CTSI is pleased to announce the 2013 Mentored Career Development Award (KL2) recipient. This year’s award has been granted to Arash Babaei, MD, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Babaei has significant knowledge in the functional connectivity of cortical swallowing network and esophageal motility. His current research goal is to investigate alteration of deglutition connectome in hemispheric stroke patients.
Dr. Babaei and his research team will measure metrics of the altered connectome, correlate the measured alterations to objective swallowing deficits in dysphagic stroke patients, and follow them through the recovery phase. His overall career goal is to be an investigator in the field of neurogastroeneterology and motility through developing a cutting edge research program that is independently funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and other extramural funding agencies.
Dr. Babaei’s mentors are Reza Shaker, MD, Professor of Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, MCW, Shi-Jiang Li, PhD, Professor of Biophysics, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and Director of the Center for Imaging Research (CIR), MCW and Cecilia Hillard, PhD, Director of the Neuroscience Research Center and Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, MCW. With this award, Dr. Babaei is now one of six KL2 awardees currently in the program.
The CTSI Mentored Career Development Award Program (KL2) provides mentored training opportunities for junior faculty working in clinical and translational research to become independent investigators. The program provides 75% protected time (up to $140,000 – including salary and fringe benefits) and up to $25,000 in research support per year for up to three years of supervised career development activities and mentored clinical and translational research. The funding for this program is provided by a grant from Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin.
NIH Funding Acknowledgment:Important Reminder – Please acknowledge the NIH when publishing papers, patents, projects, and presentations resulting from the use of CTSI resources by including the NIH Funding Acknowledgement.
