DISCOVER Marquette 2019
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SEEING MARKERS OF DEMENTIA AN INTRICATE PICTURE: INDIGENOUS CRAFTING MEDICARE POLICY — THEN YEARS IN ADVANCE AMERICANS IN COLONIAL-ERA HISTORY LEVERAGING IT FOR IMPROVED CARE P. 02 P. 06 P. 08 02 91 RESEARCH | SCHOLARSHIP | INNOVATION EXTENDED REACH With professors finding success at the National Institutes of Health’s top funding tier— where impact is greatest on the treatment of cancer, stroke and other conditions — the university is finding creative ways to help more researchers achieve at this level. table of contents 2 0 1 9 0 2 MAPPING MEMORY Dr. Kristy Nielson earns a Haggerty 02 award for work detecting early markers of RESEARCH | SCHOLARSHIP | INNOVATION dementia and strategies for slowing the disease. Plus, fellow Haggerty awardee Dr. Craig Andrews targets public health gains with better health-risk warnings. Generous support. National recognition. Expanded research impact. 0 6 HISTORY REVEALED New scholarship by Dr. Bryan Rindfleisch 05 Welcome to the 2019 edition of Discover magazine. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; and the opening of the new calls for a change in the conversation Marquette University aspires to be among the interdisciplinary research space, the Athletic and about early indigenous Americans. most innovative and accomplished Catholic Human Performance Research Center. and Jesuit universities in the world. Each 0 8 FIXING MEDICARE FROM WITHIN Each spring when we gather to celebrate some of the year as we prepare our next issue of Former D.C. policymaker Lisa Grabert many scholarly accomplishments of our faculty at the Discover, I am so impressed and proud to Distinguished Scholars Reception, it is obvious that investigates the implications of health be able to tell you about some of the many Marquette attracts outstanding scholars committed to care legislation that she helped pass. ways that we live out our mission through their disciplines and to the educational experience of scholarship and research. 1 0 EXTENDED REACH our students. On behalf of these talented faculty, I would 10 NIH R01 grants are where Marquette In this year’s edition we feature Kristy Nielson’s like to express our gratitude to benefactors who help 06 professors have the greatest potential groundbreaking work on dementia; Craig Andrews’ recognize research excellence and provide support that health impact— and the university is research on marketing and public health; Bryan fosters future scholarly exploration, discovery, innovation Rindfleisch’s scholarship on previously overlooked and collaboration. As noted in the NIH R01 article, the getting creative to help more researchers historical experiences of indigenous Americans; Lisa donor-supported R01 Challenge has contributed to achieve at this level. Grabert’s leadership in the study of bipartisan Medicare growth in this prestigious external funding. The Explorer 1 6 RESEARCH IN BRIEF reform efforts; and the health-related research that has Challenge, also supported by generous donors, has An outside view of U.S. foreign policy led to a campus record number of active R01 awards seeded numerous innovative campus projects led 08 from the National Institutes of Health this year. In by faculty, staff and students and received national law; helping stroke victims speak again; addition, we profile the work of 10 outstanding faculty recognition this year as a model that other universities treating trauma-exposed children; an engaged in cutting-edge research, scholarship and could adapt to foster innovation. Thank you for helping 13 app to help autism caregivers; how creative endeavors in the Research in Brief section, and make this and so many other opportunities possible. Airbnb affects property values; fighting the Bookshelf features 11 recently published books. dental plaque; bridging a religious divide; Visit marquette.edu/innovation to discover more ways Our annual Spark section features six more examples portrayals of migrants in Spanish culture; that Marquette innovates. 21 of how Marquette faculty and students are making and documenting endangered terns. an impact in the world through their innovative and entrepreneurial endeavors. Among the Spark highlights 2 6 SPARK are this year’s launch of the Northwestern Mutual Protecting Central American water; Dr. Jeanne M. Hossenlopp Data Science Institute, a major partnership between Vice President for Research and Innovation research partnerships with corporations; Northwestern Mutual, Marquette and the University Marquette University a student-run shop in Milwaukee; challenge funds inspiring innovation; a sneak peek at the Athletic and Human Performance Research Center. 14 Editor Illustrations We appreciate your feedback 3 3 BOOKSHELF Stephen Filmanowicz An Intricate Picture: on Discover. Please send all Title design, ship and canoe 23 Art director comments to the editor at 29 elements by Michael Crampton Sharon Grace [email protected]. Fixing Medicare from Within: Editorial team 29 Stephanie Cowan Dalton Sarah Koziol Jennifer Russell Extended Reach: Kaley Rohlinger (intern) Stuart Brier TABLE OF CONTENTS 0 1 This page has been intentionally left blank mapping memory Dr. Kristy Nielson’s award-winning research uses fMRI imaging to reveal early signs of dementia — and explores exercise to slow brain decline. By Dan Simmons What did you know, and when did you know it? The classic changes and to try to stop it,” she says. “Of course, that’s detective question is not much different from a research what we still do, so it was certainly discernment.” question that has consumed Dr. Kristy Nielson’s career. Only The role of Nielson, professor of psychology, in developing Nielson, a cognitive psychologist, might pose a variant — techniques that aid in the detection of cognitive dysfunction what did you know, and when did you start to forget it — as prior to full-blown dementia, stands as one of her most she unlocks mysteries of memory and learning, especially as important contributions, says Dr. Stephen M. Saunders, chair they relate to aging. and professor of psychology. So does her work developing In Nielson’s 22 years at Marquette, her focus has been procedures to improve memory, especially among individuals both on older people with obvious signs of dementia — experiencing early memory loss due to aging. Alzheimer’s disease is the main one — and people earlier in Nielson has secured 35 research grants in her Marquette life whose brains show markers that predict memory loss tenure, with another five ongoing. The grants have brought but whose behavior isn’t yet affected. Asking the questions in more than $15 million and resulted in about that yield useful answers requires high-tech imaging tools, 70 articles in peer-reviewed publications. In including functional MRI and electroencephalography. And her department, “she is unmatched in the Nielson notes her good fortune in getting an early start with number of and total value of extramural Professor, Psychology Professor, fMRI thanks to being in Milwaukee. The Medical College of grants she has obtained,” says Saunders, Wisconsin was one of three centers in the nation to develop “and her research productivity in terms of the technology. At the time, the late 1990s, it wasn’t yet publications and presentations used to study aging or Alzheimer’s. But Nielson quickly saw is unparalleled.” its potential. For all these accomplishments, Nielson was a Dr. Kristy Nielson Dr. “I thought right then, as I started to learn it, that it would winner of the 2018 Lawrence G. Haggerty Faculty Award become incredibly important for understanding how and when for Research Excellence, Marquette’s highest research the brain begins to change, letting us look inside much earlier honor for faculty. In accepting the award, she recalled her than before — before the symptoms start — to see what undergraduate career, when she was studying speech RESEARCHER 20 MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY DISCOVER 2019 MAPPING MEMORY 0 3 PROOF IN LABELING Fortunately, regular exercise has proved protective in e4 A reviewer read every word of Dr. Craig Andrews’ 299- carriers, improving their ability to compensate for declining brain integrity — a promising line of research Nielson is page doctoral dissertation for the University of South pursuing through two major National Institutes of Health Carolina.“This is nice,” she said. “But why don’t you grants with partners at the Cleveland Clinic, University of research something important?” Maryland and elsewhere. “We are doing a clinical trial of exercise to examine whether brain function and cognition The words stung, Andrews says, especially given the source: his own improve and are better maintained over time in those at mother. Shortly afterward, she pointed out congressional hearings on proposed alcohol warnings, held at the time with no consumer research risk for Alzheimer’s as a result of exercise,” she says. “We to cite. are also examining the ways in which exercise might have its protective effects. We are particularly studying whether His mother’s tough love and research idea sparked a eureka moment Early access to emerging fMRI technology helped Dr. Kristy Nielson and launched what is now a 33-year career that has earned him a make breakthroughs in detecting brain changes that precede exercise reduces inflammation in the brain that APOE e4 is dementia. EEG technology figures significantly in her work too. known to increase.” reputation as one of the world’s leading authorities on marketing and public health issues. With additional NIH support, Nielson is also working For this cumulative record of distinction and influence, Andrews, pathology and thinking of becoming a chef. “Then I fell using fMRI imaging, Nielson has helped reveal the brains of to understand the role improved cardiovascular health professor and Charles H. Kellstadt Chair of Marketing, was awarded plays in maintaining brain function, specifically how well a completely in wonder and in love with the brain during high-risk carriers of the genotype engaging at an earlier age in Marquette’s highest research honor in 2018, the Haggerty Faculty person’s autonomic nervous system regulation responds a brain dissection class,” she says.