WHO WE ARE
MTM Administrative Team
Director
In this role, he oversees the development and growth of the program while leading the administration of a curriculum that trains students in the core competencies required to bring new medical technology to market. In addition, he oversees and teaches five courses of the program, including Cost Analysis (I6200), Translational Challenges (I6400), and the year-long Biodesign Capstone sequence (I6500, I6600, and I6700) that anchors the MTM curriculum. In two of his previous roles, Dr. Fritton developed orthopedic technology at Stony Brook University and as a senior R&D engineer at Hospital for Special Surgery. He completed his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University and then spent 15 years in research and orthopedic instruction at Mount Sinai and Rutgers before joining the faculty at CCNY in 2019. In addition to teaching, Dr. Fritton maintains an active research program in skeletal biomechanics and mentors undergraduate, graduate, and medical students in research and biodesign.
Contact: jfritton@ccny.cuny.edu
Assistant Director
Muaad Alody was born and raised in Yemen. He came to the United States to pursue the best and highest possible education. Muaad Alody is a lifelong City College, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in political science and international relations and his Masters of Public Administration (MPA) from CCNY. Muaad served in Student Government and held a series of Administrative offices at City College. While enrolled at CCNY for both his BA and MPA, he served his peers as the Executive Vice President of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and the Graduate Student Council (GSC) Chairperson. During his tenure in student government, he was heavily engaged in the decision-making process for CCNY by serving on various college committees, such as the Student Services Corporation (SSC) and the Auxiliary Enterprise Corporation (AEC). At City College, Mr. Alody worked in the Office of Student Life & Leadership Development as an orientation leader, a college assistant, and an office manager. He then joined the Student Engagement Initiatives at CCNY as the Administrative Coordinator, where he managed all administrative aspects of 5 different programs. Most recently, Muaad worked as the Administrative Coordinator of the Nanoscience Initiative in the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Manufacturing Engineer/MTM Makerspace Manager
Jonathan Martin is a recent graduate of The City College of New York (CCNY) with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Biomedical Engineering. He has experience in tissue engineering and drug delivery. He previously worked at a summer internship at the Amazon-Columbia SURE program in the Leong Lab at Columbia University working with oral gene delivery in lab mice using nanoparticle formation. He is currently working in the Cardoso lab in CCNY focused on mineralizing pig coronary tissue for creating lab models for mechanics of tissue in atherosclerosis. Jonathan also has experience in CAD softwares (Fusion 360, Solidworks) and use of 3d printers/workshop tools.
Contact: jmartin3@ccny.cuny.edu
MTM Supporting Faculty
Scientist/Chief Technology Officer, Soterix Medical; Adjunct Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Dr. Datta is part of the MTM program’s Steering Committee. He has been directing and teaching the course on Intellectual Property, Medical Device and Drug Regulation, and Quality Management Systems from the program’s inception.
Contact: adatta@ccny.cuny.edu
Director, CEESP Program, Professor and Chair Community Health & Social Medicine, CUNY School of Medicine
Dr. Soliman has collaborated with faculty across various global settings and special populations in the U.S. for more than 25 years to develop a program in cancer epidemiology, translating epidemiologic and clinical research into cancer prevention and control for special populations. These collaborations have fostered the development and maintenance of a robust research infrastructure in global settings and with medical centers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe to investigate the epidemiology of cancers relevant to these local regions. Since 2006, Dr. Soliman has served as the Principal Investigator of the NCI-R25 supported Cancer Epidemiology Education in Special Populations (CEESP) Program at the University of Michigan, the University of Nebraska, and City University of New York (CUNY). The CEESP Program has trained over 300 public health and medical students in special populations. Dr. Soliman’s domestic research focuses on studies concerning access to cancer care, screening, and early detection in underserved populations. Dr. Soliman has developed and taught courses such as Introduction to Cancer Epidemiology, Field Methods for Epidemiology in Developing Countries, Cancer Epidemiology in Special Populations, Topics in Cancer Control and Prevention, Translational Medicine, and Epidemiology in Medical Sciences. Dr. Soliman is the Past President of the American Association for Cancer Education (AACE) and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Cancer Education. Fore more details about Dr. Soliman’s Program, please check the following websites:
CUNY School of Medicine: https://medicine.cuny.edu/staff/amr-soliman/
CEESP: https://ceesp.ccny.cuny.edu/
Contact: asoliman@med.cuny.edu
Chief Technology Officer, BioSapien, Adjunct Instructor, MTM
Joseph Borrello earned his bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering from the Macaulay Honors College at The City College of New York. He later completed his PhD in Biomedical Sciences at Mount Sinai under the guidance of Drs. Kevin Costa and Junqian Xu, specializing in biomechanics, materials science, and medical device development. Throughout his academic career, he has remained deeply committed to the NYC innovation ecosystem, notably through ongoing mentorship at the Zahn Innovation Center and leadership roles in student-led initiatives like GRO-Biotech, BiotechXYZ, and the NYC chapter of Nucleate. In his professional career, Joseph most recently served as the Chief Technology Officer at BioSapien, where he led multidisciplinary teams in developing advanced manufacturing technologies for cancer treatment. Prior to this role, he spent a decade as the Head of Engineering for Mount Sinai BioDesign and served as an Instructor in the Department of Neurosurgery. His entrepreneurial and technical background also includes founding Proto-Sauce, a 3D printing materials venture, and holding technical marketing and engineering liaison roles at 3D Systems. Beyond engineering, he shares his expertise on tech trends and data science through his newsletter, Magnitude and Direction.
Contact: jborrello@ccny.cuny.edu
CUNY Distinguished Professor & Chair of Biomedical Engineering Wallace H. Coulter Chair Chairman, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Mitchell B. Shaffler is currently a professor and the Chair of The Department of Biomedical Engineering at CCNY. His research interests lies in osteology. With a B.S. from Stony Brook University, PhD from West Virginia University, and Post-doc from University of Utah, Dr. Shaffler is well versed in his field of study. Dr. Shaffler has won numerous awards for his research.
Contact: mschaffler@ccny.cuny.edu
CCNY Sophie Davis Graduate, Emergency Physician @SBH
Dr. Mike Chuang is an emergency physician currently at SBH healthcare. He is a proud CCNY graduate of the Sophie Davis Program, class 2007, followed by both medical school and residency in emergency medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine (formerly SUNY-Stony Brook SOM). He returned briefly to training for a fellowship in emergency resuscitation and critical at Hartford Hospital between 2019-2020. He has practiced in the full spectrum of emergency medicine including academic and clinical administration and has an additional interest in healthcare informatics. He brings the “community” to the “bench to community”, and aims to help the trainees bridge the gap between the two.
Contact: mchuang@ccny.cuny.edu
CCNY Adjunct Associate Professor, Co-Founder of Pro-Test Deutschland
Dr. Renée Hartig is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Dept. of Biomedical Engineering at City College, CUNY and tenure-track investigator with New York State’s Office of Mental Health. Her lab is based at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in Orangeburg, New York. Dr. Hartig’s research program involves the study of olfaction and interoception in emotion regulation and cognition. Her team investigates sensory information processing and adaptive learning in mammals through measurements of brain activity by magnetic resonance imaging and electrophysiology. In 2020 she was awarded a fellowship from the Focus Program Translational Neurosciences at the University of Mainz, Germany. In 2019, she completed a doctorate (summa cum laude) in body-brain signal processing at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and the University of Tübingen in Germany. She holds a master's degree in neural and behavioral sciences from Tübingen University and a bachelor's degree in biology from SUNY Stony Brook. Dr. Hartig is an avid science communicator, having co-founded a non-profit organization in Germany, Pro-Test Deutschland, for the communication and public dissemination of fact-based information pertaining to scientific research with animal models. She is also a member of the US-based Speaking of Research Committee and mentors STEM students through the New York Academy of Sciences and UK-based non-profit TReND in Africa.
Contact: rhartig@ccny.cuny.edu
Last Updated: 02/09/2026 14:19