Meet the team

Martin Sadowski, MD, PhD
Principal Investigator

  • Dr. Martin Sadowski is a Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology. He also holds the position title of Zachary and Elizabeth M. Fisher Professor of Neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s Disease. He received his MD/PhD degree from the Medical University of Gdansk in Gdansk, Poland. His career-long focus on mechanisms of neurodegeneration and therapeutic approaches for Alzheimer's Disease has led to funding support from the National Institute on Aging, the American Federation for Aging Research, Alzheimer’s Association, and private philanthropy.

Joanna Pankiewicz, MD, PhD
Co-Investigator

  • Dr. Joanna Pankiewicz is an Associate Professor of Neurology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Pharmacology. She is a physician scientist with an extensive training background in neurology and biochemistry. After receiving her MD and PhD from Jagiellonian University in Crakow, Poland, she has been working at NYU Langone on therapeutic approaches to Alzheimer’s Disease and Prionoses since 2003. She develops and characterizes novel transgenic mouse models and cell culture models for these diseases to study how β-amyloid, hyperphosphorylated tau, and pathological conformers of prion protein accumulate in the brain and lead to neuronal, microglial, and astrocytic dysfunction.

Anita Lizinczyk, MS
Associate Research Scientist

  • Anita studied at the University of Lodz in Poland to get her bachelor’s degree in medical microbiology and two master’s degrees in microbiology & immunology and medical biotechnology. Since then, she began working in the Sadowski Lab in 2018 to get her PhD. Her research is focused on investigating mechanisms of neurodegeneration through mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease and prion disease.

Ewelina Lechowicz, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Ewelina studied at the University of Lodz in Poland for her bachelor’s in medical microbiology and for two master’s degrees in microbiology and biotechnology. She began pursuing her PhD in 2018 in the Institute for Medical Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, and finished her PhD at the University of Lodz. She is currently researching the effects of apolipoprotein participles harvested from astrocytes of each APOE allele on neuronal morphology in vitro to later study the effect of APOE isoforms on mitovesicle production.

Liam Cullina
Research Associate

  • Liam started at the Sadowski Lab after he graduated with a bachelor’s in neurobiology from the University of Pennsylvania in the spring of 2023. Now, he focuses on the impact of the APOE allele on the process of aging. He plans on continuing his education in medical school.

Hanne Keppens, MS
Pre-doctoral fellow

  • Hanne joined the Sadowski Lab in 2023 after getting both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Sciences at the KU Leuven in Belgium. There she completed her master’s thesis on the role of ZMYND10 in primary ciliary dyskinesia at the REGA institute for medical research at the immunology labs. Her work in the Sadowski Lab is focused on unraveling the role of the function of peroxiredoxin 6 (PRDX6) and how it is regulated by or regulates astrocytes and microglia in Alzheimer’s disease. Overall, she hopes to continue getting a better understanding of certain diseases to contribute to their treatments or cures.

Katie Parra, PhD
Program Manager

  • Katie is the newest addition to the Sadowski Lab and joined after finishing her PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience at University at Albany, where she studied changes to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis during the postpartum period. She previously received her bachelor’s in Psychology from University of Pennsylvania in 2014. Now, she’s excited to be providing administrative support to this incredible team of researchers committed to developing novel therapeutics for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Sadowski Lab Alumni

Jenny Rocio Diaz Rodriguez | Research Associate in the Sadowski Lab 2017 - 2022 | Currently, Jenny is a PhD student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Mitchell Marta Ariza | Research Associate in the Sadowski Lab 2017 - 2021 | Currently, Mitchell is a PhD student at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona/NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Leor Franco | Research Technician in the Sadowski Lab 2017 - 2021 | Currently, Leor is a medical student at the New York Institute of Technology, College of Osteopathic Medicine

Marisol Soula | MD/PhD rotation student in the Sadowski Lab 2018 | Currently, Marisol is an MD/PhD candidate at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Cassidy (Reich) Smith | Graduate Research Assistant in the Sadowski Lab 2014 - 2016 | Currently, Cassidy is a VP, Medical Director at Cadent

Sandrine Sanchez, PhD | Senior Research Scientist in the Sadowski Lab 2010 - 2013 | Currently, Sandrine is a Lab Director at Owkin in Paris, France

Maitea Guridi | Research Scientist in the Sadowski Lab 2009 - 2012 | Currently, Maitea is a Global Development Leader at Roche in Basel, Switzerland

Ayodeji Asuni, PhD | Research Assistant Professor in the Sadowski Lab 2009 - 2012 | Currently, Ayodeji is the Head of Department of Fluid Biomarkers and Occupancy at Lundbeck in Valby, Copenhagen

Magdalena Bednarek, PhD | PhD student in the Sadowski Lab 2008 - 2012 | Currently, Magda is a GDO Operations Manager - Associate Director of Clinical Data Management at Merck & Co. (MSD)

Arjel Bautista, PhD | Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Sadowski Lab 2010 - 2012 | Currently, Arjel is an Executive Director, Head of Performance and Outcomes at Bristol Myers Squibb

Malgorzata Duszczyk, PhD | Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Sadowski Lab 2009 - 2010 | Currently, Malgorzata is a Clinical Operations Manager, CRA team at Novo Nordisk in Warsaw, Poland

Roman Pulyk, MD | Postdoctoral Fellow in the Sadowski Lab 2006 - 2008 | Currently, Roman is an Attending Neurologist in the Department of Neurology of the Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland