Early Career Research Award
Dedicated funding and support to decrease the barriers of engagement and help recruit early-career research faculty.
ECRA scholars participate in the appropriate CTSI career development program
*Participate as an affiliate scholar, not funded by NIH
How we support ECRA scholars
Scholars
Current ECRA scholars
Asha Hassan, PhD, MPH
Department: Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health
Mentor: Rebecca Shlafer
Jesse Kowalski , PT, DPT, PhD (KAP Scholar)
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
Mentor: Damien Fair
Oludare Odumade, MD, PhD
Department: Pediatrics
Mentors: Nadia Sam-Agudu, Kris Hogquist, Tina Slusher, Sara Ramel, Beth Thielen
Edgar Peña, PhD (KAP Scholar)
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Mentors: Hubert Lim, Brenda Ogle, Andrew Alleyne, Sayeed Ikramuddin
Gianna Rea-Sandin, PhD (KAP Scholar)
Department of Pediatrics
Mentor: Iris Borowsky
Cliff Whetung, PhD (KAP Scholar)
Department of Family Medicine and Biobehavioral Health
Mentor: Kristen Jacklin
Serena Xiong, PhD, MPH (KAP Scholar)
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Mentors: Rebekah Pratt, Rahel Ghebre, Michele Allen
Former ECRA scholars
Monica Campo Patino, PhD (K-R01 Scholar)
Department of Medicine; Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine
Primary mentor: Marc Jenkins
Additional mentors: David Ingbar, Ana Núñez
Project title: Early interferon response in human tuberculosis
Ida Fonkoue, MD, PhD (K-R01 Scholar)
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
Primary mentor: John Osborn
Project title: Autonomic and vascular mechanisms of cardiovascular risk in women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Arif Hamid, PhD (K-R01 Scholar)
Department of Neuroscience
Mentors: Mark Thomas, David Redish, Damien Fair
Project title: Dopamine contributions to flexible behaviors
David Haynes II, PhD, MS (Pre-K Scholar)
Institute for Health Informatics
Primary mentor: Anne Joseph
Additional mentors: Tim Beebe, Adams Dudley, Constantin Aliferis, Sisi Ma
Project title: Understanding cancer disparities at the local level
Sarah Kaja, PhD (KAP Scholar)
Department of Pediatrics
Mentors: Iris W. Borowsky, Marla E. Eisenberg, Alicia Kunin-Batson, Claudia Fox, Daheia Barr-Anderson, Kade Goepferd
Project title: A Synergistic Solution: Piloting a Physical Activity-Based Positive Youth Development Program to Support Transgender and Gender Diverse (TGD) Adolescents' Mental Health
Nathan Mesfin, MD (KAP Scholar)
Department of Medicine
Mentors: Adams Dudley, Steven Fu
Ebiere Okah, MD, MSCR (KAP Scholar)
Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Mentors: Michele Allen, Pamela Lutsey, Diana Burgess
Sabrina Scroggins, PhD (K-R01 Scholar)
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Minnesota Duluth
Mentors: Jean Regal, Stephen Contag, Kris Hogquist, Mary Owen
Project title: Testing the efficacy of regulatory dendritic cell treatment in the prevention of preeclampsia
Stefani Thomas, PhD (Pre-K Scholar)
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
Primary mentor: Reuben Harris
Additional mentors: Rachel Vogel, Weihua Guan
Project title: Proteome-level predictors of improved response to PARP inhibitor therapy in ovarian cancer