As College of Graduate Studies student Gabrielle Frame works toward a Ph.D., she continues to find ways to lead. The latest? Frame has been named as the inaugural recipient of the Ted and Swanny Voneida Neuroscience Research and Training Award.

Frame will use funds from the award to enroll in a certificate program offered by the American Medical Writers Association for individuals new to medical writing.

“I believe this training will be extremely beneficial not only in completing my dissertation but also to make me a competitive applicant as I begin searching for jobs,” says Frame.

Alzheimer’s research

In the laboratory of Christine Dengler-Crish, Ph.D., Frame leads a major branch of research that investigates how Alzheimer’s disease changes the function of the visual system. She is currently pioneering a project to determine whether cholinergic signaling to brain regions that control vision are damaged early in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model.

The Dengler-Crish lab collaborates on work done by the Neurodegenerative Disease and Aging Research Focus Area at NEOMED.

A student leader

Frame has already received two significant foundation fellowships to fund her graduate research. She is an editor of the new Journal of Medical Sciences at NEOMED, which published its first edition in fall 2021. Frame also serves as the lead author on two manuscripts and mentors lab staff and students in the Dengler-Crish lab.