FAU Health Research Subcommittee Directory

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	Andres Alvarez Director, Oncology Research Memorial Healthcare System andralvarez@mhs.net Research focus areas: Cancer, biobank, minorities, regulatory, ethics, neurosciences and oncology Themes for a targeted group meeting: Regulatory Affairs biobank grants
	Ravi Behara Professor Florida Atlantic University rbehara@fau.edu Research focus areas: Healthcare analytics and healthcare operations
	Predrag Cudic Associate dean for Research College of Science Florida Atlantic University pcudic@fau.edu Research focus areas: Peptide-based drug discoveryn intranasal drug delivery Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Peptide synthesis, peptide chemistry and biochemistry, intranasal drug delivery to the brain Themes for a targeted group meeting: Pain, addiction
	Noella Dietz Corporate Director of Research Broward Health ndietz@browardhealth.org Research focus areas: Broward Health provides research to its patients in cardiovascular, adult cancer, pediatric cancer and neurology/stroke. We also have a large residency program where they are required to do research. We can work with investigators who have interests outside of our current study areas. Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Broward Health wants to collaborate with academic organizations to do studies where we can provide the patient population, but are unable to write the grant opportunities. We can provide patients, biospecimens and retrospective data from our EMR. We do not have many physicians who can take the time to write an application for a funded research study, however, we can be a sub-site for a grant. Interested in talking with: I am happy to speak to any faculty member or business associate who would like to work with us for a study. Themes for a targeted group meeting: I was in Group 2 in the breakout session and we discussed neuro/stroke studies as well as possible behavioral studies. We also discussed partnering with Sherry's group for the high school/undergraduate students who can work with residents. Some of our residents need publications so biostats is always a need. Other: I love the idea of this collaborative and look forward to working with everyone.
	Gregg Fields Executive Director Institute for Human Health & Disease Intervention Florida Atlantic University fieldsg@fau.edu Research focus areas: The role of proteolysis in disease progression (cancer, arthritis, neurodegenerative diseases); design of protease inhibitors Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Understanding who all of our collaborators are. Interested in talking with: Other researchers at FAU in common research areas, research clinicians at Broward Health and Boca Regional. Themes for a targeted group meeting: (1) Alzheimer's disease, (2) epigenetics in cancer, (3) brain cancer
	Behnaz Ghoraani Associate Professor Florida Atlantic University Bghoraani@fau.edu Research focus areas: Sensing and data analytics; wearable monitoring; machine learning Other: I am interested in access to patients for data collection.
	Aaron Goldman Chief Science Officer DNA Labs aaron@dnalabs.ca Research focus areas: DNA testing, pharmacogenomics, nutrigenomics Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: We love to support research, whether that's using our existing panels to support a clinical trial or custom panels to support more basic research projects. We're happy to work with investigators from supporting grant applications (as an industry partner with in-kind contributions) to carrying out genomic analysis, and we can simply act as a vendor or can get more involved with the projects, and we can also take on students as researcher/interns. Interested in talking with: All stakeholders Themes for a targeted group meeting: Personalized medicine/precision medicine/genomic medicine Other: Just happy to be part of this group! DNA analysis obviously fits in with a broad variety of projects, so I'm looking forward to meeting new researchers and being at the table!
	Gulcin Gumus Associate Professor Florida Atlantic University ggumus@fau.edu Research focus areas: Health economics & policy Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Investigation of de-identified secondary health/healthcare data Interested in talking with: Other researchers interested in topics related to public/population health Themes for a targeted group meeting: It would be very helpful to have a separate meeting for non-clinical researchers such as myself who do not necessarily want access to patients or to clinical trials. Other: Thank you for your efforts.
	Peter Holland Prof. of Psychiatry /Medical Dir. Clinical Research Unit College of Medicine/Division of Research holland@health.fau.edu Research focus areas: Clinical trials, dementia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, sleep disorders Interested in talking with: Anyone interested in utilizing the CRU for a clinical trial Themes for a targeted group meeting: How to build personal relationships/networking to facilitate research Other: Institutions (hospital systems, universities, etc.) tend to be large, bureaucratic and impersonal. People often work in their own silo. Personnel frequently change and the institution has no "memory." I feel that collaboration is best achieved when there are personal relationships built over time. It would be great to have a few people with knowledge of the "big picture." They could help steer the collaboration. They would have the long-term institutional knowledge regarding making things work, etc. I think today's meeting was excellent. We need to find ways to foster meaningful networking.
	Kaustubh Kale Founder & CEO Aventusoft LLC kaustubh@aventusoft.com Research focus areas: At Aventusoft (https://aventusoft.com/), we have technology in the area of diagnostic device and cloud AI based monitoring for cardiovascular disease in different patient populuations, maternal health, diabetes, heart failure. Also have a platform to facilitate decentralized trials, enabling access to patients in the areas above. We are also very active in NIH research and grants. Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Aventusoft can provide a device and cloud AI technology for monitoring patients in clinical studies, needing cardiovascular monitoring. (https://aventusoft.com/) Provide our health platform that enables patients and physicians access to US-based sub-specialists, via tele-health. (https://carepear.us/) Provide our platform to facilitate decentralized trials, enabling access to patients in the areas of diabetes, maternal, cardiovascular care. Interested in talking with: Helping researchers access to patients in the area of cardiovascular diseases Themes for a targeted group meeting: De-identified data from our local health systems
	Marc Kantorow Associate Dean Graduate Programs College of Medicine, FAU mkantoro@health.fau.edu Research focus areas: education/research
	Ashok Kapur CEO Hawkeye MedTech, Inc akapur@hawkeyemedtech.com Research focus areas: MedTech software and devices to improve access to healthcare with a focus on reducing healthcare disparity and improve health inequity Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Need hospital collaboration to connect hospitals to local communities Interested in talking with: FAU Hospital and FAU medical school Themes for a targeted group meeting: Initial meetings via Zoom and then second meeting in-person
	Moni Lustig President & CEO DNALabs Corp moni@dnalabs.ca Research focus areas: Pharmacogenomics and any form of genetics
	Sarah Milton Professor and Chair Biological Sciences Florida Atlantic University smilton@fau.edu Research focus areas: Biology has research interests in PCOS, microbiology, AI applications, neuroscience Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Matching potential collaborators in industry and healthcare with our researchers Other: I believe one suggestion was an "experts list" or directory. That could be very helpful, if searchable. Biology is a little behind in that (not being part of a med school); this is not the usual form our research takes, so we are a few steps behind where others in the group might be.
	Beth Pratt Assistant Professor Florida Atlantic University bpratt4@health.fau.edu Research focus areas: My focus areas are Veterans with PTSD, TBI, cognitive decline, and psychosocial influences on gene expression variation, particularly pro-inflammatory, Type-1 Interferon, and antibody synthesis genes, which affects health and behavior and may change over time with appropriate interventions. Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: There is a gap in psychoneuroimmunological and epigenetic/transcriptomic research in my department. I would like the opportunity to collaborate with others who have similar interests as well as the ability to analyze genomic data. Interested in talking with: Colleagues/collaborators who work in the areas of psychoneuroimmunology and omics Themes for a targeted group meeting: Collaboration across colleges at FAU - opportunities for early-career researchers without federal funding to further their research trajectory
	Jack Scott Associate professor and executive director- FAU CARD FAU College of Education jscott@fau.edu Research focus areas: Autism, autism mental health, autism suicide prevention, autism assessment especially for Black children, child safety from unintentional injury which is a major and growing health issue. Drowning is especially prominent in the autism community among children. Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Mental health training for current mental health practitioners Interested in talking with: Not sure did not attend Themes for a targeted group meeting: Diversity, equity in access to health care
	Ruth Tappen Eminent Scholar and Professor College of Nursing Florida Atlantic University rtappen@health.fau.edu Research focus areas: ADRD: assessment, treatment; driving and dementia Long term care, particularly transitional care Physical activity in older population Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Long term care facilities interested in working with us on new projects related to behavior management, falls prediction, transitions Themes for a targeted group meeting: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, probably divided into human research and bench science Other: Appreciate your interest in building research networks!
	Ilknur Telkes Assistant Professor College of Medicine Florida Atlantic University itelkes@health.fau.edu Research focus areas: Chronic pain, movement disorders, neuropsychiatric disorders, biomedical signal processing, neuromodulation (spinal cord stimulation, deep brain stimulation), clinical research Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: My research program highly depends on close collaborations with neurosurgery and neurology clinics. I collect neural data during surgery and at clinic and I have the necessary setup to do so. I am open to build new collaborations if there is any interest on the hospital side. Interested in talking with: Dr. Noella A. Dietz. I couldn't have the chance but I would be interested in talking to talk to Dr. R. Tappen as well. Themes for a targeted group meeting: During the meeting, the focus was mostly on collecting biological specimen and genetic analyses. In addition to those fields, there are faculty, including myself, who record brain signals, images and behavioral data from clinical cohorts. We can also discuss how to get an IRB to conduct the research at a hospital (carrying the FAU IRB or applying for a new one etc), processes of getting security and safety training to get the hospital badges, best way of adding research coordinators into the grants/IRBs (on FAU side or hospital side).
	Andrew Terentis Professor and Department Chair Florida Atlantic University terentis@fau.edu Research focus areas: My research interest is in developing Raman spectroscopy (light scattering with a laser) in conjunction with deep learning techniques to detect and diagnose cancers. Our work to date has focused on skin cancers but there is also potential for other types of cancer, especially oral cancers and brain cancers. Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Clinical access to a large and diverse range of patients and cancer types is a challenge. There are also opportunities for computer scientists and engineers to help design hardware for automation, and software for rapid data acquisition and processing for diagnosis in real time. Other: The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has several funded researchers working in the areas of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. I am happy to assist by encouraging and enabling our researchers to collaborate with those that are interested. Please visit us at chemistry.fau.edu.
	Lisa Wettermann Group Director, Clinical Research Palm Beach County Tenet elizabeth.wettermann@tenethealth.com Research focus areas: Cardiac, vascular, mobility, neuro studies. Looking forward to new research involving cancer, psych. Gaps/opportunities for collaboration: Working with FAU and Research contacts for PI driven research involving medical students, residents, nursing, etc. Interested in talking with: Updated contact list from FAU for those parties delegated to assist with the above groups of individuals