Daniel A. Weiser
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Childhood cancer research laboratory</strong></span></p>
<p>Our laboratory is focused on childhood cancer research with a goal of elucidating the underlying biology of the most aggressive malignancies. In such patients with typically incurable cancer, we are striving to identify new approaches to and types of treatment. We have multiple ongoing projects:</p>
<p><strong>+ Identification of biologic drivers of ultra-high-risk neuroblastoma</strong>. Neuroblastoma is one of the most common and deadly childhood cancers. Despite intensive research, there are limited therapeutic strategies for patients with <em>de novo </em>chemotherapy resistance that leads to particularly poor outcomes. We have been studying neuroblastoma since 2009 and are identifying additional biologic drivers of highly lethal tumors.</p>
<p>We compare tumor features from patients with early death from tumor progression compared to those with a maintained complete response. We assess unique histo-morphologic and proteomic features and computationally integrate these data with genomic and transcriptomic datasets to develop a combined predictor of primary refractory disease. Patients with this entity require non-standard and/or intensified treatment. Oncogenic drivers are being characterized in the lab which will facilitate strategies for novel pharmacologic intervention.</p>
<p><strong>+ Characterization of neuroblastoma development from neural crest cells</strong>. We are studying pathways and interactions that results in uncontrolled cell proliferation early in neuroblastoma development with an ultimate goal of identifying new targets and approaches for pharmacologic intervention.</p>
<p><strong>+ Evaluation of novel combinatorial targeted therapeutic approaches in neuroblastoma</strong>. With expected outcomes lagging behind those of more common childhood cancers, children with neuroblastoma require new approaches to treatment. Our lab works with multiple international clinical and research consortium groups to perform preclinical studies that substantiate human clinical trials. </p>
<p><strong>+ Detection of circulating tumor DNA in osteosarcoma</strong>. With no reliable non-invasive approach for disease monitoring during and after treatment, we are applying cutting edge next-generation sequencing approaches to identify solid tumors with a blood-based “liquid” biopsies. This will allow clinicians to assess tumor responsiveness to chemotherapy and predict likelihood of recurrence.</p>
<p><strong>+ Assessment of accelerated aging using miRNA-seq in survivors of childhood cancer</strong>. Chemotherapy has many untoward effects on healthy cells and leads to many signs of accelerated aging in children treated for cancer. Using a known microRNA “aging” signature discovered at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, we are studying what causes this phenotype in childhood cancer, with a goal of offering improved intervention to minimize long-term toxicity of treatment.</p>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Physician Summary</span></strong></p>
<p>Daniel A. Weiser, MD, is board-certified in pediatric hematology/oncology with clinical expertise in neuroblastoma and other tumors of the adrenal glands, kidneys, liver, and gonads. He is the medical director of the intra-abdominal solid tumor program at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and brings together a highly specialized multi-disciplinary care team to provide comprehensive treatment for diverse pediatric malignancies. In addition, Dr. Weiser directs a childhood cancer research laboratory that focuses on the identification of new targeted agents for cancer therapy, especially in the treatment of rare and aggressive malignancies such as neuroblastoma. His research goals are to understand the role of certain genes in the risk, development, and treatment of cancer. The approaches taken and agents studied hold promise for improving management of all patients with solid tumors.</p>
<p>Dr. Weiser participates in the efforts of a number of professional organizations including the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), Advances in Neuroblastoma Research Association (ANRA), National Pediatric Cancer Foundation (NPCF), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). He has received numerous awards including the Brigid Leventhal Special Merit Award from ASCO and the Conquer Cancer Foundation, and a prestigious K12 from the National Cancer Institute for the training of the next generation of physician-scientists in pediatric cancer. Dr. Weiser is actively involved in teaching and mentorship of trainees, and takes great pride in providing advanced and compassionate care to his patients and their families.</p>
<p><strong>Clinical Expertise</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Neuroblastoma (adrenal tumors)</li>
<li>Wilms tumor (renal tumors)</li>
<li>Hepatoblastoma (liver tumors)</li>
<li>Germ cell tumors (including testicular and ovarian tumors)</li>
<li>Thyroid and other rare tumors</li>
<li>Experimental therapeutics</li>
<li>Cancer genetics and biomarkers</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Board Certifications</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Pediatrics</li>
<li>Pediatric Hematology/Oncology</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Professional Education</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>M.D. – Stony Brook University, NY</li>
<li>Residency – Children’s Hospital of NY-Presbyterian, Columbia University, NY</li>
<li>Chief Residency – Children’s Hospital of NY-Presbyterian, Columbia University, NY</li>
<li>Fellowship – The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA</li>
</ul>
DR. Weiser's clinical focuses are neuroblastoma and adrenal tumors, Wilms tumor and other kidney (renal) tumors, hepatoblastoma, and other liver tumors, germ cell tumors (including testicular and ovarian tumors), Thyroid and other rare tumors, experimental therapeutics, and cancer genetics and biomarkers.
Dr. Weiser’s research goals are to understand the role of certain genes in the risk, development, and treatment of cancer. The approaches taken and agents studied hold promise in the treatment of all solid tumors. Dr. Weiser’s laboratory focuses on childhood cancer research with a goal of elucidating the underlying biology of the most aggressive malignancies. He has multiple ongoing projects, such as identification of biologic drivers of neuroblastoma at ultra-high risk for treatment failure, characterization of neuroblastoma development from neural crest cells, and evaluation of novel combinatorial targeted therapeutic approaches in neuroblastoma, among others.
<p>Daniel A. Weiser, MD, is a Medical Director of the Intra-abdominal Solid Tumor Program in the Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology department at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. He is also Associate Professor in the Pediatrics and Genetics departments at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His clinical focuses are neuroblastoma and adrenal tumors, Wilms tumor and other kidney (renal) tumors, hepatoblastoma and other liver tumors, germ cell tumors (including testicular and ovarian tumors), Thyroid and other rare tumors, experimental therapeutics, and cancer genetics and biomarkers. Dr. Weiser is actively involved in teaching and mentorship of trainees and takes great pride in his active participation in patient care.</p><p>Dr. Weiser received his Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology in 1995 at Haverford College, PA. In 2004, he received his Doctor of Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, NY. He is currently earning his Master of Science in Translational Research at the University of Pennsylvania. He began a residency in Pediatrics at the New York-Presbyterian, Columbia University in 2007. Dr. Weiser then completed a three-year fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. </p><p>Dr. Weiser’s research goals are to understand the role of certain genes in the risk, development, and treatment of cancer. The approaches taken and agents studied hold promise in the treatment of all solid tumors. Dr. Weiser’s laboratory focuses on childhood cancer research with a goal of elucidating the underlying biology of the most aggressive malignancies. He has multiple ongoing projects, such as identification of biologic drivers of neuroblastoma at ultra-high risk for treatment failure, characterization of neuroblastoma development from neural crest cells, and evaluation of novel combinatorial targeted therapeutic approaches in neuroblastoma, among others. His research has been published in many reviewed journals. </p><p>Dr. Weiser participates in the efforts of a number of professional organizations including the Children’s Oncology Group (COG), American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). He has received many awards including the Brigid Leventhal Special Merit Award through ASCO, and he has been awarded a prestigious K12 from the NCI for the training of the next generation of physician-scientists in pediatric cancer.</p><p>He is board certified in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and General Pediatrics.</p>
Jacqueline Weingarten-Arams
Nutrition
Pulmonary hypertension
Sepsis
<p>Jacqueline Weingarten-Arams, MD, is an attending physician and Professor, Pediatrics at Montefiore Einstein. Dr. Weingarten-Arams’ pediatric critical care expertise focuses on cardiac critical care, acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, nutrition in critical illness and energy expenditure, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (quality CPR) and extracorporeal life support (ECMO).</p><p>After obtaining her Bachelor of Science in nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University in 1982, Dr. Weingarten-Arams earned her Doctor of Medicine at the same institution in 1986. She then completed her pediatric residency at Columbia University in 1990, where she was Chief Resident in her final year. Following this, Dr. Weingarten-Arams completed a fellowship in pediatric critical care medicine at New York Hospital Cornell University Medical College in 1996.</p><p>Dr. Weingarten-Arams research focus includes the use of deliberate simulated practice in improving outcomes in pediatric critical illness, pediatric resuscitation and pediatric airway management. Her other projects involve chronic critical illness, bioethics in pediatric critical care and oxidative injury in respiratory failure. She has been principal investigator and co-investigator on several research projects, and her work has been shared through numerous peer-reviewed publications and invited presentations.</p><p>Dr. Weingarten-Arams is a Diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Pediatrics. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Chest Physicians. She is also a member of several professional organizations, including the American Medical Association, the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society and the Society of Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Weingarten-Arams has been named in Castle Connolly’s “Top Doctors: New York Metro Area” for multiple years. In 2006, she was inducted into the Leo M. Davidoff Society and in 2019, Dr. Weingarten-Arams won the William Obrinsky Award for Excellence in Medical Student Education.</p>
Luke R. Sponholz
Sumeet Singh-Tan
Matthew D. Shaines
<p>Dr. Matthew Shaines completed a medical degree at SUNY Downstate Medical Center - Brooklyn and an internal medicine residency at Montefiore/Einstein. He was then recruited to the Einstein faculty at Montefiore and became one of the initial group of hospitalists who founded the Teaching Hospitalist Program at Montefiore in 2004.</p>
<p>Dr. Shaines has served as Assistant Director of the Hospitalist Service, managing the Moses Teaching Hospitalist Program; founding Director of the Medicine Consult Service, creating a dedicated medicine consult rotation for the housestaff, with a mission of high quality service and education on topics pertaining to consultative and perioperative medicine; Associate Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program, serving as a liaison between the program and the Division of Hospital Medicine. In 2018 he was appointed as the Associate Chief of Hospital Medicine for Education.</p>
<p>His teaching and academic interests are in clinical reasoning, quality improvement and faculty development. He serves as the lead vignette reviewer for Montefiore’s annual Division of General Internal Medicine/Division of Hospital Medicine SGIM/SHM scholarly review process, which helps to review and critique abstracts, posters and oral presentations prior to submission.</p>
Theresa M. Serra
Pediatric Medicine
<p class="MsoNormal">Theresa Serra, MD, joined the CHAM hospitalist division in 2014 after working as a pediatric hospitalist at New York Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital. Her interests include clinical research and medical education. She has conducted an IRB approved retrospective chart review examining readmission rates in pediatric patients diagnosed with osteomyelitis. Dr. Serra is currently developing a medical Spanish curriculum for faculty members in order to improve communication between patients, families and providers. Along with Courtney McNamara, MD, Dr. Serra is a co-leader of a multidisciplinary committee dedicated to standardizing and improving quality of care for patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of failure to thrive. Dr. Serra is also working on an initiative to identify vaccine delinquency in the inpatient setting through the use of SMART reports.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Dr. Serra is also collaborating with Lindsey Douglas, MD, MSCR, in an IRB approved quality improvement (QI) project to improve transition-of-care communication between hospitalists and primary care providers and to facilitate the establishment of medical homes. Dr. Serra is also a member of a subcommittee that leads monthly journal clubs/case conferences for pediatric hospitalists.</p>
Moyses Niremberg
Renee Monderer
<p>Neurology, fellowship in sleep and restless leg syndrome.</p>
Renee Monderer, MD, is Chief of Neurology at the Weiler Division of Montefiore and Assistant Clinical Professor at our Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her clinical specialty is in treating sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, parasomnias, and sleep-related movement disorders.
For her research, Dr. Monderer is involved in multiple clinical studies investigating new medications for the treatment of narcolepsy and other hypersomnia's. Her work has been shared through peer-reviewed journals, abstracts, and book chapters
<p>Renee Monderer, MD, is Chief of Neurology at the Weiler Division of Montefiore and Assistant Clinical Professor at our Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Her clinical specialty is in treating sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, parasomnias and sleep related movements disorders.</p><p>In 1998, Dr. Monderer received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Yeshiva University. She then attended Albert Einstein College of Medicine, earning her Doctor of Medicine in 2002. She attended Staten Island University Hospital at the start of her postdoctoral training, completing a year-long internship in general medicine in 2003. Dr. Monderer then came to Montefiore Medical Center to complete a three-year residency in neurology in 2006, followed by a year-long sleep medicine fellowship in 2007.</p><p>For her research, Dr. Monderer is involved in multiple clinical studies investigating new medications for the treatment of narcolepsy and other hypersomnias. Her work has been shared through peer-reviewed journals, abstracts and book chapters.</p><p>Dr. Monderer is a member of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.</p>
Michael Miksa
Pediatric critical care
<p>Physician-Scientist, Michael Miksa, MD, PhD received his medical degree from the Free University of Berlin in Germany and his academic degree magna cum laude from The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. He completed his pediatric residency training at State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate, a critical care fellowship at Yale and had worked in the pediatric emergency department for the Boston Children’s Hospital.</p><p>Dr. Miksa presented his work at several meetings both nationally and abroad and is Site Investigator for NEAR4KIDS, a multi-center quality improvement study to limit adverse events during intubations.</p>