Sarah Kim, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pharmaceutics in the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, was awarded a two-year grant totaling more than $400,000 to help design better clinical trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or DMD. The study was funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and began Sept. 1. Kim was the college’s first artificial intelligence initiative hire in the college and moved into a tenure-track position in June.
Kim’s research aims to advance the therapeutic development of DMD, which has accelerated over the past decade but continues to face significant challenges. In this study, she will leverage the large natural history ImagingDMD dataset to develop a model-based clinical trial simulation tool using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy biomarkers. The tool will be made publicly available to help optimize the design of clinical trials.
Among the co-investigators assisting Kim on the grant are Stephan Schmidt, Ph.D., an associate professor and the Certara Endowed Professor in the UF College of Pharmacy, Krista Vandenborne, P.T., Ph.D., a distinguished professor and chair, and Rebecca Willcocks, Ph.D., a research assistant professor from the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions and Michael Daniels, Sc.D., a professor and the Andrew Banks Family Endowed Chair from the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.