Contact Information
Summary
Raphael Kirou obtained his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) summa cum laude from Cornell University in 2020, where he majored in biological sciences and minored in applied economics. During his time at Cornell, his research was published in the journal Science, elucidating the role of a human endogenous retroviral envelope protein in immunity from exogenous retroviruses (Frank et al. 2022). Raphael subsequently enrolled in the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) program at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in 2021, where he expects to graduate in 2026.
He received the Rheumatology Research Foundation Medical and Graduate Student Preceptorship Award for his research on loss to follow-up in systemic lupus erythematosus patients, which he presented at the American College of Rheumatology Convergence in 2023. In 2024, Raphael joined the Muscle Disease Section at NIAMS as part of the 2024-25 Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP). He conducts translational research on inflammatory myopathies.
Research Statement
Raphael is involved in translational research, analyzing RNA sequencing data from biopsies of myositis patients. He aims to better understand the mechanisms of muscle inflammation and damage and to correlate transcriptomic patterns to different myositis subtypes.
Education
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
M.D. (2021-2026 expected)
Cornell University
B.S., Biological Sciences (2017-2020)