Inaugural School of Medicine Impact Symposia Awards to promote research excellence
By Nadine A Yehya
(SACRAMENTO)
The School of Medicine Office of Research (SOMOR) awarded three $15,000 matching grants to departments to host symposia through a new initiative, the School of Medicine Impact Symposia Awards.
The Vice Dean for Research Kim Barrett announced earlier this year that this initiative is intended to incentivize and support departments to showcase our institution. SOMOR is implementing this funding initiative to help School of Medicine departments host high-quality symposia that advance the school’s research mission and bring thought leaders to campus to raise awareness of our research excellence.
“Our School of Medicine is well-ranked in objective measures of research success, such as extramural awards and publications, but its reputational rankings for research accomplishments lag behind,” Barrett explained. "We're excited that the new awards will help bring national and international thought leaders to UC Davis, while showcasing our outstanding research contributions in basic, translational and clinical areas.”
The awardees will receive $15,000 each for these upcoming symposia:
Amy Brooks-Kayal and Kia Shahlaie, chairs of the Departments of Neurology and Neurological Surgery, respectively, have been awarded funding to develop an innovative joint symposium on sleep and cognition, “UC Davis SOM Connection Symposium: Sleep-Wake and Cognition – A Light in the Dark for Neurological Disorders.”
Anthony Jerant, chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, is the recipient of funding for the proposed symposium, “Developing a Research Agenda for Increasing and Optimizing the Primary Care Spend to Advance the Quadruple Aim,” which will address urgent issues of primary care processes.
Donald Bers, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, and Joseph Silva, Endowed Chair for Cardiovascular Research, was awarded funding to expand the focus of the UC Davis Cardiovascular Symposium.
The awardees’ proposed symposia will feature novel formats and high-impact outputs that will increase the visibility of the campus and highlight its innovative research efforts.
From left to right, Drs. Amy Brooks-Kayal, Kia Shahlaie, Anthony Jerant, Donald Bers and Joseph Silva.
