PhD
Associate Professor, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering
UNC-Chapel Hill
Molecular Therapeutics
Area of Interest
Dr. Rizvi’s expertise is in imaging and therapeutic applications of light, bioengineered 3D models and animal models for cancer, and targeted drug delivery for inhibition of molecular survival pathways in tumors. His peer-reviewed publications and book chapters focus on PDT, biomedical optics and molecular targeting in cancer. He is a member of the Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility at UNC, the Molecular Therapeutics Program in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Curriculum in Toxicology and Environmental Medicine at UNC, as well as the Functional Tissue Engineering Program in the Comparative Medicine Institute at NC State. Dr. Rizvi moved to Chapel Hill from Boston, where he was an Assistant Professor of Dermatology (tenure-track) at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and an Assistant Biomedical Engineer at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine (WCP), Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, an M.S. in Tumor Biology from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University and a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Rizvi has served in leadership positions for national and international scientific organizations and on several conference organizing committees. He has been the beneficiary of exceptional mentorship throughout his career, primarily by Dr. Tayyaba Hasan (WCP, MGH, HMS). Additional key mentors include Dr. Utkan Demirci (post-doc co-advisor, currently at Stanford University), Dr. Brian Pogue (Ph.D. co-advisor, Dartmouth College) and Dr. David Kessel (Wayne State University).