Siwei Zhao, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UNMC Department of Surgery, was the grand prize winner in the third annual CTR Superstar Competition, held in October by the Great Plains IDeA-CTR Network.
Approximately 250 attendees came from across the country for the annual meeting, which this year focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in CTR.
In the Superstar competition, during which scientists “pitch” research ideas to a panel of judges, Dr. Zhao highlighted a project that introduced a novel ionic circuit-based ocular drug delivery device. Dr. Zhao was awarded $20,000 in pilot seed funding to expand the idea.
An anonymous donor also contributed another $10,000 seed grant award, which went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Angela Dietsch, Ph.D., for her project on sensory manipulation in dysphagia recovery.
Judges for the competition included:
- Michael Dixon, Ph.D., president and CEO of UNeMed, UNMC technology transfer arm;
- Sally Hodder, M.D., associate vice president for clinical and translational science and director and professor of medicine-infectious diseases at West Virginia University); and
- Michael Yanney, founder and chairman emeritus of Burlington Capital, formerly America First Companies L.L.C.
Krishan Arora, Ph.D., program director in the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Division for Research Capacity Building, gave a keynote speech highlighting resources and strategies for investigators to bring ideas from the ab to the market. Douglas Wright, M.D., Ph.D., president of the National Association of IDeA Principal Investigators, spoke on regional resources for fast tracking early stage science to market. Beverly Davidson, Ph.D., chief scientific strategy officer for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, discussed innovative new therapies for neurodegeneration.
The meeting also showcased regional resources and success stories of innovation in CTR, community engagement, and GP IDeA-CTR leadership plans to further build infrastructure for CTR.
“We were proud to host clinicians, basic and clinical scientists, community members, educators, and administrators at our meeting,” said Matthew Rizzo, M.D., chair of the UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences. “We welcomed a diverse set of ideas and backgrounds as we continued strengthening our network to build CTR and, ultimately, improve the health of individuals across our region.”