Each year the Professional Development Core selects qualified Scholars into the program. The Roadmap Scholars are junior faculty members whose goals are to become sustainable independent researchers. This year, in addition to a submitted application, Scholars were interviewed by all three Co-Directors and the Research Navigator. Please join us in welcoming the 6th Cohort of Roadmap Scholars: Juan Gao, MD (LSUHSC), Candice Myers, PhD (Pennington), and Ibolya Rutkai, PhD (Tulane University).

All three Scholars began on July 1st and have enrolled in the Masters of Science in Clinical Research program. Dr. Gao's project is titled "Radio Frequency Ablation and Renal Fibrosis in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats" and she will be investigating the role of chemokines in the pathology of hypertension and renal fibrosis. Dr. Myers' project is titled "Psychological Mechanisms Linking Food Insecurity and Obesity in Women" and will focus on food insecurity in women as a risk factor for obesity and its role in adverse health outcomes. Dr. Rutkai's project is titled "The Role of Mitochondria in the cerebral circulation" and will be studying the effects of estrogen in the regulation of the cerebrovascular circulation in terms of its protective effects against strokes. All three projects focus on significant regional public health problems, obesity, neuro and cardiovascular diseases, that are common in Louisiana and characteristic of disparity.

For further detail about each Scholar's project, please visit the following link on the Professional Development Core website: https://www.lacats.org/key-components/clinical-research-education-mentoring-and-career/roadmap-scholars/