Paul Helquist, PhD, and Jessica Brookshire, MSA, have been selected as Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) co-navigators from the University of Notre Dame. Co-navigators help connect projects and inform others about opportunities taking place within the Indiana CTSI.
Jessica Brookshire, MSA
Paul Helquist, PhD
In her new role as co-navigator, Brookshire is focused on community health research and works with regional and state partners to address existing and emerging needs. She also serves on the Indiana CTSI’s Community Health Partnerships (CHeP) Program’s board. In addition to her co-navigator role, Brookshire is focused on the University’s Health and Well-being Initiative and recently launched the Office of Clinical Partnerships to engage Notre Dame faculty with external partners.
Helquist is a professor at the University of Notre Dame and specializes in synthetic organic chemistry, and has been involved with the Indiana CTSI for eight years. He has over 200 publications in areas such as development of new synthetic methods and design and development of transition metal reagents and catalysts for selective synthetic reactions. Helquist’s main role as a co-navigator is to help bridge basic and clinical research, as well as engage Notre Dame faculty members in Indiana CTSI programs.
“We asked ourselves, ‘how can we improve the Indiana CTSI’s relationship with Notre Dame?’,” said Brookshire. “We are dedicated to bringing in new and different perspectives in order to see greater engagement. We’re cross-disciplinary, meaning we engage with different fields to get more people involved.”
Brookshire and Helquist have replaced Melanie DeFord, who is now the Assistant Vice President for Research and Deputy Director for the Indiana CTSI.
