The Cary Council’s Early-Stage Research Grants accelerate work of investigators
The promising work of three early-career UT Southwestern investigators in pediatrics, radiation oncology, and public health recently received a jump-start through grant funding from The Cary Council.
The Cary Council is a group of community leaders working to raise awareness of the important cause of academic medicine, research, and medical education in North Texas. Founded in 2015, the Council raises funds through annual philanthropic efforts, including its signature event, An Evening with DocStars, and awards grants to UTSW researchers early in their careers. Faculty members are selected by the Council’s Steering Committee from UT Southwestern leadership nominations.
On Nov. 3, Proshad Efune, M.D., Robin Higashi, Ph.D., and Dominic Moon, M.D., all received Early-Stage Research Grants at The Cary Council’s fourth An Evening with DocStars fundraising event. They were selected for research projects that show great promise for medical innovation.
Seed funding through The Cary Council Early-Stage Research Grants often leads to additional sources of funding for faculty to pursue breakthrough discoveries. To date, these grants have attracted $9.4 million in additional funding for research spanning several important medical areas including breast cancer, brain cancer, genomic technologies, and infectious diseases. Learn more about the grant recipients below and their promising research.
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management
After earning her medical degree at UTSW, Dr. Efune completed a residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, followed by a residency in anesthesiology at UTSW. She then completed fellowships in pediatric critical care medicine and pediatric anesthesiology at UTSW. Her work seeks to predict which children will be at risk for severe breathing complications following tonsil-removal surgery in order to better monitor those children in the hospital, while giving children who are not at risk the opportunity to recover at home.
“The first 24 hours after a tonsillectomy are crucial to a child’s recovery, and The Cary Council Early-Stage Research Grant will allow me to predict post-surgery complications and challenges more accurately,” said Dr. Efune. “Thank you to The Cary Council, Southwestern Medical Foundation, and UT Southwestern for recognizing my research and this important issue. Their generosity and philanthropy will influence future tonsil-removal surgeries, creating more comfortable and lower risk experiences for children, families, and doctors in North Texas.”
Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health
Dr. Higashi earned an undergraduate degree in psychology at Stanford University, a master’s degree in anthropology at University of California, Berkeley, and a doctorate in medical anthropology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Higashi is working to improve delivery of telehealth care to cancer patients among underserved populations in the Dallas-RedBird area. Her work will uncover the unique challenges of those patients that can hinder their access to care and develop strategies to address those challenges.
“Expanding digital health literacy and telehealth services in underserved communities is an important part of enhancing access to cancer care throughout North Texas,” said Dr. Higashi. “Telehealth is a valuable service and, when coupled with treatment and medication for cancer, can be lifesaving. I am very grateful for The Cary Council’s Early-Stage Research Grant, which will help me achieve my goal of reducing health disparities among minoritized and lower-income populations in the Dallas-RedBird community.”
Department of Radiation Oncology
Dr. Moon earned his medical degree at University of Michigan Medical School, where he spent a year conducting translational research at the National Institutes of Health through the prestigious Medical Research Scholars Program during his time in medical school. He then completed his residency in radiation oncology at the University of North Carolina Hospitals, where he served as Chief Resident. His research aims to tailor head and neck cancer treatments to each specific patient. He is developing a blood test to help physicians predict how an individual’s cancer will respond to different treatment options.
“Specialized cancer regimens have saved thousands of lives that would have been lost to cancer, and the funding for this research will further our understanding of specific pathways activated in different head and neck cancers,” said Dr. Moon. “With this grant, my team and collaborators are one step closer to developing a blood test that can ultimately personalize cancer therapy to improve its effectiveness.”
The inaugural An Evening with DocStars event was held in 2017, and since then, The Cary Council has awarded 15 substantial grants to young investigators to accelerate their work.