The Office of the Vice President for Research would like to recognize two junior faculty who have recently won prestigious National Institute of Health K Awards: Dr. Debarchana (Debs) Ghosh, Assistant Professor of Geography, and Dr. Alison Kohan, Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences. NIH K01 awards provide meritorious researchers with three to five years of support for an intensive, mentored research training and career development experience in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences.
Dr. Debs Ghosh received an award for her project “Connecting People, Places, and Barriers: The Effect of These Connections on Adherence and Retention in Care for HIV Infected Drug Users.” Dr. Ghosh plans to expand upon her background as a health geographer through mentorships with experts in substance abuse, HIV, intervention, social network analysis, neighborhood effects, biostatistics and health communication in order to ultimately design interventions to improve HIV treatment outcomes among this vulnerable population.
Dr. Alison Kohan was also awarded a K01 award from the NIH for her project “A Unique Role for ApoC-III in Intestinal Lipoprotein Synthesis and Secretion.” Dr. Kohan plans to study Apolipoprotein C-III (apoC-III), an exchangeable lipoprotein produced by both the liver and the intestine, which is an independent predictor for cardiovascular disease and displays elevated plasma concentrations in type 1 diabetics. Dr. Kohan’s research will provide key knowledge about the role of apoC-III in mediating intestinal lipoprotein secretion and the potential of intestinal apoC-III as a therapeutic target.
Congratulations, Drs. Ghosh and Kohan!
For more information, contact: Jessica McBride at jessica.mcbride@uconn.edu