Ethel Cesarman

Ethel Cesarman is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a leading expert in viral oncogenesis. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) in lymphomas and Kaposi sarcoma, particularly in immunodeficient populations such as HIV patients and transplant recipients.

• Education: MD from Mexico City (specific institution unspecified), PhD from New York University
• Clinical Training: Anatomic Pathology Residency and Hematopathology Fellowship at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons

Research Interests:

• KSHV and EBV in lymphomagenesis
• Epigenetic and genomic alterations in immunodeficiency-associated cancers
• Development of point-of-care diagnostics for low-resource settings
• Mouse models of viral malignancies
• Therapeutic targeting of viral oncoproteins

Article Trends: Her recent work spans Kaposi sarcoma genomics, AI-based diagnostics, automated detection of viral infections, and epigenetic mechanisms in lymphomas. Collaborations include engineers, epidemiologists, and clinicians in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Scientific Awards:

• Irma T Hirschl/Monique Weill-Caulier Career Scientist Award (2001)
• Society for Clinical Investigation (2001)
• Starr Cancer Consortium Awards (2007, 2015)
• Association of American Physicians (2015)
• David E. Hajjar Award (2019)

Mentorship & Grants: She has mentored diverse trainees from high school to postdoctoral levels and leads major NIH/NCI-funded studies on KSHV/EBV interactions, epigenetic therapies, and low-resource diagnostics.

Lab Team: Includes postdocs Maria Aguilar Hernandez and Anuj Ahuja, with collaborations across the Tri-Institutional Therapeutics Discovery Institute and AIDS Malignancy Consortium.