The Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP) at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) is pleased to announce fifteen new awards through its Postdoctoral Grant Program.
The Postdoctoral Grant Program provides career development grants to enhance and expand postdoctoral research, education and professional development at SMPH. Grants are up to $20,000 each over one year.
“The Wisconsin Partnership Program is pleased to announce these new awards, which reflect our continued commitment to supporting the next generation of promising SMPH investigators, as well as the remarkable breadth of innovation and discovery underway at SMPH,” said Amy Kind, MD, PhD, associate dean for social health sciences and programs and WPP executive director.
The new awards support projects across a wide range of research topics including cancer, cell biology, health care delivery, genetics, mental health and wellness, biotechnology, infectious disease, cardiovascular health, aging, population and community health and clinical and translational research support.
Grant recipients will collaborate with their supervising mentor who nominated them for this award as they conduct a research or education project or pursue a professional development opportunity to advance their career with a focus on improving health in Wisconsin and beyond.
Adolescent Generative AI Use: Parental Guidance, Daily Well-being and Sleep
Tingting Fan, PhD, research associate, Department of Pediatrics
Supervising Mentor: Ellen Selkie, MD, MPH, associate professor, Department of Pediatrics
Combining Lutetium-177 Radiopharmaceutical Therapy with NK-92 Cell Therapy to Improve Treatment of Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer
Laura Ordas, PhD, research associate, Department of Human Oncology
Supervising Mentor: Quaovi Sodji, MD, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Radiation Medicine
Control of Chromatin Structure by Transcription-factor Partitioning as Driver of Development and Disease
Haley Brown, PhD, research associate, Department of Biomolecular Chemistry
Supervising Mentor: Melissa Harrison, PhD, professor, Department of Biomolecular Chemistry
Define the Functional Response of Adipocytes to Cancer-derived Polyamines
Matias Fabregat, PhD, MSc, postdoctoral fellow, Department of Medicine
Supervising Mentor: Andrea Galmozzi, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine
Defining Antibody-driven Mechanisms of Pathogen Clearance in a Murine Model of Infectious Diarrhea
Marienela Heredia, PhD, research associate, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Supervising Mentor: Gustavo Caballero-Flores, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Defining Caspase-8-mediated Inhibition of cGAS During Oncogenic Gammaherpesvirus Infection
Guillermo Najarro, PhD, research associate, Institute for Molecular Virology
Supervising Mentor: Marta Gaglia, PhD, associate professor, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology
Defining Pre-cancer Cellular Interaction Niches During Ductal Carcinoma In Situ to Invasive Breast Cancer Transition
Jin Young Yoo, PhD, research associate, Department of Oncology
Supervising Mentor: Huy Dinh, PhD, assistant professor, Departments of Oncology and Biostatistics and Medical Informatics
Development of a PSMA-targeted Photoacoustic Contrast Agent for Molecular Imaging of Breast Cancer
S.A. Amali S. Subasinghe, PhD, research associate, Department of Medical Physics
Supervising Mentor: Marty Pagel, PhD, professor, Department of Medical Physics
Engineering Highly Stable Mineral Nanoparticles for Enhanced mRNA Delivery
Apurva Panjla, PhD, research associate, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation
Supervising Mentor: William Murphy, PhD, professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Exercise as a Strategy to Restore Immune Resilience During Aging
Gayatri Puri, PhD, research associate, Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology
Supervising Mentor: Roméo Blanc, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Cell and Regenerative Biology
Repeated Injury During Active Repair Disrupts Resolution of Vocal Fold Epithelial Regeneration
Jie Cai, MD, PhD, research associate, Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
Supervising Mentor: Susan Thibeault, PhD, CCC-SLP, professor, Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery
Spatial Proteomics in ARSACS, a Cerebellar Ataxia Defining How Sacsin Loss Remodels ER-mitochondria Contact Sites
Huaxia Wang, PhD, research associate, Department of Medical Genetics
Supervising Mentor: Justin Wolter, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Medical Genetics
Synaptotagmin 7 Splice Isoforms as Tunable Regulators of the Sympathetic-adrenal Drive in Cardiovascular Disease
Nikunj Mehta, PhD, research associate, Department of Neuroscience
Supervising Mentor: Edwin Chapman, PhD, professor, Department of Neuroscience
Tracking Choices: Experiences with Fertility-tracking Apps for Pregnancy Prevention
Brooke Whitfield, PhD, research associate, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Supervising Mentor: Tiffany Green, PhD, associate professor, Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Population Health Sciences
Understanding Family Experiences to Inform the Evaluation and Design of ICU Family Communication Environments
Cemre Orhan, PhD, MFA, research associate, Department of Medicine
Supervising Mentor: Jacqueline Kruser, MD, MS, assistant professor, Department of Medicine
The Wisconsin Partnership Program is a grantmaking program within the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health committed to improving health for all through investments in community partnerships, education and research initiatives.
