ISU Meridian’s Hevener and Tavernier named WWAMI Rising Stars

Idaho State University-Meridian’s Kirk Hevener, assistant professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, and Susan Tavernier, assistant professor of nursing were recently named

Rising Stars in a career development program sponsored by the University of Washington’s Institute of Translational Health Sciences.

The program provides  12 faculty members from the five-state WWAMI region of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho  with a high-quality and structured career development package for two years. The package includes components such as research funding up to $15,000, mentoring, peer-to-peer networking, and review services.

The University of Washington created the Rising Stars program to help promising clinical and translational researchers establish themselves in their fields—particularly during a time when federal research dollars are tight.

 Dr. Hevener’s area of research involves screening drugs to fight the C. difficile infection which contributes to nearly 14,000 deaths in the United States each year.

Dr. Tavernier ‘s research explores quality-of- life issues expressed by patients  undergoing treatment for cancer.