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FEBRUARY 2026 NEWSLETTER

The newsletter of the Feinberg School of Medicine Research Office

Advancing Preventive Care and Cardiovascular Risk Prediction Through Online Tools

Recently named to the Time100 Health 2026 list, Sadiya Khan, MD, is establishing herself as a leader in preventive cardiology and calling for younger people to think about their heart health earlier in life. The Magerstadt Professor of Cardiovascular Epidemiology, Khan studies the epidemiology of risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Using population-based cohorts and large electronic health record data analyses, she performs epidemiologic and mechanistic studies to enhance risk prediction and identify novel therapeutic targets for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Read the Feature

New Institute Envisions Future Where Our Brains Last as Long as Our Bodies

Northwestern University has launched the Simpson Querrey Brain Health Institute (SQ-Brain), made possible by nearly $25 million in philanthropic funding from university trustee Kimberly K. Querrey (’22, ’23 P). Farzaneh Sorond, MD, PhD, vice dean for Faculty Affairs and the Dean Richard H. Young and Ellen Stearns Young Professor in the Ken and Ruth Davee Department of Neurology, will lead the institute as the founding director of SQ-Brain.

Read about SQ-Brain

New Computational Biology Track Added to PhD Graduate Program

A new PhD track is being added to the Walter S. and Lucienne Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences (DGP) for the 2026 application cycle to enhance student learning and build community around computational biology and bioinformatics at Feinberg.

Read the full story

Faculty Profile

Developing Advanced MRI Methods to Better Understand the Brain

Molly Bright, DPhil, is an assistant professor of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences and of Biomedical Engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering. Her research focuses on developing functional MRI (fMRI) techniques to assess the function and interaction of neural activity and vascular physiology throughout the central nervous system.

Post-Doc Profile

Studying Interneurons and Retinal Cells to Understand Vision

Julia Fadjukov, PhD, is a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Gregory W. Schwartz, PhD, the Derrick T. Vail Professor of Ophthalmology. In the lab, her research spans amacrine cells and retinal ganglion cells in an effort to better understand vision in mice.

Student Profile

Using Brain Recordings to Investigate the Parietal Cortex

Joseph Kelly is a PhD student studying clinical neuropsychology. In the laboratory of Jason Hsieh, PhD, assistant professor of Neurological Surgery, he studies the electrophysiology of memory formation in the developing brain using direct brain recordings through intracranial electroencephalogram (EEG).

Campus Events

Wed Sep 30	SU/NU Global Health Knowledge Hub Conference Day 3 (Chicago Campus) Chicago -
Thu Oct 01	Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Symposium Off-Campus - 7:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Thu Oct 01	Flash(y) Bioethics: Five-Minute Takes on Five Topics - MHB Faculty Chicago - 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM
Fri Oct 02	Distinguished Lecture Series in Regenerative Engineering Featuring Eun Ji Chung: "Targeted Nanotherapeutics for Rare and Genetic Kidney Disease: Toward Restoring Organ Function" Chicago - 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Research in the News

Chicago Sun-Times, January 16
Northwestern study of long COVID patients shows how an app can track recovery
Igor Koralnik, MD, was featured.

Crain's Chicago Business, January 16
Northwestern study finds cardiac care disparity within 'Asian American' demographic
Nilay Shah, MD, was featured.

CBS News, January 14
Demand for high-achiever visas fuels a pay-to-play industry for scientific research and accolades
Luis Amaral, PhD, was featured.

Check out More Media Coverage

NUCATS Corner

NUCATS Launches Revised Service Request Form

To enhance accessibility to the many research resources available to you at NUCATS the Institute has launched a revised Service Request Form for various request needs including NUCATS membership, clinical research support, education and career development opportunities, grant development support and more. The revised Service Request Form can also be found on the NUCATS website under “Need Help?"

Breakthroughs Podcast

New Paths for Diagnosing and Treating Lyme Disease with Brandon Jutras, PhD

Two pivotal studies on Lyme disease from the lab of Brandon Jutras, PhD, provide important insights into what may cause persistent Lyme disease symptoms in a subset of patients. This research points to some promising new directions for both diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.

Listen to the podcast episode

New Faculty

Wenna Xi, PhD, joined the Division of Biostatistics and Informatics as assistant professor of Preventive Medicine in June 2025. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Weill Cornell. She earned her PhD from The Ohio State University, and her methodological research focuses on statistical challenges in the design and analysis of large-scale health data, including electronic health records, insurance claims and complex survey data. Her applied research interests include children and youth mental health, health disparities, health services, neighborhood effects and social determinants of health. She is affiliated with the Northwestern University Data Analysis and Coordinating Center (NUDACC).

Galter Library

Feinberg’s Researchers Named to Highly Cited Researchers List for 2025 

Across Northwestern University, 36 researchers were recognized on the 2025 list. Northwestern ranked 34th among the top 52 global institutions that serve as primary affiliations to Highly Cited Researchers, highlighting the university’s broad scholarly influence across disciplines.

Read the Full Story

High Impact Research

McDermott MM. Peripheral Artery Disease in the Legs. The New England Journal of Medicine. Jan 2026; 394(5):486-496.

Muenzer J, Burton BK, Harmatz P, Rajan DS, Jones SA, van den Hout JMP, Mitchell JJ, Bhalla A, Engmann NJ, Zubizarreta I, Dong W, Model F, Watts RJ, Troyer MD, Chin PS, Ho C. An Intravenous Brain-Penetrant Enzyme Therapy for Mucopolysaccharidosis II. The New England Journal of Medicine. Jan 2026; 394(1):39-50.

Ng B, Harris AC, Abdossamadi S, Aubert G, Bajwa R, Bhatia M, Bittencourt H, Buxbaum NP, Caywood EH, Chaudhury S, Chewning JH, Choi SW, Chopek A, Chu J, Coulter D, Gadalla SM, Hogg RT, Jacobsohn DA, Johnson AK, Joyce M, Kasow KA, Kent M, Kitko CL, Lau D, Lawitschka A, Lewis VA, Li AM, McLaughlin L, Mitchell D, Nemecek ER, Parthasarathy V, Pawlowska AB, Pirsl F, Pulsipher MA, Qayed M, Rozmus J, Savaşan S, Schechter T, Shenoy S, Suleimenova A, Zheng DJ, Ostroumov E, Gilman A, Klein Geltink RI, Wolff D, Cuvelier GDE, Schultz KR. Distinct biological subtypes of chronic GVHD after pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation. Blood. Jan 2026; 147(3):241-253.

Niederkorn M, Bezavada L, Cotton A, Palmer LE, Konada L, Hall T, Pagala VR, Zhai J, Yuan ZF, Fu Y, Steele JA, Narina S, Schild A, Wu C, Aminov S, Schieber M, McGovern E, Taylor AB, Gurbuxani S, Xu P, Ji P, Janke LJ, High AA, Kang G, Pruett-Miller SM, Weiss M, Verma A, Rampal RK, Crispino JD. FBXO11 suppression rewires an NPM1-centered interactome influencing the progression of myelodysplastic syndrome. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Jan 2026; 136(2).

Review More Publications

Featured Core

Behavioral Phenotyping Core

The mission of the Northwestern University Behavioral Phenotyping Core is to make available to funded research projects a facility to determine the behavioral effects of genetic manipulations, potential pharmaceuticals, aging, and other manipulations upon normal behavior, and the learning and memory capacities of rodents used as model systems. The BPC will also work with PIs to gather pilot data for new applications.