Grants totaling $100,000 to support research targeting cancer, fungal infections, diabetes, concussions

The Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine is proud to announce its latest round of $100,000 in grants to support Hackensack Meridian Health physicians and researchers seeking novel breakthroughs and treatments for some of the most difficult afflictions challenging medicine today.

The Research Pilot Project Funding Program is supported by the school’s Office of Research and Graduate Studies, Hackensack Meridian Health’s Office of Research Administration, and the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation.

The five projects selected will be seeded with approximately $100,000 in total to help the scientists start their promising work – to generate preliminary investigative results, with the goal of seeking subsequent federal and foundation awards.

“This program is a vital pipeline to jump-start new research," said Ihor Sawczuk, M.D., FACS, chief research officer and president of the Northern Market for Hackensack Meridian Health. “When we seed these projects, we are expecting it to benefit everyone, long-term."

Each of the five projects will receive approximately $20,000.

All are overseen by principal investigators who have made the case that preliminary data could support a competitive extramural grant application within a year of this funding. The researchers, and their projects, are:

Johannes Zakrzewski, associate member of the Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) and a Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Attending Physician at Hackensack University Medical Center: Development of a novel nanoparticle-based targeted multiple myeloma drug;
Erika Shor, Ph.D., Research Assistant Member at the CDI: Deciphering the DNA damage and stress responses of major fungal pathogen Candida glabrata;
Michael Poulos, Ph.D., research assistant member at the CDI: Exploring niche-specific extracellular vesicles to promote healthy hematopoietic aging;
Felicia Gliksman, D.O., pediatric neurologist and director of the Pediatric and Adult Concussion Center at Hackensack University Medical Center: Speech as an Indicator of Concussion Severity and Recovery in Pediatrics;
Colette Knight, M.D., chair of the Diabetes Institute and division director of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Hackensack University Medical Center: Implementation of Continuous Glucose Monitoring in an Academic Medical Practice Serving Persons with Health Disparities.

"The program evidences our commitment to system-wide research and scholarship and has been enthusiastically received," said Stanley R. Terlecky, Ph.D., associate dean of Research and Graduate Studies and chair of Medical Sciences at the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. “Boosting these novel projects at the earliest stages could make all the difference in the development of novel approaches for improving the health and well-being of patients in the future."

“Our School is a hub for learning, and this ongoing funding initiative shows we are supporting new investigations from the outset," said Bonita Stanton, M.D., the founding dean of the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.