January 2011 Newsletter

K12 Neurological Sciences Academic Development Award (NSADA)

The URMC Division of Pediatric Neurology was the recipient of a mentored research career development (K12) award from the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke (NINDS). 

This NSADA program has one position per year for recent graduates of Child Neurology residency programs who are developing a research career in neurological sciences relevant to Child Neurology.  The program gives junior faculty the opportunity to transition from mentored trainees to independent investigators in clinical and/or basic neurobiology research.  It aims to foster thinking skills and a knowledge base that will allow supported candidates to apply basic neurobiological principles to achieve a mechanistic understanding of disease so they can translate that understanding into therapeutic and diagnostic options for disorders of the developing nervous system.  It also fosters the academic careers of junior faculty by providing the guidance and framework necessary to conduct scientifically sound, ethical, and clinically relevant research in neurobiology and the mentoring necessary to prepare them to be future leaders in academic child neurology.

Erika Augustine, M.D. is the current URMC NSADA trainee.  Dr. Augustine also holds a research grant from the National Tourette Syndrome Association.  Her research involves studying the epidemiology of Tourette Syndrome and designing clinical trials for neurodegenerative and chronic neurological disorders of childhood and adolescence.