David Scicchitano
Professor of Biology
Affiliation: NYU Abu Dhabi
Education: PhD in physiology from the Pennsylvania State University, Milton S. Hershey College of Medicine; BA summa cum laude in Chemistry, Susquehanna University
Research Areas: Molecular Biology, Genomic Maintenance Mechanics
A molecular biologist by training, David Scicchitano's scholarly interests are in genomic maintenance mechanics, which are biochemical pathways and networks in cells that prevent DNA from accumulating damage and mutations.
He is the author of more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and academic texts and collaborated with fellow NYU Abu Dhabi faculty member Alexandra Dimitri and others on a forthcoming book on the consequences of DNA damage.
Scicchitano served as the inaugural Dean of Science at NYUAD for eight years, during which time he directed the development of the Division of Science; recruiting world-class faculty, researchers and staff; and leading the evolution of an innovative undergraduate program with a distinguished research institution at its core. He also directed the formation and implementation of the innovative, cross-disciplinary Foundations of Science course, and taught a component of it.
A senior faculty resident fellow and recipient of several awards for excellence in teaching, he has taught in the department of biology since 1990. He has taught undergraduate courses in introductory biology, molecular biology and pharmaceutical ethics, as well as graduate courses in DNA and molecular biology. He has advised nearly 30 graduates and undergraduates in honors theses and doctoral dissertations.
Since 2004, he has served as director of undergraduate science initiatives for NYU's College of Arts and Sciences. Previously, Scicchitano was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University in California. For more than 10 years, he has served as a peer reviewer for the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, and as an advisor to McGraw-Hill on biology education.