Hi everyone, as we enter our third year, I’m excited to announced the 2025-2026 cohort of community champions, who we refer to as Data Community Innovators. These are members of our community who have stepped up their contribution to the community, have an array of research interests/expertise, and often help lead community task forces.
Returning this year we have:
- Mike Alosco (@malosco), Boston University, USA
- Paula Saffie Awad (@psaffie), Clinica Santa Maria, Chile
- Farren Briggs (@fbbriggs), University of Miami, USA
- Victoria Dardov (@vdardov), Technome, USA
- Amgad Droby (@AmgadDroby), Tel Aviv Medical Center/North Shore University Hospital, Israel/USA
- Elizabeth Hutchins (@ehutchins), Data Tecnica, USA
- Hirotaka Iwaki (@hirotaka), Data Tecnica, USA
- Vida Obese (@Vidash), Komfo Anokye Hospital/Anidaso Foundation, Ghana
- Paula Reyes-Perez (@paularp), UNAM/GP2 Postdoctoral Fellow, Mexico
- Daniel Teixeria dos Santos (@danieltds), Cleveland Clinic, USA
We also have three new members in this cohort:
Community champions are elevated to these roles based on their engagement levels and tapped based on stated areas of research interest by the entire community. They are experts in their fields (which you can see in their profiles) and we hope that you will reach out to them if you have questions.
Are there other research areas you want to see represented? Interested in becoming a community champion next year? Let us know! We hope to hear from you and that you’ll join us in welcoming the 2025-2026 DCI cohort!
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So excited to have you joining us @ekaamewu , @ecebayram , and @vcatterson ! Looking forward to working with the new and returning @DCoP_Innovators 
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So excited to start this new stage!
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Thanks, @jgottesman , for the kind words of welcome! I’m delighted to serve the community in this way, and I look forward to continuing to work with everyone.
The primary experience I bring to the role is in analysis of the PPMI dataset, and specifically the various clinical aspects of the data (medical history, exams, biospecimens, etc). My company BioSymetrics is interested in subtyping Parkinson’s, with the aim of targeting therapeutics to appropriate subtypes. To that end, I led a team looking at clustering of symptoms, biomarkers, and subject characteristics at the PPMI baseline visit, and correlating cluster with patient outcome 2+ years later (as measured by the various exams). As a result, I have gone deep on extracting features from a number of the data tables, such as translating concomitant medications into comorbidities, or characterizing the pace of MoCA progression over time.
My background is originally Electrical Engineering, so I bring a signal processing/machine learning lens to data analysis. I’ve worked with healthcare data for 8 years now, and specifically in Parkinson’s for 2. I’ve been contributing to the Data Modalities task force, and I am keen to continue building relationships with this network, to share experiences and approaches, and to ultimately learn more about Parkinson’s and how we may help patients.
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Thank you, @jgottesman and the community for the warm reception in the past year or so. I’m thrilled to be part of this growing community and to do better in the new role.
My background is in Biochemistry and Molecular medicine. I am currently working on human microbiome research but I have done some qualitative research in the lived experiences of patients.
I am a data analyst with keen interest in data visualization for biological relevance.
I’m eager to learn more about Parkinson’s disease and how I can lend my skills and expertise to this community.
Glad to be here 
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Thank you both @jgottesman & @gginnan and the community! I’m excited to join this community in this role. I’m an MD, PhD from Turkey currently working in the US. I’m full research now and focus on sex, gender, ethnicity, race in the risk, clinical profile, progression, and pathology for neurodegenerative Parkinsonian disorders. I work more with existing data (published using NACC, PPMI, Fox Insight etc.), and community outreach plays a big role in my research efforts.
I also serve as the Chair for the Movement Disorders Society (MDS) Young Members Group (I’ll “retire” by the end of this year though) and the incoming Chair for the MDS Clinical Outcome Assessments Education and Training Committee. So that definitely gave me some insight on rating scales owned by MDS and the inner runnings of the MDS. I’m involved with other groups too (Alz Assoc, Lewy Body Dementia Association, etc) and happy to share any experiences!
Looking forward to connecting more!
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Welcome guys and so excited to learn from everyone
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