Congressman Wenstrup Tours UC Neuroscience Lab

U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who represents Ohio’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives, visited the UC College of Medicine Thursday, Sept. 3, for a laboratory tour and neuroscience research discussion.

Wenstrup began his visit in the CARE/Crawley Building with a tour of the Selma Schottenstein Harris Laboratory for Research in Parkinson's, which is directed by Kim Seroogy, PhD. Seroogy, a professor in the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine and vice chair of basic research in the department, is a member of the research team at the UC Neuroscience Institute’s James J. and Joan A. Gardner Center for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders.

During the tour, Seroogy gave an overview of his research, which examines the effects of stress and depression on the progression of Parkinson’s disease. Seroogy was accompanied by the Society for Neuroscience 2015 Early Career Policy Fellow Ryan Makinson, a doctoral student in neuroscience who helped coordinate Wenstrup’s visit.

Following the lab tour, Wenstrup, Seroogy and Makinson participated in a discussion of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research at UC and partnerships with the Cincinnati Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center with Melanie Cushion, PhD, senior associate dean for research of the College of Medicine; Marshall "Chip” Montrose, PhD, vice provost and dean of the graduate school; Renu Sah, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience; Mike Carroll, assistant vice president for government relations; and Greg Vehr, vice president for government relations. The panel also stressed the importance of increasing federal funding of biomedical research. 

Wenstrup is a member of the U.S. Army Reserve with service in Iraq and has treated patients as a podiatric surgeon for the past 26 years. He posted on Twitter about his visit, saying, "Great tour, always good to see what's happening at UC!"