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A LEGACY OF MENTORS

Ethan Tucker sat quietly in the Functional Neuroscience Laboratory at Case Western Reserve University's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing as three fellow undergraduates positioned a skullcap on the junior's head and then injected gel into 128 electrodes that protruded like octopus suckers—all to gain experience using a software imaging system that measures brain waves.

"To have the opportunity to work on such a cutting-edge resource as an undergraduate student is a really big privilege," said senior Sara Mithani, a nursing student leading the project, which includes two students in physics and biochemistry analyzing the data.

Credit Michael Decker for Mithani's experience.

A nationally renowned scientist, Decker, PhD, RN (CWR '94, GRS '99, anatomy), is an associate professor in the school of nursing who co-directs the Functional Neuroscience Laboratory with Elizabeth Damato, PhD, RN, a fellow associate professor and sleep researcher. The two oversee clinical research studies that offer students basic-science laboratory experience that augments the traditional nursing curriculum.

The approach is rooted in Decker's own undergraduate experience. As a Case Western Reserve student, he studied under Kingman Strohl, MD, a professor of medicine in the School of Medicine and program director for the Center for Sleep Disorders Research at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.

Strohl gave Decker hands-on projects, but also told Decker that if he wanted to be a really good clinical scientist, he needed to go to nursing school. "I said: 'Why?' " Decker recounted. "His response was, 'If you get a good clinical foundation, you can develop a program of research directly related to improving the human condition.'"

Decker went on to have a distinguished career, working at both Emory University and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on breakthrough studies involving, among other things, the dangers of low oxygen at birth and the biochemical factors relating to chronic fatigue.

But he believes the large amount of hands-on lab training he experienced as a Case Western Reserve student led to his ultimate success. That's why Decker quickly said yes two years ago when Mary Kerr, PhD, RN (GRS '91, nursing), dean of the school of nursing, recruited him to join the faculty. He believed in her vision of building a science laboratory where students from all disciplines could collaborate on the same research project.

This emphasis also excited Mithani, who is working with Decker, Strohl and Damato on studies involving brain cortical network activity.

"Not a lot of students have the opportunity to work with a lineage of mentors," said Mithani, who plans to earn a PhD in nursing and become a nurse scientist. "Hopefully in the years to come, the lineage will continue and I'll be able to continue this legacy."

—REBECCA MEISER