Great Plains IDeA-CTR announces Scholar awardees











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Vijaya Bhatt, M.D.



Elizabeth Heinrichs-Graham, Ph.D.


The Great Plains IDeA-Clinical Translational Research (CTR) Network at UNMC has announced five awardees for its 2018 Scholars Program grants.

The goal of the program, administered through a National Institutes of Health/National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant, is to develop early career researchers into independent scientists and increase the infrastructure and other resources needed to support clinical/translational research (CTR) around the region.









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Bryant England, M.D.
To help achieve this goal, selected scholars are provided with the protected time and seed grant funding to develop competitive CTR projects for submission to the NIH. The award provides partial salary support and up to $50,000 annually to support preliminary research efforts for up to four years.

The Great Plains IDeA-CTR Network is a collaborative effort between nine institutions in Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and Kansas, to reach medically underserved populations and transform health delivery and outcomes in the Great Plains region. Matthew Rizzo, M.D., professor and chair of the UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences, is the principal investigator on the grant.

In addition to UNMC, the Nebraska institutions include the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska at Omaha, University of Nebraska at Kearney and Boys Town National Research Hospital. Other participants include the University of South Dakota, University of North Dakota, North Dakota State University, and the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Three of the scholars awarded grants were from UNMC, one from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and one from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

UNMC awardees were:

  • Vijaya Bhatt, M.D., assistant professor, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Oncology & Hematology
  • Bryant England, M.D., assistant professor, UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology
  • Elizabeth Heinrichs-Graham, Ph.D., assistant professor, UNMC Department of Neurological Sciences

For more information on all awardees, click here.