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S
ally Radovick, MD
, profes-
sor of pediatrics and
senior associate dean for
clinical and translational
research, was named chair,
Department of Pediatrics,
effective June 1, 2017.
Dr. Radovick joined Robert
Wood Johnson
Medical School
in 2015, and she
was also named a
chancellor scholar
at Rutgers Bio-
medical and
Health Sciences.
During her
tenure, Dr.
Radovick formed collabo-
rative research groups
consisting of faculty mem-
bers across a spectrum of
expertise to facilitate suc-
cessful investigator-initiated
and training grant submis-
sions and to mentor junior
colleagues.
Under Dr. Radovick's
leadership, clinical trials
increased by more than 50
percent and investigator-
initiated protocols more
than doubled. In addition,
she led the development of
a metabolomics core as a
cooperative venture by the
medical school, Rutgers
Cancer Institute of New
Jersey, and Princeton
University. Dr. Radovick
has been instrumental in
the creation of the new
state-of-the-art adult
Clinical Research Center
facility located in Robert
Wood Johnson University
Hospital. In addition, she
supported the successful
submission of the Accred-
itation Council for
Graduation Medical
Education fellowship train-
ing program in pediatric
endocrinology for
the medical school in
March 2016.
An expert in
pediatric growth and
development disor-
ders, Dr. Radovick
focuses her research
program on steroids
that control sexual
maturity and reproduction,
as well as on neurotrans-
mitters and growth factors.
Her laboratory has eluci-
dated some of the factors
that control gonadotropin-
releasing hormone (GnRH)
gene expression and the
intracellular signaling
pathways within the GnRH
neuron and has demon-
strated that the GnRH gene
is the target of growth
factor and nuclear hormone
signaling pathways, which
link nutrition and growth
with pubertal development
and reproduction.
I
N
EWS
T
he "Paisa" population,
native to a region in
northwestern Colombia,
has far greater rates of sui-
cide than average. A con-
sortium of investigators
that includes
Javier I.
Escobar, MD
, professor of
psychiatry and family medi-
cine and associate dean for
global health, who grew up
in this region and will serve
as a key link between the
U.S. and Colombian re-
searchers, was re-
cently awarded a
$5.5 million re-
search grant by the
National Institute
of Mental Health
(NIMH) to study
the relationship
between genetics
and behavioral
disorders in the Paisa popu-
lation. Dr. Escobar believes
that a better understanding
of the origins of mental ill-
ness will lead to enhanced
and more personalized
treatment for patients
around the globe.
The Paisa population is
considered a "genetic iso-
late" because the people
have been living in the same
area for generations, have a
high frequency of marrying
within the extended family,
and show unique genetic
characteristics, all of which
facilitate studies. Large
genetic studies like this are
limited in the United States,
which rarely has specific
populations remaining in
the same location over long
periods of time, thus help-
ing to determine which fac-
tors are environmental or
genetic.
The grant, titled
"Colombia-US Cross Dis-
order Collaboration in Psy-
chiatric Genetics," will
study 8,000 members of the
Paisa population who suffer
from severe mental disor-
ders, with a group of 2,000
Paisa individuals
without mental ill-
ness used for com-
parison. Research-
ers will work with
physicians at the
hospital in Manizales
to assess symptoms,
traits, and markers
of severe mental
disorders, which will then
be traced to specific genetic
markers.
"Mental illness diagnoses
are too broad for effective
treatment," says Dr. Escobar.
"Our study will help deter-
mine symptoms that are
more predictable and meas-
urable, and may relate to a
certain genetic influence.
This eventually may lead to
a better way to classify
patients with mental disor-
ders and adapt treatments
there in Colombia, and
throughout the world."
This grant is the largest
RO1 award given by the
NIMH this year.
I
Grant Supports Study of
Genetic Causes for Mental Illness
38 Robert WoodJohnson
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Dr. Sally Radovick Named Chair of Pediatrics
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Javier I. Escobar, MD
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