Attracting the best and brightest
Recruiting new talent is vital to building a thriving research program. With this mission in mind, Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation established the New Investigator Awards in 2002. One $50,000 award is available each year to an outstanding early-career researcher.
Dr. Barbara Karten (Lipid Metabolism)
Dr. Barbara Karten joined Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Medicine in late 2005, after six years at the University of Alberta as a postdoctoral fellow and research associate with one of Canada’s top lipid research groups. Now, as holder of a DMRF New Investigator Award and assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Dr. Karten will launch her own research program to study cholesterol metabolism and transport in the brain. She is particularly interested in how these metabolic pathways may be related to the development of such neurodegenerative diseases as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Neimann-Pick Type C. Dr. Karten has pioneered a unique neuronal cell culture technique which she will employ in some of her studies.
Dr. Karten completed her early training at the Universitat Hamburg in Germany and Karl-Franzens Universitat Graz in Austria. She came to Canada (University of Alberta) in 1999. Her work has already captured the attention of the scientific community; she has published 19 papers, one book chapter and 17 abstracts, and received several scholarships, fellowships and research and travel awards.
Dr. Stefan Krueger (nervous system plasticity)
Dr. Stefan Krueger joined the Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine in 2005 as Tier II Canada Research Chair in Nervous System Plasticity and Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics. His expertise in the development and regulation of neural connections make him a valuable asset to the University’s overall neuroscience research effort. He aims to advance experimental technologies to study synaptic plasticity and its role in such neurodevelopmental disorders as Rett syndrome and autism.
A graduate of the University of Zurich, Dr. Krueger completed postdoctoral research training in the Department of Cellular & Molecular Physiology at the Yale University School of Medicine in Connecticut. He worked at Yale for three years as an associate research scientist prior to accepting the position at Dalhousie. A DMRF New Investigator Award, along with funding through the Canadian Foundation for Innovation ‘Infrastructure for Canada Research Chairs,’ the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Department of Physiology & Biophysics, helped recruit this talented young scientist to Dalhousie.
Dr. Valerie Chappe (cystic fibrosis)
Dr. Valerie Chappe joined the Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine as Assistant Professor in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics early in 2005. Dr. Chappe is studying the basic mechanisms of cystic fibrosis, the most common genetic disease in North American and European populations. Her research focuses on molecular mechanisms that underlie the activity of CFTR, the gene that, when mutated, produces cystic fibrosis. Her studies will play a role in future development of therapies to correct CFTR dysfunctions.
Dr. Chappe completed doctoral studies in cellular biology at Universite d’Aix-Marseille I in France and postdoctoral fellowship training at McGill University in Montreal. A DMRF New Investigator Award – combined with funding commitments from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation, the Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Physiology & Biophysics – enabled Dr. Chappe to establish her new research program at Dalhousie.
Dr. Kishore Pasumarthi (myocardial regeneration)
Dr. Kishore Pasumarthi joined Dalhousie’s Department of Pharmacology from the Wells Pediatric Research Centre at the Indiana University School of Medicine in 2003. With support from a and CIHR and the Heart & Stroke Foundation, he is launching a research effort investigating various strategies for heart repair, including stem cell transplants.
Dr. Jean-Francois Legare (heart failure)
Dr. Jean-Francois Legare returned to Dalhousie in the fall of 2003, following a surgical fellowship in Germany. He completed his residency in cardiac surgery at Dalhousie Medical School in 2002, and has now joined the Department of Surgery as a cardiac surgeon and cardiovascular researcher. His work is supported by new investigator awards from the DMRF and Capital Health, and funding from the Heart & Stroke Foundation of New Brunswick.
Dr. Stephen Kisely (health outcomes)
Dr. Stephen Kisely received the first New Investigator Award. He arrived in September 2002 from the University of Western Australia, to accept the role of Dalhousie Medical School’s first Chair in Health Outcomes Research. Dr. Kisely is assessing various tools for measuring quality of care, and advising Dalhousie, Capital Health and the Nova Scotia Department of Health on a wide range of areas, from psychiatry and neurology to cancer and ophthalmology.