Three U of A Health Sciences researchers earn Career Development Awards

Three faculty members recently won University of Arizona Health Sciences Career Development Awards, which provide research training and funding to foster academic careers in clinical and translational research.

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Established in 2014, the awards provide $220,000 in salary, mentorship and research training and supplies over a two-year period. The awards, administered by the U of A Health Sciences, are meant to kick-start research projects fostered by faculty members in the early years of their careers.

The recent recipients are Erika Austhof, PhD, MPH, assistant research professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the U of A Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Kristin Huntoon, PhD, DO, assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson, and Celina Valencia, DrPH, assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

Austhof will use pathogen genomic data to model the role weather and ecological drivers play in the transmission of salmonella. Her mentors are Kerry Cooper, PhD, assistant professor at the U of A College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences and a member of the BIO5 Institute, Heidi Brown, PhD, MPH, professor at the Zuckerman College of Public Health, Kacey Ernst, PhD, MPH, professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Zuckerman College of Public Health and Mike Crimmins, PhD, professor and extension specialist at the U of A Department of Environmental Science.

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“This award allows me to dedicate the time to being able to work on research,” Austhof said. “This research had been a passion project, sort of a side thing that I would do after hours. This is really going to free up my time to focus on it. I am passionate about making a change for the good of public health.”

Huntoon will study a drug with the potential to slow down and kill glioblastomas, the most common primary malignant brain tumors in adults. Her mentor is Janko Nikolich, MD, PhD, director of the Aegis Consortium at the U of A Health Sciences, professor and head of the Department of Immunobiology at the College of Medicine – Tucson, and BIO5 Institute member.

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“I’m very appreciative to the U of A Health Sciences for this award and really excited to get going,” Huntoon said. “The award allows me to dedicate the time to doing the research that I’ve been wanting to do, and it shows that the university is really committed to advancing brain tumor research.”

Valencia will study whether chronic inflammation as a stress response drives accelerated DNA-based biological age that results in increased disease risk in post-menopausal women. Her mentors are Nikolich and Kathleen E. Rodgers, PhD, associate director of translational neuroscience at the U of A Health Sciences Center for Innovations in Brain Science and professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

“It’s such an honor to receive this award. I’m excited to do this work and to be able to  work with my mentors, who are  world-renowned researchers in their respective fields,” Valencia said. “Health disparities can be so complex, and  you need to pull from these different methodological toolkits in order to build health equity. I tend to do quantitative work, but I’m always thinking about how the work translates. How can we use it for policy? 

How can we use it to build structural change so all people have a similar opportunity to be as healthy as they can be?”