URMC / Clinical & Translational Science Institute / Stories / June 2018 / 2018 Career Development Scholars to Study Movement Control, Suicide Prevention

2018 Career Development Scholars to Study Movement Control, Suicide Prevention

The University of Rochester Clinical and Translational Science Institute has selected the recipients of its Career Development Award, which provides two years of support to help early career scientists transition to independent careers as clinical and translational investigators. This year’s awardees are set to study suicide prevention among Hispanic populations and how the brain controls voluntary movements.

This year’s awardees are:

Kevin A. Mazurek, Ph.D., research assistant professor of Neuroscience

Project Title: Determining how Cortical Areas Communicate Information to Perform Voluntary Movements

Primary Mentor: John J. Foxe, Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience

Mazurek received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Brown University in 2008 and his doctorate in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2013. He studies the neural control of voluntary movements in order to develop rehabilitative solutions that can restore function to individuals with neurologic diseases by effectively bypassing impaired or damaged neural connections.

Caroline Silva, Ph.D., senior instructor of Psychiatry

Project Title: Cultural Social Engagement and Suicide Ideation among Hispanic Outpatients

Primary Mentor: Kimberly Van Orden, Ph.D., associate professor of Psychiatry

Silva completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at Harvard University and received her master’s and doctoral degrees in Clinical Psychology from the Florida State University. Her program of research is centered on the prevention of suicide among Hispanics, and using the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide to inform the development and evaluation of suicide prevention interventions.

The UR CTSI Career Development Award Program releases its request for applications each September with applications due in November. View the 2018 RFA to learn more about applying for this opportunity.

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The Career Development program described in this article is supported by the University of Rochester CTSA award number KL2 TR001999 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. Read more about the KL2 program, and check out a list of our current and past scholars.

Michael Hazard | 6/8/2018