Advisory Committee
The Research Diversity Advisory Committee supports OFDIR by advising on and overseeing changes to the program as well as reviewing applications from prospective Fellows. Our committee members come from various departments throughout OHSU and are an invaluable source of support to the program.
Dr. Carla da Silva Batista is a postdoctoral researcher in the Balance Disorders Laboratory at the Department of Neurology. Carla’s research will focus on using news rehabilitation strategies to improve neurophysiological mechanisms that can be predictors of disease progression. Her long-term goals are to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to investigate the use of news rehabilitation strategies with high sensorimotor integration in improving neurophysiological mechanisms that can be predictors of disease progression with the goal of preventing falls as a principal investigator.
Dr. Matthew Butler is an Associate Professor in the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences. He has a broad interest in how biological clocks are synchronized in organisms, and how these affect physiology and behavior.
Dr. John Heintzman is a board-certified family physician, health equity researcher, and practicing community health center clinician. He started his research career formally with a Career Development Award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2012 on delivering preventive services to Latino immigrants in Oregon community health centers, and this portfolio has continued as he has partnered with Dr. Miguel Marino on multiple NIH-funded projects in Latino primary care equity in the health center setting, and with whom he co-directs the PRIMER (Primary Care Equity in Latinos) Center. He directed the OHSU Family Medicine Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from 2017-2020, and continues to mentor numerous junior scientists and learners.
Dr. Julia Maxson is an associate professor at the Knight Cancer Institute with a passion for translational leukemia research. Her laboratory focuses on uncovering how genomic changes manifest at the cellular level to promote cancer formation and progression. She has a particular interest in understanding how epigenetic and transcriptional dysregulation in the preleukemic state sets the stage for oncogenic transformation. Her long-term goal is to use this mechanistic understanding to develop lifesaving treatments for patients with myeloid malignancies.