Dr. Kai Rogers, a resident in the Pathology physician-scientist training program (PSTP), has received an NIH/NINDS grant award through its R25/UE5 funding mechanism. The University of Iowa R25/UE5 program, entitled “Carver College of Medicine Clinical Neuroscientist Training Program (CNS-TP)” is led by Drs. George Richerson and Kumar Narayanan in the Department of Neurology. This program acknowledges the critical need for physicians to be involved in basic research on human brain disease and provides direct support toward this goal. It provides funding for residents in any department if their research is in any area aligned with the goals of the NINDS. Its major purpose is to increase the number of physicians performing disease-oriented neuroscience research, and to decrease the time for physician-scientists to obtain independent funding (K Awards, R01s, etc.).

Kai’s successful proposal outlined his upcoming research focused on elucidating the mechanism by which extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) protects mice from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a rodent model of multiple sclerosis (MS). This research will be conducted in the laboratory of Kai’s PSTP mentor, Dr. Nitin Karandikar.  The grant award provides 6 months of research support in the current fiscal year, with the opportunity to renew for 2 additional years of support toward PSTP training.