Nancy Tran
Clinical Research Assistant
Nancy joined the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease as a clinical research assistant in June 2022. She assists in the management and recruitment of Dr. Longman’s FMT/Psyllium Fiber Trial and the SMART-IBD study. Nancy is from South Plainfield, NJ and completed her undergraduate studies in Chemistry at Princeton University. There, she conducted research on the mechanism of immunologically relevant proteins through the lens of inorganic and organic chemistry.
Laura Cvetkovski
Clinical Research Assistant
Laura Cvetkovski joined the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease as a clinical research assistant in July of 2020. Since then, she has assisted in running IBD clinical trials by coordinating patient enrollment and following patients longitudinally throughout each trial, facilitating study patient visits and collecting data. She is also the lead of several investigator-initiated studies such as the multi-center SAPPHIRE study investigating immunosuppressant IBD medications association with recurrent cancer and another that is evaluating the effect of vaccine education on vaccination rates amongst IBD patients.
She received her degree in Chemistry from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY with minors in Biology and Inequality Studies. During her undergraduate studies, she performed research into the interaction between proteins tissue transglutaminase and GPR56 to better understand cell signaling pathways.
Juliette Gerber
Patient Research Coordinator
Juliette joined the Jill Roberts Center for IBD as a clinical research assistant in September 2021. She is responsible for subject recruitment and development of Dr. Battat’s PREDICT-OR observational study and PROTOS study, as well as Dr. Lukin’s Time-Restricted Feeding study. As part of these projects, she obtains patients’ consent, collects and manages data, processes biological samples, and coordinates with partnering laboratories and the Weill Cornell IRB. She received a Bachelor of Science in Biology and minors in Chemistry and Global Health from Duke University in Durham, NC. While in undergrad, she assisted in research in verbal working memory and speech cognition at Duke University’s Cogan Research Lab, particularly in subject observation and recruitment as well as data collection and pre-processing.
Richmond Mensah
Clinical Research Assistant
Richmond Mensah joined the Jill Roberts Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease as a clinical research assistant in January 2021. He is involved in all pharmaceutical-sponsored clinical research trials with a focus on coordinating patient visits, data management, site monitor support and the coordination of the unblinded research teams. He also spearheads several investigator-initiated research studies, including the Multicenter African American in IBD study, the Ulcerative Colitis Response index study, and the PIANO study that investigates the safety of IBD biologic and small molecule therapies in pregnancy and neonatal outcomes.
Richmond is originally from Ghana and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences and minors in Mathematics and Chemistry from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY. As an undergraduate, he interned at Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital’s Oncology and Hematology department where he did research on the molecular and socioeconomic factors associated with brain cancer patients in the Poughkeepsie community.
Alexa Lavergne
Translational Research Assistant
Alexa started working as a clinical research assistant at the Jill Roberts Center for IBD in June 2021. She is responsible for the management and recruitment of patients for Dr. Longman’s SMART-IBD study and the FMT/psyllium fiber clinical trial. Alexa is originally from Wake Forest, North Carolina, and received a Bachelor of Science in Biology and minor in Chemistry from Duke University. Throughout her time in undergrad, Alexa investigated the role of inhalational silica exposure on autoimmunity in transgenic and humanized immune system mouse models at the Duke Medical Center.
Fatiha Chabouni, M.D.
Clinical Research Manager
Dr. Chabouni joined the Jill Roberts Center (JRC) in 2007 and has played a vital role in expanding the clinical research program. She obtained her medical degree at Algiers Medical School and practiced at the Tizi-Ouzou Hospital for 8 years as a general practitioner.
As JRC's Research Associate and Clinical Trials Program Manager, she has assisted in initiating and managing over 80 pharmaceutical clinical trials and 50 investigator-initiated trials. Dr. Chabouni currently oversees the day-to-day activities for 40 trials and is the main contact for patient research participation. She also manages clinical trials billing and compliance.
For more information on how to participate in the clinical trials, email fac2005@med.cornell.edu or call 212-146-5109.