RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PROGRAM

JUNE 10, 2015

Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment to invest in six new research projects

The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment is pleased to announce that, as of May 29, 2015, funding of $1.2 million is being awarded to six research projects.

The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment will provide recipients with $200,000 of support over two years. The Endowment selected the funded projects through the Research and Education Program's competitive Responsive funding opportunity, which was developed during implementation of the 2014-2018 AHW Five-Year Plan.

The investigators on these awards will build basic and clinical science collaborations while working on topics aligned with the Medical College of Wisconsin's research focus areas, such as diabetes and obesity, neurodegenerative disease and population health:

Nancy Dahms, PhD, and team will study the innate protection against Type 2 diabetes that exists in a set of patients at high risk for the disease, which may contribute to the development of new methods for preventing Type 2 diabetes.
William Drobyski, MD, and team will study brain inflammation's effects on brain function, including exploring the use of a protein that reduces brain inflammation to treat anxiety and depression after patients receive a stem cell transplant.
Allison Ebert, PhD, and team aim to identify genes involved in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) to understand their roles and develop potential treatments.
Blake Hill, PhD, and team will build a resource supporting drug discovery research at MCW to speed up the screening of existing compounds for potential use in treating other conditions.
Brent Logan, PhD, and team aim to develop new statistical techniques to maximize the chances of stem cell transplant success while minimizing the risk of complications. Stem cell transplants are used to treat many disorders of the blood.
Kevin Regner, MD, and team will work on genes related to acute kidney injury, a potentially deadly complication, in order to contribute to long-term change in risk assessment and prevention of acute kidney injury.

These funded teams include more than 20 collaborating researchers from MCW basic science departments, clinical departments, and from partnering academic institutions.

MCW faculty members submitted more than 60 applications in November 2014. The Endowment and the Research and Education Program thank the MCW Research Council, MCW Research and Education Advisory Committee and the individual reviewers who supported the rigorous merit review process used to select the final recipients.

Research and Education Program welcomes new director

The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment welcomes Erin Fabian, JD, as the new program director for the Research and Education Program. In this role, Erin will oversee the administration of new and active awards funded by the Research and Education Program, as well as other new initiatives developed to support the 2014-2018 Five-Year Plan.

Erin brings extensive leadership and administrative experience at MCW, most recently as the division administrator for the department of medicine's divisions of nephrology and infectious disease. In that role, her responsibilities included fiscal operations, managing grant applications, administering grant funds and clinical trials, and leading human resource planning and career development. Erin served as the business manager for the MCW Institute for Health and Society before joining the department of medicine.

Prior to joining MCW in October 2011, Erin gained health care and grant administration experience at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Research Institute. She has also worked as an attorney for Cross Law Firm and earned her juris doctor degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law in May 2005.

Submissions for Responsive research funding opportunity due by noon on June 15

The Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin (AHW) Endowment is seeking collaborative research projects aligned with the Medical College of Wisconsin's research focus areas. Applicants will be sought through the second competitive Request for Proposals released by the Research and Education Program under its Responsive component.

Full-time, full-professional effort MCW faculty members are eligible to apply and Letters of Intent are due by noon on June 15. Preference will be given to submissions that include collaboration between investigators in basic science and clinical departments, as well as those that use innovative and/or transformative strategies. The AHW Endowment anticipates funding approximately five awards. Awards will be funded at a maximum level of $200,000 over two years.

Application materials are available at the AHW Endowment's website and also can be requested by contacting Joseph Schueller in the AHW Endowment's Research and Education Program office at 414-955-4754 or jschueller@mcw.edu.

Award supports development of school of pharmacy

MCW will open a school of pharmacy in Milwaukee to address an overall need for highly-qualified pharmacists who can provide expanded services as part of a healthcare team. The school will also address pharmacist maldistribution in underserved communities in Wisconsin. MCW's Board of Trustees approved the development of the new school at its May meeting.

The AHW Endowment will provide an initial $3 million through REP Strategic funding for the initial design and development of the school of pharmacy. The proposed class size is 60 students.