The Johns Hopkins University Division of Brain Injury Outcomes (BIOS) is pleased to announce the 2022 recipient of the Ann Dana Kusch Predoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Research and Innovation: Paul Ryu. Funding to establish the fellowship was awarded in late 2020 by the Kusch and Molbert families in honor of their mother, Ann Dana Kusch, a long-time supporter of BIOS Director Daniel F. Hanley, MD, and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
One of the hallmarks of the Dana and Kusch families’ philanthropy over the past several decades has been funding for innovative and cutting-edge medical research. Their willingness to provide seed funding at critical junctures for new initiatives and research studies has paved the way for countless investigators. In fact, it was their early support of Dr. Hanley’s work that enabled development of the world’s first neurocritical care research program and an accompanying academic research fellowship at Johns Hopkins. Since the family’s initial philanthropic investment, Dr. Hanley has received more than 70 clinical and basic research grants, published more than 400 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and accumulated nearly 40 years of clinical trial experience in the fields of stroke, hemorrhage, trauma, and brain infections. Of the 100 researchers he has mentored directly, his trainees have led brain intensive care units across the United States and worldwide; more than 50 have been named full professors, program leaders, or department chairs.
The 2022 Ann Dana Kusch Fellow
The 2022 Fellow is an exemplary early-career BIOS investigator who has demonstrated his readiness for new challenges. Paul Ryu, who joined BIOS in 2019 as a research assistant, has proven himself to be a vital resource for many clinical trial teams. Assigned to the neuroimaging center, he has honed his computer science and programming skills for utilization and integration in the greater context of clinical trials across multiple therapeutic areas. His responsibilities include management and innovation of the BIOS neuroimaging repository; data development of hemorrhage/edema segmentations to train machine learning models; project support for general and imaging needs; development and technical maintenance of training websites for multiple trials; and service on a multi-institutional team researching the use of gamification to enhance clinical trial start-up activities.
Paul’s fellowship research will pursue three aims. The first is to build, train, and deploy a machine learning model to classify intracerebral hemorrhage location based on the MISTIE III clinical trial dataset. Second, he will compare the localization performance of the machine learning model to a reconstructed previous model that used a labeled atlas. His final aim is to develop and evaluate a quantitative correlation model for prognosis prediction using both models.
Under the guidance of a BIOS faculty mentor, this talented young researcher will leverage the extensive portfolio of BIOS clinical trials as the basis for individual scientific development.
The Fellowship
This one-year fellowship will support entry-level or early-career investigators at BIOS over the next three years. It is open to applicants with bachelor’s or master’s degrees, particularly those with education or experience in fields such as neuroscience, epidemiology, medicine, nursing, psychology, public health, engineering, clinical trials, and statistics. Applications for next year’s fellowship will be available in fall 2023, with a planned start date of April 1, 2023.
The BIOS Division is a clinical trial coordinating center (data management center, imaging reading center, and enrollment center) within the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Department of Neurology. Its focus is to provide multicenter management to clinical trials evaluating therapeutic, preventive, and diagnostic interventions.