Dr. Weiting Zhang, a staff scientist in Ian Shih’s lab, has received a new NIH R21 award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The award provides two years of research funding and aims to dissect the neural origins of interhemispheric resting-state functional connectivity in the striatum using fMRI, chemogenetics, and spectral fiber photometry. Dr. Zhang obtained her MD and PhD degrees from Beijing University in China. Prior to joining the Shih lab, she conducted research in neuroimaging and neuro-oncology imaging, first at the Massachusetts General Hospital and then at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Zhang has extensive practical experience in human and animal fMRI/MRI research, focusing on pain, migraine, neurovascular coupling, and assessing treatment efficacy in patients with glioma. She also has a track record of managing clinical trials and possesses technical expertise in optical fiber photometry (see Dr. Zhang’s recent work highlighted in the UNC Newsroom). Dr. Zhang assumed the role of Assistant Professor in the Department starting on July 1st, 2023.