SUNY Purchase Alum Jill Bargonetti-Chavarria ’85 Named Distinguished Professor

SUNY Purchase alumna Jill Bargonetti-Chavarria ’85 has been named a Distinguished Professor by the City University of New York—the highest academic honor CUNY confers—in recognition of her internationally recognized contributions to cancer biology research.

A tenured professor of biochemistry and biology at Hunter College and chair of the molecular, cellular, and developmental biology subprogram of CUNY’s PhD program in biology, Bargonetti-Chavarria is one of a select group of CUNY faculty whose work meets the system’s highest standards of scholarship and teaching.

The title is reserved for select faculty members whose work meets the highest standards of excellence and who’ve made significant contributions to scientific scholarship and teaching.

As chair of the molecular, cellular, and developmental biology subprogram of the PhD program in biology at the Graduate Center and a professor of biological sciences at Hunter College, Bargonetti-Chavarria is renowned for her academic achievements and global impact in the field of cancer biology and research.

Her research has focused on breast cancer, cell division, gene expression and regulation, and signal transduction.

In 2025 and 2024, she participated in studies sponsored by the National Institutes of Health: Basic Mechanisms in Cancer Health Disparities and Cancer Cell Biology and has served on NIH’s Board of Scientific Counselors.

She also serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of METAvivor, an organization dedicated to increasing awareness of advanced breast cancer and equity in research and patient support.

After earning her bachelor’s degree at Purchase, Bargonetti-Chavarria graduated from New York University with a PhD in molecular biology and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.

Purchase in Practice

Bargonetti-Chavarria’s career—spanning NIH-sponsored research, international recognition in cancer biology, and the CUNY system’s highest academic distinction—reflects the scientific foundation built in SUNY Purchase’s School of Natural and Social Sciences, where undergraduate students regularly conduct original faculty-mentored research typically reserved for graduate students at larger universities.

SUNY Purchase ranks among the top ten public liberal arts colleges nationally for the percentage of graduates who earn PhDs, and Bargonetti-Chavarria stands among the distinguished scientists this record represents.