Breakthrough Discovery Symposium II
Peeyush Thankamani Pandit, Ph.D.
The Vivian L. Smith Department of Neurosurgery
Chair, Breakthrough Discovery Symposium II
Xiaoming Du, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Transcranial magnetic stimulation for treating core and comorbid symptoms of schizophrenia
Xiaoming (Michael) Du, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor (Research) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Dr. Du received his B.S. in Psychology from Peking University in 2005 and earned his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience in 2011. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatry at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC) and subsequently served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine before joining UTHealth Houston in 2023.
Dr. Du specializes in non-invasive neuromodulation interventions and circuit-level biomarkers in schizophrenia, with extensive experience in repetitive TMS, paired-pulse TMS, TMS-EEG, and emerging low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) approaches. His current work focuses on developing and advancing evidence-based, symptom-targeted neuromodulation treatments for auditory hallucinations, negative and depressive symptoms, and nicotine addiction in schizophrenia. Dr. Du is a recipient of a NARSAD Young Investigator Award (PI) and serves as MPI on one UG3/UH3 NIDA grant and two R61/R33 NIH grants, supporting his ongoing efforts to translate neurophysiological insights into clinical interventions for schizophrenia.
David Murdock, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics
Computational approaches to improving diagnosis and management in heritable thoracic aortic disease
David R. Murdock, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Medical Genetics within the Department of Internal Medicine at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. He is a physician-scientist whose work sits at the intersection of clinical genetics, computational genomics, and artificial intelligence, with a central goal of preventing premature death from heritable thoracic aortic disease (HTAD).
Dr. Murdock received his B.S. in Bioengineering from Rice University and earned his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine and subsequent training in Clinical and Molecular Genetics at the National Institutes of Health. As a practicing clinical geneticist, Dr. Murdock provides direct care to individuals and families affected by inherited aortic disorders. His research focuses on applying computational genomics and AI to improve diagnosis, gene discovery, and risk stratification in aortic disease. This includes developing AI-based facial analysis tools for early detection of HTAD conditions, including Marfan syndrome and vascular Ehlers–Danlos syndrome, as well as uncovering new HTAD disease genes through large-scale analysis of population biobanks and rare variant datasets.
Dr. Murdock contributes to national and international consortia and patient advocacy organizations, including the Montalcino Aortic Consortium and the Marfan Foundation. He is the recipient of an NIH K08 award and a John Ritter Foundation Thoracic Aortic Research Impact Grant, reflecting his commitment to translating computational innovation into the clinical detection and management of aortic disease.
Jennifer Walker, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
S. aureus adaptation during long-term colonization of urinary catheters impacts persistence and pathogenic potential
Dr. Walker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at UTHealth Houston’s McGovern Medical School. Dr. Walker joined the department in 2019 after completing her postdoctoral training with Drs. Scott Hultgren and Michael Caparon at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO.
Dr. Walker received her Ph.D. from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Iowa after completing her doctoral thesis work.
Dr. Walker is a recipient of the Texas Rising STAR award (2019).