Michael Baker was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship

Michael Baker earned a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which will fund his studies toward a Master of Philosophy degree in clinical neurosciences from the University of Cambridge in England.

Baker, a senior in Pitt's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences from Downingtown, Pennsylvania, is the second University of Pittsburgh student to be named a Gates Cambridge scholar and the first since 2009.

During his time at Pitt, Baker has worked on a psychiatric brain imaging study in the Clinical Neurophysiology Research Laboratory under the supervision of Dean Salisbury, professor in Pitt’s School of Medicine, and Xi Ren, faculty member in Pitt’s Cystic Fibrosis Research Center and assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He also researched synaptic protein interaction with Oliver Schlüter, associate professor in the Dietrich School, and Xiaojie Huang, a research associate.

During his time at Cambrige, which begins in October, Baker will study the feasibility of administering glucose directly to the brain to improve traumatic brain injury outcomes. He will also work to resolve disparities in neurotrauma care among lower-income countries.

“Of course, I am beside myself with joy to be able to go to Cambridge and do neurotrauma research with the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. I look forward to this experience and my journey into medicine and research that will follow,” Baker said.

So far, the 2023 class of Gates Cambrige scholars includes students from 24 different universities, all of whom will be fully funded in their post-graduate academic pursuits and research. The program bases its selections on social leadership as well as academic achievement and global initiatives.