Scholars to Serve as Associate Scientific Advisors

Jessica A. Alvarez, PhD, RD; Pamela Bhatti, PhD; Marshaleen Henriques-Forsythe, MD

The Atlanta Clinical & Translational Science Institute (ACTSI) is excited to announce that three out of the 28 scientists selected as 2015 Associate Scientific Advisors for Science’s sister journal Science Translational Medicine are ACTSI Research Education, Training, & Career Development (RETCD) scholars.

Jessica A. Alvarez, PhD, RD, a recent graduate of the RETCD Certificate Program in Translational Research and Instructor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Lipids at Emory University School of Medicine; Pamela Bhatti, PhD, a former RETCD KL2 scholar, graduate of the RETCD Masters of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR) program and Associate Professor of Digital Signal Processing, Bioengineering, and Microelectronics/Microsystems in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology; and Marshaleen Henriques-Forsythe, MD a current Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) RETCD KL2 scholar and Assistant Professor of Medicine at MSM, will each serve as a 2015 Associate Scientific Advisor for Science Translational Medicine. 

“This is a significant honor for all three of our scholars – each from one of the ACTSI’s major consortium partners and all of whom matriculated through our RETCD clinical/translational training programs,” said Thomas Ziegler, MD, TL1 Program Director, RETCD Program Co-Director and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Lipids at Emory University School of Medicine.

Nominated by individual NIH national Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) programs and mentors as outstanding early-career translational scientists and policy scholars, each advisor will write up to eight editorial-like pieces on just-published articles of their choice with translational significance from front-line journals that will be published in Science Translational Medicine over the next year. Previous RETCD KL2 scholars who served as Associate Scientific Advisors include Srini Tridandapani, MSEE, PhD, MD, MS, Emory Assistant Professor of Radiology and Anandi Sheth, MD, Emory Assistant Professor of Medicine.

In the sixth year of the Associate Scientific Advisor program, Science Translational Medicine seeks to build connections with the community of early-career scientists in translational medicine and to provide them with training in scientific communication and critical analysis. Through expert editorial instruction, participants receive feedback that will help them to improve their general writing skills and learn to communicate in a clear, broadly accessible style.

“Associate Scientific Advisors are selected on the basis of their expertise, research disciplines, publications, and performance in a writing exercise. The participation of the CTSA institutes has been crucial in this process,” said Kelly LaMarco, PhD Senior Editor, Science Translational Medicine.

The ACTSI is a city-wide partnership between Emory, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Georgia Tech and is one of a national consortium striving to improve the way biomedical research is conducted across the country. The consortium, funded through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences one of the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA), shares a common vision to translate laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients, engage communities in clinical research efforts, and train the next generation of clinical investigators.