Neurology PSTP Scholars
Current Scholars
Fred Shen
Research Interests:
Fred Shen is a current Northwestern neurology resident who was awarded an NIH Research Education UE5 grant for his project entitled Investigating cell type specific ATXN1 somatic repeat instability and pathological mechanisms. He will be working with mentors Dr. Puneet Opal and Dr. David Gate. He will complete neurology residency in 2026 and will pursue a fellowship in Movement Disorders following his research year.
Sheng Tang
Research Interests:
Sheng Tang is a former Northwestern neurology resident who was awarded an NIH Research Education R25 grant for his project entitled Investigating the pathogenic mechanisms of novel non-coding variants in SCN1A. He will be working with mentors Dr. Gemma Carvill and Dr. Elizabeth Gerard. He completed neurology residency in 2024 and will pursue a fellowship in Epilepsy following his research year.Past Scholars
Jonathan Brent
Education
MD, PhD: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (2013)
Research Interests:
Dr. Brent earned his MD and PhD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2013. He completed his neurology residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in 2017. Dr. Brent received the prestigious NIH-R25 training award and has been investigating the molecular mechanisms of ALS in the laboratory of Dr. Vladimir Gelfand. He completed a McGaw fellowship in Neuromuscular Medicine with the long-term goal of pursuing a career as a physician scientist.Neil Nadkarni
Education
BA: Cornell University, Biological Sciences (2009)
Medical Student Fellowship: Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2012-2013)
MD: Boston University (2014)
Subspecialty interests: Epilepsy, Cognitive Disorders, Gender Differences in Neurology
Research Interests:
My interest in further understanding mechanisms of disease etiology with long-term hopes of improving outcomes makes the PSTP a vital outlet for channeling my long-term aspirations of being a clinician-scientist. I was first interested in research by doing a program at Boston University with Dr. Andrew Budson at the Boston VA, where we looked at reducing false alarms using metacognitive cues in the Mild Cognitive Impairment/Alzheimers Disease population. During my third year, while witnessing an adverse patient outcome, I found myself intrigued by mechanisms of disease in preeclampsia. I received a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Medical Student Fellowship for 2012-2013, where I further fleshed out my research interest under the guidance of Dr. Ananth Karumanchi and Dr. Augustine Rajakumar in limiting pathologic phenomena of this condition of pregnancy. This experience convinced me to enter science, as I felt no better intellectual exhilaration than discovering mechanisms of disease and to translating these observations to potential patient therapies. Lastly, I also did work under the guidance of Dr. Georgia Montouris in medical school looking at major congenital malformations in children of pregnant women on antiepileptic drugs. I hope to further contribute to our understanding of neurologic disease over my time in the PSTP and beyond.