The Institute for Clinical and Translational Research is pleased to announce that Dr. Vaishali Bakshi has accepted a role as lead of the STRIDE program (Success Together Reaching Independence, Diversity and Empowerment), effective Aug. 25, 2024.
STRIDE is one of three pathway programs housed within ICTR’s Collaborative Center for Health Equity. STRIDE supports early-career faculty from historically underrepresented backgrounds pursuing health-related translational research.
An associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine & Public Health and faculty member in the Neuroscience Training Program, Dr. Bakshi runs a translational neuroscience research lab. She is passionate about mentoring using evidence-based best practices embedded in a culturally aware perspective.
She brings significant experience in designing and leading mentorship programs, as well as serving as a mentor herself. Since 2022, within the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, she has run an intensive mentoring and career development program for early-career faculty and late-stage trainees from historically excluded groups. One-on-one mentoring and rigorous evaluation are key to this program.
Within SMPH, Dr. Bakshi serves on the steering committee for the SciMed Graduate Research Scholars Program, which enhances the experiences of underrepresented graduate students in the biological sciences. Additionally, she has completed mentoring training offered by ICTR and mentored a KL2 scholar.
As STRIDE lead, Dr. Bakshi will provide overall program leadership, measure program impact, introduce innovative training, provide individualized mentorship, and recommend other UW–Madison faculty who are well-suited to serve as mentors for STRIDE scholars. She will engage with ICTR program leads to identify opportunities for cross-program collaboration.
She completed her undergraduate degree in psychology at Harvard University and her PhD in neurosciences at the University of California at San Diego.
Welcome, Dr. Bakshi!