Synergy awards support collaborative research among health sciences schools, faculty

September 20, 2016

The Woodruff Health Sciences Center (WHSC) has announced the six winning proposals for its first cycle of Synergy Awards. The awards will support collaborative projects among faculty at Emory University School of Medicine, Rollins School of Public Health, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and all other units in the WHSC.

"The Synergy Awards are meant to spark new, synergistic interactions between investigators and enable scientific achievements of the highest quality and impact," says Jonathan S. Lewin, MD, executive vice president for health affairs, Emory University; executive director, Woodruff Health Sciences Center; and president, CEO, and chairman of the board, Emory Healthcare.

Proposals for the Synergy Awards are required to include faculty members with primary appointments in at least two schools as co-principal investigators. The awards are intended to support new, highly innovative projects that are not yet funded or published.

Synergy Awards offer up to $100,000 in support for an award term of one year, with potential carryover to a second year under special circumstances.

"We believe the Synergy Awards will create new collaborative research opportunities across schools and centers in the WHSC that build on shared knowledge and inspire innovative ideas," says David Stephens, MD, WHSC vice president for research and chair of the Department of Medicine. "We look forward to the results of these excellent project proposals."

The six winning proposals and their investigators are as follows:

Relationship of the Gut Microbiome to Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease

  • James J. Lah, MD, PhD (Department of Neurology, School of Medicine)
  • Elizabeth J. Corwin, PhD, RN (Academic Advancement, School of Nursing)
  • Viola Vaccarino, MD, PhD (Department of Epidemiology, RSPH)

Evaluation of an Intervention to Increase Post-Abortion LARC Uptake: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Educational and Financial Counseling Prior to Clinical Presentation

  • Kristin Wall, PhD (Department of Epidemiology, RSPH)
  • Lisa Haddad, MD (Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, School of Medicine)
  • Victoria L. Phillips, PhD (Department of Health Policy & Management, RSPH)

Measuring Fertility in Reproductive-Aged Women Diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

  • Sam S. Lim, MD, MPH (Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, School of Medicine)
  • Penelope Howards, PhD (Department of Epidemiology, RSPH)

Does Norovirus Infection Cause Nutritional Damage? –– A Longitudinal Analysis

  • Anne Williams, PhD, MPH (Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine)
  • Ben Lopman, PhD (Department of Epidemiology, RSPH)
  • Parmi Suchdev, MD, MPH (Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine)

Advancing Cancer Screening and Early Detection Among People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA)

  • Theresa W. Gillespie, PhD, MA (Department of Surgery, School of Medicine)
  • Jessica Wells, PhD, RN (Academic Advancement, School of Nursing)

Optimizing Screening Mammography Accuracy and Adoption through Improved Recall Rates: A Multi-Disciplinary Investigation of the Effects of Human Capital Depreciation and Fatigue on Radiologist Performance

  • Richard Duszak, Jr., MD (Department of Radiology, School of Medicine)
  • Jason M. Hockenberry, PhD (Department of Health Policy & Management, RSPH)
  • Elizabeth A. Krupinski, PhD (Department of Radiology, School of Medicine)
  • Mary S. Newell, MD (Department of Radiology, School of Medicine)
  • Margaret Fleming, MD, MSc (Department of Radiology, School of Medicine)

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