MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — Four teams of faculty from Penn State Harrisburg and Penn State College of Medicine have been awarded the inaugural planning and seed grants from the Penn State Inter-Campus Health and Medicine Research Program, a partnership created to support interdisciplinary research in health and medicine.
The new initiative — sponsored by Penn State Harrisburg through the Office of Research and Outreach and Penn State College of Medicine through the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI), and the Center for Medical Innovation (CMI) — aims to foster collaboration among researchers from different disciplines and campuses to leverage the diverse expertise and resources, and to enhance research capacity and competitiveness in the region.
To help foster research among faculty from Penn State Harrisburg and the College of Medicine, the program hosted a Faculty Connect event at the College of Medicine in Hershey, which connected over 100 faculty and researchers from the two colleges.
Leading this innovative program are Sharareh “Sherri” Kermanshachi, Penn State Harrisburg vice chancellor for research and outreach; Yuval Silberman, associate dean for interdisciplinary research at the College of Medicine; Erika Swift, director of the CMI; and Jennifer Kraschnewski, director of Penn State CTSI.
“Building bridges between our Penn State campuses and disciplines is a key part of the College of Medicine’s goal to drive field-defining research across the translational spectrum. Innovative ideas that translate to bench-to-bedside research and result in bettering the health of our communities are so often sparked by interdisciplinary collaboration,” said Karen Kim, dean of the College of Medicine. “The College of Medicine is proud to partner with Penn State Harrisburg on this program that will bring brilliant researchers together and pave the way for trailblazing discoveries in our key focus areas, from biomedical sciences to rural health.”
"We’re honored to launch this groundbreaking partnership between Penn State Harrisburg and the College of Medicine, and deeply grateful to everyone whose hard work and dedication brought this initiative to life. By merging our strengths, we open the door to innovative solutions that address critical health disparities and advance Penn State’s land-grant mission to serve the public good," said Penn State Harrisburg Chancellor and Dean David M. Callejo Pérez. "This collaboration underscores our commitment to interdisciplinary research and aligns with President Bendapudi’s strategic vision for research excellence. We look forward to the transformative impact this joint initiative will have on our faculty, students, and the communities we serve."
The recipients are as follows:
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Timothy Brearly, associate professor of neurology at the College of Medicine, and Md Faisal Kabir, assistant professor of computer science at Penn State Harrisburg, were awarded a planning grant for a project aimed at identifying probable neurologic disease using interpretable machine learning techniques. This project aims to create an interpretable machine learning model to predict brain pathology from neurocognitive data, enhancing test efficiency and potentially guiding future clinical support tools.
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Gregory Lewis, associate professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation at the College of Medicine, and Ola Rashwan, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State Harrisburg, were awarded a planning grant for a project titled “Design and 3D printing of functionally gradient structures of insoles for Charcot neuroarthropathy patients.” This project will explore 3D-printed custom footwear and insoles to counter Charcot neuroarthropathy, which can cause deformation and instability in the foot, from diabetes by optimizing support structures to redistribute foot pressure. Others involved in the project are Michael Aynardi, associate professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation at the College of Medicine, and Zachary Koroneos, doctoral engineering student at the College of Medicine.
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Wen-Jan Tuan, assistant professor of family and community medicine at the College of Medicine, and Sujeong Park, assistant professor of health policy and addiction studies at Penn State Harrisburg, were awarded a seed grant for a project titled “Beyond the Barrier: The Impact of X-Waiver Elimination on Opioid Use Disorder Treatment.” The study will assess changes in opioid use disorder diagnoses and buprenorphine prescribing patterns before and after eliminating the X-waiver requirement for clinicians. Others involved in the project are Aleksandra Zgierska, professor of family and community medicine, of public health sciences, and of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine at the College of Medicine; Dariush Khezrimotlagh, assistant professor of computer science and of mathematics at Penn State Harrisburg; Douglas Leslie, professor of public health sciences and of psychiatry and behavioral health at the College of Medicine; and Chan Shen, professor of surgery at the College of Medicine.
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Jonathan Maffie, assistant professor of radiology at the College of Medicine, and Truong Tran, assistant professor of computer science at Penn State Harrisburg, were awarded a seed grant for a project to develop clinically impactful machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms for diagnosis and prognosis prediction in Parkinson’s disease. This project will explore machine learning techniques to improve differential diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and predict psychosis symptoms, addressing challenges in distinguishing it from similar movement disorders. Others involved include Rebecca Jordan, research manager at the College of Medicine.
