One of the important parts of
the mission of the Child Neurology Foundation is to encourage
innovative research by pediatric neurologists, especially
those who are early in their careers and who have not yet
achieved NIH support.
The Researcher-in-Training Award is intended for child neurology
residents who are in their last year of ACGME-approved residency
training and who wish to pursue a research career in clinical
child neurology. The purpose of the grant is to fund an additional
year of child neurology training dedicated primarily to research.
The award provides up to $75,000 for salary and fringe benefits
plus partial research support. Transition from completion
of residency to independence as a scientist has been identified
as one of the major hurdles facing clinician-scientists, even
those with advanced scientific education such as an M.D./PhD degree.
2007
CNF Researcher-in-Training Award Winner
Shafali Jeste, M.D.
The Board of Directors and the Scientific Committee of the Child Neurology Foundation are pleased to announce Dr. Shafali Jeste as the recipient of the 2007 CNF Researcher-in-Training Award. The Researcher-in-Training Award, first given in 2003, provides up to $75,000 for salary and fringe benefits, plus partial research support. It is awarded to a promising child neurologist who desires a focused research experience during their early career.
Dr. Jeste commented, “I am truly honored to receive the Researcher-in-Training award. The transition from residency training to a full-time academic career is challenging, to say the least. This prestigious award has provided me not only with financial support, but also with confidence in the potential value of my research goals. I hope that this award will help launch productive research on the clinical phenotype and underlying developmental neuropathology of autism and its related spectrum of disorders.“
Raised in La Jolla, California, Shafali graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yale University, earning a B.A with Distinction in Philosophy. During her undergraduate years she worked in the Neuroscience Laboratory of Dr. Steven Waxman studying ion channel organization in neurons and glial cells. After graduating, Shafali received a grant from Yale University to work for a non-profit organization in Pune, India that provided AIDS education to health care workers at a government hospital. There, she designed AIDS education seminars for physicians, nurses, and patients, all in the native language of Marathi. Shafali then earned her M.D. at Harvard Medical School, where she worked with Dr. Steven Grinspoon in the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Neuroendocrinology on a study of HIV-related lipodystrophy. During her summers she also worked with a research group in the Department of Psychiatry at University of California, San Diego, studying executive function in patients with schizophrenia. After earning her M.D, Shafali trained in pediatrics at Children's Hospital Boston (CHB), and now is completing her Child Neurology residency at CHB. Shafali is currently the Chief Resident in Neurology at CHB. These clinical years have proven critical in directing her research interests toward early cognitive development and, more specifically, infantile autism.
She says, “I chose a career in Child Neurology because of a deep interest in the developmental neurobiology of cognition and behavior, for which autism has proven to be an important disease model. During my training I have cared for and evaluated many children diagnosed with autism. Most salient to me has been the multitude of pathways that can lead to the final diagnosis of autism, as well as the heterogeneity of presentations within this one clinical diagnosis. As I investigate the literature on autism, I realize that there is an enormous gap in our understanding of the pathophysiology and actual clinical phenotype of the various autistic spectrum disorders. I also have recognized that the Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) population serves as a unique disease model to study the neuroanatomic, neurophysiologic, and genetic basis for autism. It was in this setting that I designed the TSC and autism study, under the mentorship of Dr. Charles Nelson, director of the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience at CHB, and Dr. Mustafa Sahin, Assistant Professor in Neurology at CHB.”
The Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) serves as a high-risk group for understanding early signs and clinical correlates of autism. 25%-50% of children with TSC carry a diagnosis of autism. These children undergo neuroimaging and genetic testing in infancy, which can provide promising data for neuroanatomic and genetic correlates of autism. To date, there have been no published prospective studies of autism in the TSC population. The primary aim of this study is to understand the behavioral phenotype of children with TSC. We will perform early and comprehensive clinical evaluations using an electrophysiologic technique known as Event Related Potentials (ERPs) as well as observation-based behavioral assessments. We also will analyze the neuroanatomic and genetic correlates of autism in the TSC population. Variables to be evaluated will include (1) MRI abnormalities such as number and location of cortical tubers, (2) degree and location of white matter dysfunction through Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), and (3) the presence of TSC 1 or TSC 2 gene mutations. Through the TSC study I hope to elucidate some of the neuroanatomic and genetic correlates of autism in children with TSC, and also gain insight into the early behavior and neural processing of children at risk for autism.
