3 OSU professors named 2023 President’s Fellows Faculty Research Award recipients
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Media Contact: Harrison Hill | Senior Research Communications Specialist | 405-744-5827 | harrison.c.hill@okstate.edu
Dr. Ramesh Kaipa — associate professor and director of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders — researches treatments for individuals with speech disorders following neurological illness.
It’s common for people with Parkinson’s disease to experience speech deficits that have a major bearing on their quality of life. There is limited research to develop an evidence-based treatment for fast speech rate in Parkinson’s. As the director of the Motor Speech Lab, Kaipa hopes to fill this void.
“The overarching theme of my research is to improve quality of life for individuals diagnosed with neurogenic communication disorders,” Kaipa said.
The funds from this award will be used to finance a project that will test the efficacy of a novel line of treatment intended to address fast rate of speech in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.
“This will be one of the first projects to solely focus on treating speech rate deficit in this population,” Kaipa said. “The outcomes of this project will have broader ramifications on service-delivery models for people with Parkinson’s disease. Additionally, this project will reinforce OSU’s One Health model.”
Dr. Winyoo Chowanadisai — associate professor of nutritional sciences — researches how diets and genetics affect human health.
“My goal is to determine ways for people to adjust their diets based on their genes to promote health in a way that is specific for each person,” Chowanadisai said.
Chowanadisai is specifically interested in preserving brain and cognitive function during aging and preventing dementias like Alzheimer’s disease.
The funds from this award are being used to support a project for accessing the UK Biobank — a database of extensive health, dietary and genomics data — to examine how important different minerals and vitamins are to human health and preventing neurodegeneration and chronic diseases.
“This award supports the students in my lab so they can focus on data science and research using the UK Biobank with fewer financial worries,” Chowanadisai said.
This past summer, undergraduates Parker Johnson and Gracie Meade and concurrent enrollment student Aiden Yejoon Kim worked in Chowanadisai’s lab.
Dr. Mike Schoonover — professor of veterinary clinical sciences and equine surgery service chief at the Boren Veterinary Teaching Medical Hospital — researches equine intravenous regional limb perfusion techniques (IVRLP).
These techniques are used in the prevention and treatment of orthopedic and soft tissue infections in horses.
“Although much research has been published on the efficacy of IVRLP in adult horses, limited scientific information is available on the use of this technique in foals,” Schoonover said. “The horse industry is very important to Oklahoma and has a major impact on the state’s economy and the quality of life of many Oklahomans. Newborn foals within our state, nation and worldwide will benefit from improved treatment protocols because of this study and the additional research it stimulates.”
The research funded by this award is focused on providing needed scientific evidence of the effectiveness and safety of concurrent intravenous and IVRLP with amikacin — an antimicrobial — for the treatment of infection in the joints of neonatal foals as well as help guide future research of IVRLP in foals using different medications and techniques.