Gunasekaran Joins 2020 TL1 Cohort
Suvai Gunasekaran, PhD, has joined the 2020 cohort of Northwestern University’s TL1 Multidisciplinary Training Program in Child and Adolescent Health.
Gunasekaran, a radiology postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern, joins the group of highly successful TL1 scholars at the University. As part of the incoming cohort, Gunasekaran will take part in a novel program that seeks to promote interactions among both mentors and trainees in pediatrics and engineering in order to encourage creative thinking and new approaches in child health research. Of the 12 Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences (NUCATS) Institute TL1 appointees who have completed their postdoctoral training, 11 remain engaged in clinical and translational science, two are in industry, and nine have accepted faculty positions at Northwestern or other institutions.
I am extremely excited to be a TL1 Scholar. I know that working on this project and being a part of the TL1 program will set me up to develop the skills I need to become a successful academic researcher.”
Suvai Gunasekaran, PhD, Northwestern University’s TL1 Multidisciplinary Training Program in Child and Adolescent Health scholar
“I am extremely excited to be a TL1 Scholar. This is the first grant I've received in my postdoctoral training and it will be a great stepping stone as I pursue a career in academia,” says Gunasekaran. “I'm looking forward to leading a research project, and I’m excited by the prospect that it will help me establish a career as an independent researcher.”
Gunasekaran grew up in Madison and attended Harvard University where she received her bachelor's and master's degrees in biomedical engineering. She then completed her PhD in biomedical engineering at Northwestern.
As a TL1 Scholar, Gunasekaran will attempt to develop an MRI test that can measure scarring in the heart without using potentially damaging contrast agents.
“There are many cardiac diseases that result in scarring of the heart, and if we can measure the amount of scarring a patient has, we'll be best equipped to treat them,” says Gunasekaran.
Currently, physicians can detect this scarring through an MRI technique that uses a contrast agent that is injected into the patient. Unfortunately, this contrast agent is known to accumulate in the brain and could potentially have long term side effects in pediatric patients, so it is avoided.
Gunasekaran will be mentored by Cynthia Rigsby, MD, FACR, FSCMR, FAAP, the Earl J. Frederick Distinguished Professor of Radiology, and Gregory Webster, MD, assistant professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Cardiology.
Written by Roger Anderson
