The applicant is a mid-career clinician-scientist whose research focuses on applications of functional neuroimaging in basic and clinical neuroscience. Because neuroimaging methods are noninvasive, they are particularly well suited to patient-oriented research. Neuroimaging methods can be used to elucidate the pathogenesis of neurological disorders, aid in differential diagnosis, and serve as surrogate biomarkers for monitoring disease progression and assessing therapeutic efficacy. The applicant is widely recognized for the development and validation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods for quantifying cerebral blood flow, for clinical applications of functional MRI (fMRI), particularly in epilepsy, and for basic studies in functional brain physiology using both MRI and optical methods. Patient-oriented research for the proposed career development award will additionally assess the utility of optical cerebral blood flow monitoring in the hospital management of acute stroke, and evaluate the efficacy of functional stimulation as a means of augmenting cerebral blood flow in the peri-infarct region. In addition to pursuing his own research program, the applicant also devotes a considerable effort to institutional programmatic development in neuroimaging, and to mentoring junior faculty and other trainees. He founded the Center for Functional Neuroimaging, which provides multidisciplinary infrastructure support for neuroimaging research, and is of particular value to junior faculty who lack the extensive resources required to initiate new neuroimaging projects. The Center for Functional Neuroimaging currently receives major support from an NINDS P30 Center Core (NS045839). The applicant also mentors several junior faculty members from clinical and basic science backgrounds in translational neuroimaging research, and is pursuing a training grant in interdisciplinary neuroimaging that will include multidisciplinary training and patient-oriented research for both basic science and clinical trainees. As part of this overall training effort, the applicant has proposed to develop an interactive seminar in translational neuroimaging that will cover major domains of brain function and disorders using a systems-oriented approach. Through the proposed K24 mid-career development award, the applicant seeks 25% effort for individual and group mentoring of trainees, particularly junior clinician-scientists, for new patient-oriented research (POR) projects using neuroimaging in stroke management, and to expand his own knowledge of important emerging areas in neuroimaging including spatiotemporal statistics, use of imaging in clinical trials, and molecular neuroimaging.
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