The WSU College of Medicine researchers have recently secured three of the nine 2024 New Faculty Seed Grants, a prestigious award that recognizes outstanding junior faculty members. These grants, provided by the WSU Office of Research, aim to support research and scholarly programs that contribute to the professional development and external funding opportunities for young faculty members.
One of the winning projects, led by Catherine Jarrett, PhD, RDN, will focus on exploring the effects of weight loss drugs on cardiovascular health. Specifically, the study will investigate how new GLP-1 agonist drugs impact the vascular health and cardiorespiratory fitness of individuals undergoing medically supervised weight loss in Spokane. Initial findings suggest that these medications not only aid in weight loss but also have potential benefits for heart health by reducing blood pressure and cardiovascular events.
Another grant recipient, Jessica Williams-Nguyen, PhD, MPG, will be working on integrating Indigenous methodologies with quantitative health science research. By mapping research methodologies that align with Indigenous ways of knowing and being, Williams-Nguyen aims to increase community participation and ownership in health science research. This project seeks to bridge the gap between traditional quantitative methods and community-based approaches, ensuring that research is conducted collaboratively with Indigenous communities.
Lastly, Courtney Kurinec, PhD, will be investigating the impact of common constraints on working memory and inferential decision-making. By studying how cognitive load from multitasking and time pressure affect decision-making processes, Kurinec hopes to identify potential errors that could lead to poor decision-making in high-stakes professions like healthcare. This research has the potential to improve decision-making processes and ultimately enhance patient care outcomes.
Overall, these three groundbreaking projects highlight the innovative research being conducted by junior faculty members at the WSU College of Medicine, with the potential to make significant contributions to the fields of cardiovascular health, Indigenous health research, and decision-making processes in healthcare.