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 in the McGovern Medical School with a joint appointment in the Department of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health at UTHealth Houston. She received the Texas Rising Start Recruitment award in 2019. Dr. Walker received her BS in Biology from the University of Missouri, her PhD from the University of Iowa, and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University School Medicine.
Dr. Walker’s research focuses on understanding the host-pathogen interactions that dictate the onset, course, and outcome of chronic infections. Her work uses infections of medical devices as a model for chronic disease. The main questions driving her research are i) how do devices render people susceptible to a broad range of microbes; ii) what are the microbial virulence mechanisms that promote device infections; and iv) how do pathogens adapt during long term colonization to impact pathogenesis and persistence. She uses a multidisciplinary approach, blending the use of basic science, model systems, and patient samples to dissect the bacterial-host-device mechanisms that facilitate these recalcitrant infections, and to inform the development of novel antibiotic sparing therapies that can effectively treat these common and costly diseases.
Dr. Walker is a recipient of an NIH K01 (PI), R03 (PI), and a Plastic Surgery Foundation (MPI) award. And her mentees have been funded by NIH T32 and American Heart Association predoctoral fellowships.