Meet the team

Aimee Payne, ​MD, PhD

​Principal Investigator
asp2261[at]cumc.columbia.edu

Aimee trained at Stanford University, Washington University in St. Louis, and University of Pennsylvania. She was thrilled to move to Manhattan to become the Chair of Dermatology at Columbia University and advance the clinical, research, and educational activities of the department.  Outside of work, you can find her partaking in the NYC food scene, walking her dog Winston, and doing Sunday morning bootcamp with Karen Katz at 102nd and Riverside.

Eun Jung Choi, MS

Lab Manager
ejc2214[at]cumc.columbia.edu

Eun has been the manager of the Payne lab since it started in 2006 and is still heading up the Payne Lab at Columbia University. In her spare time she likes to check out parks and rooftop sights across NYC, and has been disciplining herself to train at F45 in the mornings.

Gexin Zhao, MD, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow
gz2393[at]cumc.columbia.edu

Gexin joined the lab in 2024 after receiving her PhD from Sun Yat-sen University. Her doctoral research focused on the isolation and characterization of potent monoclonal antibodies against Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) and the development of anti-EBV mRNA vaccines for anti-tumor immunity. At Columbia she is focusing on the development of novel precision cellular therapies for immunity and elucidating CAAR T cell biology.  In her spare time, she likes climbing and finding nice places to eat (there are a lot of them in NYC!)

Hisashi Nomura, MD, PhD

Associate Research Scientist
hn2514[at]cumc.columbia.edu

Hisashi completed his MD and Dermatology residency training at Keio University. His PhD thesis with Prof. Masa Amagai highlighted the critical role of IgM to IgG class switch in the development of the pemphigus phenotype in AK23 knock-in mice. At Columbia, Hisashi is leading a comparative immunology program to engineer cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases in dogs and humans, using learnings from one species to help the other. One of Hisashi’s hobbies is walking. In Japan, he walked from home to the lab and around town every day – over 100,000 kilometers walked! He also likes dining out and listening to American pop music.

Farzan Solimani, MD

Associate Research Scientist
fs2910[at]cumc.columbia.edu

Farzan comes from Parma, Italy and is joining the Payne lab in 2025. He graduated in medicine from the University of Parma and later moved to Germany, where he trained as a dermatologist in Marburg at the Philipps University of Marburg and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. He has developed a keen interest in the pathogenic mechanisms of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases with a focus on T-cell immunology. Outside the lab, Farzan can be found at the playground playing with his daughter, cooking Italian recipes, listening to jazz and experimental music, visiting museums, and generally feeding his curiosity.

Alice Yi, B.S.

PhD Graduate Student
acy2129[at]cumc.columbia.edu

Alice joined the lab in July 2026 as a PhD student in the Pathobiology and Mechanisms of Disease program. She received her B.S. in Medical Laboratory Science from University of New Haven, then trained in Dr. David Hafler’s laboratory at Yale as a postgraduate research associate, where she studied mechanisms driving immune dysregulation in multiple sclerosis and subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma, focusing on TIM-3 signaling in human myeloid cells. Alice is now investigating the in vivo immunomodulatory effects of DSG3-CAART therapy using single-cell and functional profiling of CAART and host B- and T-cell phenotypes that correlate with clinical response. Alice is from Guam and enjoys golfing, trying new food spots, and spending time with friends and family.