Program Leadership
Jatin M. Vyas, MD, PhD
- Co-Director, MD-PhD Program
Jatin Vyas, MD, PhD, is Professor of Medicine, Associate Dean for Academic Innovation, and Director of Physician-Scientist Programs at the Vagelos Institute for Biomedical Research Education, which includes his role as Co-Director, of the VP&S MD-PhD Program. His laboratory focuses on the innate immune responses to clinically relevant fungal pathogens. Dr. Vyas previously served as both a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and as a Physician for the Department of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has also served as a Program Director of Internal Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, a program consisting of 207 residents and 514 fellows- the largest training program of its kind in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He received the Outstanding Program Director Award from MassGeneral Brigham in 2022 and the 2025 Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine/APDIM Distinguished University Medical Educator Award. During his tenure, he secured 3 NIH grants that helped support the training of Physician Scientists. Dr. Vyas is renowned for cultivating excitement around research by determining the research needs of MD-PhD, MD, and PhD students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty. His efforts are elevating the environment of physician-driven scientific inquiry throughout Columbia.
Steven L. Reiner, MD
- Co-Director, MD-PhD Program
Steven L. Reiner, MD (Duke) is the Charles H. Revson Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Pediatrics, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He completed an internal medicine residency at Cornell, followed by a fellowship in infectious disease and postdoctoral research in immunology from the University of San Francisco. The Reiner lab uses lymphocytes as a model system and has provided evidence that asymmetric cell division may be a way for many mobile, non-polarized cells to generate cell fate diversity among their progenies. Dr. Reiner came to Columbia in 2012 and joined the MD-PhD program in 2014 as Program Director. He is a physician scientist who has spent over 20 years in education and training of future physician scientists. He was a leader in the Immunology Graduate Program at University of Pennsylvania for 8 years and was very involved in the recruitment, mentoring, and advising of Penn's MSTP trainees for over 12 years. He is dedicated to improving the pipeline of future physician scientists who will become the thought leaders of biomedical investigation, scientific and medical practice and policy, and academic medical administration.
