Co-Investigators

Ernesto Canalis, MD

Ernesto Canalis, MD is an endocrinologist who has dedicated his career to studies pertinent to skeletal cell biology. His laboratory, located at St Francis Hospital and Medical Center (SFHMC), discovered the existence of skeletal growth factors. He has been a faculty member at the University of Connecticut since 1976 and has held the rank of Professor in the Department of Medicine since 1985 and in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery since 1990. Dr. Canalis is a highly innovative researcher, who has been funded continuously by the NIH since 1981. In 1990, Dr. Canalis received a MERIT Award from the National Institute of Musculoskeletal and Skin Disorders and has served as a member of the General Medicine B and Orthopedic Study Sections and on the Council of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Dr. Canalis also served as President of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. In 1996 Dr. Canalis received the Endocrine Society Award for outstanding research in Endocrinology and in 2004 the highest award of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research for contributions to basic research.

Judith Fifield, PhD, RN

Judith Fifield, PhD, RN is a Professor in Family Medicine and a Clinical Professor in Nursing at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. She is the founding Director of the Ethel Donaghue Center for Translating Research into Practice and Policy (TRIPP) at the University of Connecticut Health Center. The innovative TRIPP Center, funded by a $1.7 million dollar grant from the Donaghue Medical Research Foundation is designed to provide an interdisciplinary collaborative home where University and community researchers, staff and students have access to both pre and post-award support to conduct translational studies at the intersection of research and practice. She was the Co-Principal investigator of UCHC’s CTSA Planning Grant, and the first submission CTSA U-54 in 2008. She is a medical sociologist whose research is focused on community oriented translational research, health disparities and women’s health. Dr. Fifield has been continuously funded since 1991 from NIH, AHRQ, the Commonwealth Fund and other Foundations. She is currently PI on three practice-oriented translational studies and has been PI on two similar studies in the recent past, one of which was part of AHRQ’s launch of T2 translational research in their TRIPP research series in 2000. Current studies include an NIDDK-funded R-18 to translate the Diabetes Prevention Program into a church-based intervention; Safety.net, a CT Health Foundation-funded grant to organize a network of FQHC’s to plan for the inclusion of Electronic Medical Records and Information Exchange; and a Commonwealth Fund supported grant in collaboration with Emblem Health in NYC to evaluate the success of an RTC of a Medical Home Transformation Initiative. She was a member AHRQ’s translational research study section and has sat on an NIH CTSA review panel and the NIH Dissemination and Implementation SEP.

Victor Hesselbrock, PhD

Victor Hesselbrock, PhD is Professor and Vice Chairman, Department of Psychiatry and holder of the Physicians’ Health Services endowed chair in Addiction Studies. He is Principal Investigator and Scientific Director of the Department’s NIAAA/NIH funded Alcohol Research Center. Dr. Hesselbrock has had continuous NIH funding since 1976 for his program of research focused on the identification of psychological and biological factors that contribute to the susceptibility to develop alcohol problems, including dependence. He has authored or co-authored more than 275 peer-review publications. His current research includes a study of the deviance-proneness model of alcoholism vulnerability, a study of alcohol dependence phenotypes among Alaskan Natives, and two studies related to the genetics of substance dependence. These include being a Co-PI for NIAAA/NIH cooperative agreement the ’Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism’ (COGA) (1989-2014) and being an investigator in multi-site studies of the genetics of cocaine and opiate dependence.

Pramod Srivastava, PhD, MD

Pramod Srivastava, PhD, MD is an immunologist whose research focuses on cancer and viral immunity. He is Professor of Immunology and Medicine, Chairman of the Department of Immunology, and Scientific Director of the Carol and Ray Neag Cancer Center at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. During his tenure at UCHC, Dr. Srivastava has founded and directed the Center for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Infectious Diseases, and served previously as the Director of the Cancer Center. Dr. Srivastava has had continuous NIH funding since 1986, including multiple R01 grants. He has served on several NIH study sections as a permanent member and as an ad hoc member. His work in cancer immunology is the sole basis of the regulatory approval of a cancer vaccine in Russia, while a similar approval is pending in the European Union. This is the only cancer vaccine ever approved for the treatment of cancer anywhere in the world. Dr. Srivastava is a first or corresponding author on nearly 150 journal articles or book chapters, and he is among the top 1% of academic patentors in the country. He serves/ has served on editorial boards of major journals in immunology.

Senior Advisor

Lawrence G. Raisz, MD

Lawrence G. Raisz, MD is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Emeritus, at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC). His primary areas of research are osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease. He is Associate Director of The New England Musculoskeletal Institute and Director of the UConn Center for Osteoporosis. He was the founding Program Director of the Lowell P. Weicker Jr. General Clinical Research Center at UCHC in 1993. He has been funded by the NIH since 1963 and served on study sections and the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. He was President of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR) and founding editor of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. He is Vice-President of the National Osteoporosis Foundation. His honors include the Neuman, Hohl and Rodan Awards from ASBMR and the Astwood Lectureship from the Endocrine Society. He is the author of over 470 scientific publications and was Scientific Editor of the Surgeon General’s Report on Bone Health and Osteoporosis.

Advisor

Gerald D. Maxwell, Ph.D.

Gerald D. Maxwell, Ph.D. is a Professor of Neuroscience and an Associate Dean for Postdoctoral and External Affairs at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC). As Associate Dean, he provides leadership, oversight and coordination for all aspects of postdoctoral affairs at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC). In addition, he serves as a liaison to a number of organizations to foster and maintain relationships that are beneficial to the UCHC. He conducted a National Institutes of Health-funded research program on the molecular and cellular analysis of neural crest development from 1979-2000 and published widely in this area. He has been the recipient of an NIH Career Development Award and an NIH Fogarty Senior International Fellowship. Since 2000 he has devoted his full effort to academic administration and teaching.