Awards & Prizes
Alice Chen-Plotkin, MD
Alice Chen-Plotkin, MD, the Parker Family Associate Professor of Neurology, was awarded the Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award in Clinical Science by the American Neurological Association (ANA) at the ANA’s 143rd Annual Meeting in Atlanta, October 21-23, 2018. Chen-Plotkin received the annual award for achieving significant stature in neurological research and showing promise for continuing to make major contributions to the field of neurology.
Grants
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M. Kit Delgado, MD, MS, and Zarina S. Ali, MD, MS
A new grant over $1.1 million from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow Penn Medicine researchers to develop and implement a text-messaging platform to help decrease excessive opioid prescribing and use (HHSF223201810209C). The HIPAA-compliant text-messaging platform will collect data on opioid consumption and ability to manage pain after neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, and emergency department encounters and procedures. The project will then implement and evaluate the effectiveness of using default settings in electronic medical records informed by the patient-reported data with the goal of reducing excessive opioid prescribing in these clinical departments. The grant co-principal investigators include M. Kit Delgado, MD, MS, an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology, and Zarina S. Ali, MD, MS, an assistant profeassor of Neurosurgery. Co-investigators include Anish K. Agarwal, MD, MPH, a National Clinician Scholars Fellow in the department of Emergency Medicine, Brian Sennett, MD, chief of Sports Medicine, and Samir Mehta, MD, chief of Orthopaedic Trauma.
Victoria E. Johnson, MBChB, PhD
Post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) is a frequent and debilitating complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Victoria E. Johnson, MBChB, PhD, assistant professor of Neurosurgery, was awarded a more than $750,000 grant from Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) through its Post-Traumatic Epilepsy Initiative (W81XWH-15-2-0069). The grant, titled Neuropathological Mechanisms of Post-Traumatic Epileptogenesis, will focus on the relationship between the detrimental neural changes that can follow TBI and promote the development of PTE. A collaborative effort between the departments of Neurosurgery and Neurology, co-investigators at Penn include Frances E. Jensen, MD, the chair of Neurology, Delia Maria Talos, MD, a research assistant professor of Neurology, and John A. Wolf, PhD, a research assistant professor of Neurosurgery.
David Metzger, PhD
David Metzger, PhD, director of the HIV Prevention Research Division in the department of Psychiatry, received a grant of over $2 million from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to test a new strategy for reducing opioid overdoses and deaths by engaging individuals in long-term medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorder (R01CE003049). In collaboration with Prevention Point Philadelphia, the Treatment Research Institute at Public Health Management Corporation, the Penn Injury Science Center, and the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, this funding will support a community-based treatment team composed of a nurse practitioner, a peer recovery specialist, and a case manager. The team will have the capacity to rapidly initiate treatment using a mobile medical unit and home visits, while helping participants become engaged in long-term treatment.
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