a faculty appointment as an Assistant Laboratory Member in the Sloan Kettering Institute’s Cancer Biology and Genetics Program. Dr. Cheleuitte obtained his B.S. in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico – Río Piedras and then worked for the university as Laboratory Manager for the Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation. He subsequently obtained his doctorate in Animal Behavior and Ecology from Texas A&M University, followed by his veterinary medical degree from Cornell University. Dr. Cheleuitte completed postdoctoral training in Comparative Medicine at the Tri-Institutional Postdoctoral Training Program in Laboratory Animal Medicine and Science (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medicine, and The Rockefeller University) in ‘18 and he is a diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine. During his fellowship, he conducted comparative genomic research on the opportunistic pathogen Corynebacterium bovis and evaluated the potential use of lysins and bacteriocins as a novel treatment method for C. bovis skin infections in mice and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in nonhuman primates.   He is particularly interested in animal enrichment, infectious diseases, outreach, and teaching. He enjoys the challenges of working with a variety of species and assuming a diversity of responsibilities (i.e., clinical, research, training, and regulatory).

Leslie Lynn Diaz, DVM, MPH

Dr. Diaz is a Research Associate and the Associate Director of the Rockefeller University’s Comparative Bioscience Center. She is a graduate of Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and has a master’s degree in public health from the University of Minnesota. She completed her postgraduate training in laboratory animal medicine at the Tri-Institutional Training Program in Laboratory Animal Medicine and Science, a partnership between Memorial Sloan Kettering, Weill Cornell Medicine, and the Rockefeller University. She became a diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine in July 2015. Dr. Diaz has experience with a wide range of animal species, including rodents, aquatics, reptiles, primates, and farm animals. She enjoys teaching, and her special interests include anesthesiology, aquatics, and high-level biocontainment.

Catalina Echeverri, DVM

Dr. Echeverri is a Clinical Veterinarian and the Assistant Director of The Rockefeller University’s Comparative Bioscience Center. She received her veterinary degree from Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine spending her clinical (4th) year at University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine. She completed postdoctoral training in Laboratory Animal Medicine at Columbia University. Dr. Echeverri has experience with a wide range of animal species, including rodents, aquatics, reptiles, primates and farm animals. She enjoys teaching and her interests include analgesia and pain management as well as anesthesiology.

Michelle Eckstein, B.S., LVT, LATg, CMAR

Ms. Eckstein is the Senior Education and Quality Assurance Administrator for the Center of Comparative Medicine and Pathology’s (CCMP) Research Animal Resource Center, which serves Weill Cornell Medicine, the Hospital for Special Surgery and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.  Ms. Eckstein obtained her B.S. in Animal and Poultry Sciences from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  Prior to joining the Center of Comparative Medicine and Pathology, she worked with various small and large animal models at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 11 years.  At the NIH, she provided research support to multiple labs studying viral pathogenesis and pre-clinical vaccine development for a variety of infectious agents including herpesviruses, hepatitis viruses and respiratory pathogens.  She has experience in regulatory oversight, occupational health administration, and non-human primate facility management.  Ms. Eckstein enjoys finding creative ways to solve problems and identify areas for improvement.

Kvin Lertpiriyapong, PhD, DVM

Dr. Lertpiriyapong is a Senior Clinical Veterinarian in the Research Animal Resource Center, which serves both Memorial Sloan Kettering and Weill Cornell Medicine. He holds a faculty appointment as an Assistant Laboratory Member in the Sloan Kettering Institute’s Cancer Biology and Genetics Program. Dr. Lertpiriyapong received his PhD in Plant Biology from University of California, Berkeley, in 2005 and a DVM from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, in 2010. He completed his postdoctoral training in comparative medicine at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received board certification from the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine in 2015. Prior to joining MSK, he served as an assistant professor of Comparative Medicine at the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University. Dr. Lertpiriyapong has a diverse background in laboratory animal medicine and science and has experience working with a wide variety of laboratory animal species. He enjoys teaching and has diverse research interests including cancer biology and therapy, microbial pathogenesis, and inflammatory syndromes, such as inflammatory bowel diseases.

Christine Lieggi, DVM

Dr. Lieggi is the Associate Director and Head of Veterinary Services in the Research Animal Resource Center, which serves both Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Lieggi received her veterinary degree from Michigan State University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in laboratory animal medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has been a diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine since 2005. Dr. Lieggi has experience with a wide range of animal species utilized in the biomedical research setting, including rodents, fish, primates, canines, and farm animals. She enjoys teaching, and her special interests include the management of pain and distress in the research setting and biosecurity and standardization of the zebrafish research model.

Neil S. Lipman, VMD

Dr. Lipman is the Executive Director of the Center of Comparative Medicine and Pathology, which serves Memorial Sloan Kettering, Weill Cornell Medicine, and the Hospital for Special Surgery, and serves as Director of the Tri-Institutional Training Program in Laboratory Animal Medicine and Science. Dr. Lipman holds faculty appointments as professor of Veterinary Medicine in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Weill Cornell and as a laboratory member in the Cancer Biology ad Genetics Program of the Sloan Kettering Institute. He received his veterinary degree from the University of Pennsylvania and training in comparative medicine from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Lipman has been a diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine since 1988. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Lipman has also held various animal resource program service and academic appointments at the University of Chicago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Brown University. His research and subspecialty interests include animal facility design and management, endocrinological disorders and infectious diseases of laboratory animals, rodent caging systems, and the in vitro production of monoclonal antibodies.

Heather R. Martin, DVM

Dr. Martin is a Senior Clinical Veterinarian in the Research Animal Resource Center, which serves both Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Martin graduated from Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 2006, going on to complete her postdoctoral training  at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her board certification from the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM) in 2012. Dr. Martin has a diverse background in laboratory animal medicine and science, with experience in both academia and industry. Her background and continued interests include cancer therapeutics, gastrointestinal bacterial diseases, toxicology, and preclinical research.

Adam Michel, MVSc, DVM, Dr.med.vet.

Dr. Michel is a Comparative Pathologist for the Laboratory of Comparative Pathology (LCP) and the Genetically Engineered Mouse Phenotyping Service. He holds a concurrent faculty appointment as Senior Research Associate at Rockefeller University. Dr. Michel received his veterinary degree from the University of Bern, Switzerland. He then completed a doctoral dissertation on vector-borne infectious disease pathology and epidemiology. After graduating, Dr. Michel worked as a field veterinarian in the Democratic Republic of Congo investigating novel viral pathogens of non-human primates and bats. In 2017, he completed an anatomic pathology residency at the University of California, Davis, and received board certification from the American College of Veterinary Pathology the same year. Adam joined the LCP as a Comparative Pathology Fellow in 2017. His professional interests include hematopoietic and infectious disease pathology, immunotherapy, diagnostic immunohistochemistry and quantitative image analysis. He also enjoys teaching pathology to veterinary students and residents.

Sébastien Monette, DMV, MVSc

Dr. Monette is a Comparative Pathologist for the Laboratory of Comparative Pathology and the Genetically Engineered Mouse Phenotyping Service. He holds faculty appointments as an Assistant Laboratory Member in the Sloan Kettering Institute’s Cancer Biology and Genetics Program, and as an assistant professor of Comparative Pathology at the Weill Cornell Medicine. He received his veterinary degree from the Université de Montréal and completed a residency program and master’s degree in veterinary anatomic pathology at the University of Saskatchewan. He has been a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists since 2003. Prior to arriving at the Laboratory of Comparative Pathology, Dr. Monette acquired extensive experience in diagnostic surgical pathology, with an emphasis on oncologic and ophthalmic pathology, during his five years as a staff pathologist at the Animal Medical Center. His research interests have included the development and application of diagnostic and prognostic methods for animal tumors, the phenotypic characterization of new genetically engineered animal models, and the radiologic-pathologic correlation of novel minimally invasive tumor ablation modalities.

Andrew Nicholson, DVM, PhD

Dr. Nicholson is the Director of Animal Subjects Research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Director of Animal Welfare Assurance at Weill Cornell Medicine. He serves as the Chairman of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Weill Cornell (IACUC) and as the Vice-Chairman of the IACUC at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Dr. Nicholson holds faculty appointments as an associate research professor of comparative pathology at Weill Cornell and as an Associate Laboratory Member in the Immunology Program of the Sloan Kettering Institute. He received his veterinary degree from Michigan State University, training in veterinary pathology from the University of Florida, and his PhD degree from the Graduate School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University. For the past 20 years, Dr. Nicholson has studied cardiovascular disease and macrophage scavenger receptors using murine models of atherosclerosis with support from the National Institutes of Health.

Alessandra Piersigilli DVM, PhD, Dipl. ECVP

Dr. Piersigilli is a Comparative Pathologist in the Laboratory of Comparative Pathology (LCP) and the Genetically Engineered Mouse Phenotyping Service and an assistant professor of veterinary medicine in pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Piersigilli received her masters degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Camerino in Italy and her PhD degree from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, also in Italy, specializing in experimental pathology and validation of animal models for evaluating medical devices. Following her doctorate, she worked as a toxicologic pathologist in the pharmaceutical industry and in contract research organizations. She subsequently completed a residency in anatomic pathology at the University of Bern in Switzerland, and became a diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Pathologists in 2013.  Prior to joining the LCP, she served as Comparative Pathologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, also in Switzerland, and was a lecturer at the University of Bern. In 2015, she co-founded the first Swiss platform of comparative pathology. Her professional interests include cancer biology and validation of animal models for studying human disease.

Rodolfo J. Ricart Arbona, MLAS, DVM

Dr. Ricart serves as a Senior Clinical Veterinarian in the Research Animal Resource Center, which serves both Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He received his master’s degree in laboratory animal science from Hahnemann University School of Medicine. He obtained his veterinary degree at The Ohio State University. After graduating from veterinary school he completed a small animal medicine and surgery internship at Oradell Animal Hospital. Dr. Ricart completed a postdoctoral fellowship in laboratory animal medicine and science at the Tri-Institutional Training Program in 2009. He received board certification in laboratory animal medicine in 2010 while working at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. His interests include animal models in neuroscience, colony health management, and large animal anesthesia.

Ravi Tolwani, DVM, PhD

Dr. Tolwani is Associate Vice President and Director of the Comparative Bioscience Center at The Rockefeller University. Dr. Tolwani received his DVM degree from Auburn University, his PhD degree in molecular and cellular pathology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and his MS degree in management from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He has been a diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine since 1995. Prior to arriving at Rockefeller, Dr. Tolwani was an associate professor and attending veterinarian at Stanford. His research has focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of plasticity of the nervous system using mouse models of neurological disease.

Juliette Wipf, MVSc, DVM, Dr.med.vet., PhD, FVH

Dr. Wipf serves as the Manager of the Laboratory of Comparative Pathology. She completed her DVM degree and PhD in Cellular and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Bern, Switzerland. In 2016, she received her Certificate of Qualification in Bacteriology from the Swiss Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. In the same year, she was awarded a competitive fellowship by the Swiss National Science Foundation, which gave her the opportunity to investigate bacterial viruses in canine pathogens at The Rockefeller University. Prior to joining the LCP, she served as Deputy Director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Division of the Center for Laboratory Medicine, Switzerland, which specializes in bacteriology, gross pathology, food hygiene, parasitology, virology, and bee health. Her research background and main interests are bacteriology, antimicrobial resistance, epidemiology, and laboratory methodologies.

Felix R. Wolf, Dr. med. vet, FVH, PhD

Dr. Wolf is Deputy Director of the Center of Comparative Medicine and Pathology, which serves both Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering. Dr. Wolf holds faculty appointments as an associate professor of veterinary medicine in microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell, as a Laboratory Member in the Immunology Program at the Sloan Kettering Institute, and as an associate professor in comparative medicine at Yale University. He received both his veterinary degree as well as his PhD degree from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and postdoctoral training at Yale. Dr. Wolf has been a diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine since 1998 and was a founding diplomate of the European College of Laboratory Animal Medicine. Dr. Wolf has 30 years of experience in laboratory animal medicine. His research and subspecialty interests include pathogenesis of rodent viruses, health monitoring, biocontainment, and biosecurity.