Dr. Rizvi’s expertise is in imaging and therapeutic applications of light, bioengineered 3D models and animal models for cancer, and targeted drug delivery for inhibition of molecular survival pathways in tumors. His K99/R00 (NCI) develops photodynamic therapy (PDT)-based combinations against molecular pathways that are altered by fluidic stress in ovarian cancer. He was also co-PI on an Innovation Award with Bristol-Myers Squibb to develop optical techniques in immuno-oncology for light-based modulation of immune response. He has co-authored 40 peer-reviewed publications and 5 book chapters with a focus on PDT, biomedical optics, and molecular targeting in cancer.

Dr. Rizvi moved to Chapel Hill from Boston where he was an Assistant Professor of Dermatology (tenure-track) at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and an Assistant Biomedical Engineer at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine (WCP), Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, an M.S. in Tumor Biology from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University, and a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University.