Epileptologist Rohit Marawar, M.D., has been selected as a junior investigator mentee for the University of Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Core Center. He is an assistant professor of Neurology at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.
The mentorship program, now in its second year, provides a broad education about contemporary dementia research, and gives junior investigators the opportunity to receive guidance from experienced investigators in developing competitive grant applications to extend research activities around dementia. Each mentee completes an online curriculum focused on contemporary dementia research and works with an individually tailored mentoring committee of experienced investigators to assist in the preparation of competitive grant applications. Mentees are encouraged to participate in career development workshops and conferences, and present at the center's annual research symposium.
In addition to the mentorship, Dr. Marawar was recently awarded the School of Medicine Department of Neurology's Albert and Goldye Nelson Grant for $40,000, for the research project "Effect of Seizures in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease with respect to cognitive progression, imaging and electrographic biomarkers." The grant is available because of an endowment to fund research into the detection, treatment and cure of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders.
Dr. Marawar was instrumental in the development of the Wayne State University's Epilepsy in Elderly Clinic, which opened in March 2017 on the eighth floor of the University Health Center. Afternoon appointments are available on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. He hopes to play a leading role in the field of geriatric epilepsy and neurodegenerative disease in the future, and recently transitioned his focus into hyperexcitable brain networks in cognitively normal and abnormal elderly, including those with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
"Elderly have the highest incidence of seizures and prevalence of epilepsy of all age groups. Seizures can be more difficult to diagnose and treat as compared to younger adults. The geriatric epilepsy clinic provides clinical expertise in these individuals," he said.
Dr. Marawar's postgraduate training includes a Neurology residency at Albany Medical Center in New York and a Clinical Neurophysiology/Epilepsy fellowship from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.