• Fall 2024 Fellowship

  • In our Fall 2024 Fellowship, we are excited to announce...

    13

    Policy Fellows

    48

    Research Fellows

    8

    Topics

    3

    Tracks

  • Research Topics

    Cancer

    Cancer outcomes vary significantly across different populations and can be linked to various disparities. By addressing these disparities, we can improve access to care and impact health outcomes.

    Diabetes & Obesity

    Diabetes and obesity disproportionately affect certain populations. By identifying root causes, risk factors, prevention methods, and other factors, we aim to address diabetes and obesity's effects.

    Cardiovascular Health

    Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the global leading cause of death, but its impact is not equivalent across different populations. We aim to address related disparities to understand CVD's impact on minoritized or underserved communities.

    Respiratory Health

    Asthma, lung cancer, and other respiratory diseases greatly affect minoritized and low-income, communities, as well as those living in densely polluted areas. By understanding causes, we aim to address prevention, diagnosis, and treatment methods.

    Maternal and Child Health

    We aim to uncover the causes behind disparities in maternal and infant mortality rates, preterm births, and other events among minoritized, low-income, and underserved communities in order to ensure all mothers and children have the opportunity for healthy outcomes.

    HIV/AIDS

    We aim to address why certain communities are at high risk for HIV/AIDS infection, as well as what can be done to improve public health, health education, and other factors impacting HIV/AIDS. By addressing disparities related to HIV/AIDS, we aim to improve these areas.

    Environmental Health

    Air and water pollution, toxic waste, unsafe housing conditions, and other environmental factors disproportionately affect the health of minoritized, low-income, and underserved communities. We aim to address these disparities to improve life quality and expectancy.

    Rare Diseases

    Individuals with rare diseases may face delays in diagnosis and limited access to specialized treatment. These challenges are exacerbated for people from marginalized communities because of a lack of access to health care, language barriers, geographic isolation, and other factors. We aim to address these disparities to ensure all patients receive timely and accurate diagnoses, as well as appropriate care.

  • Research Tracks

    Data Analysis

    Students will propose a data-driven research question, identify a dataset that can provide an answer to the question, and perform data analysis to identify trends that inform health disparities. Students will be matched with a mentor who can assist with technical aspects of the project or help the student access private databases. The end goal is to publish an original research paper or research letter in a scholarly journal or in the Journal of the Health Disparities Think.

    Review/ Editorial

    Similar to the summer fellowship, students will conduct a thorough literature review of a particular health disparity, analyze it with a unique lens, and write a review paper or editorial to synthesize novel arguments from the existing literature. Students will be matched with a mentor to revise their paper, ultimately for publication in a scholarly journal or in the Reviews or Perspectives section of the Journal of the Health Disparities Think Tank.

    Science Writing

    Students will identify a health disparity that they aim to spotlight in the popular press and report on it through a critical, journalistic lens. Alternatively, students can choose to write an op-ed taking a stance in relation to a health disparity of interest. The goal of this track is to produce a journalist or opinion piece understandable to the lay audience, ultimately for publication in the popular press or in the News or Opinion section of the Journal of the Health Disparities Think Tank.

    Policy Report

    Students will work in groups of two to build a policy report/presentation on the status of health disparities in their assigned topic. Coordinating with policy advisors and research fellows, students will set up meetings for respective deadlines, develop policy advisor networks, and maintain current organization relationships. The goal of this track is to provide policy leadership for the health disparities research produced. Specifically, the policy report will insure the production of translational and policy informed research.

  • Research Fellows

    Data Analysis

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    Perisa Ashar

    Biomedical Engineering; Biology

    Duke '25

    Cardiovascular Health

     

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    Joseph Awad

    Psychology

    UCLA '26

    HIV/AIDS

     

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    Rohan Murali

    Human Dev. & Regenerative Biology
    Harvard '27

    Diabetes & Obesity

     

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    Roymara Louissaint

    Bioengineering & Medical Science

    Stanford '27

    Environmental Health

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    Alice Finkelstein

    Bioengineering

    Stanford '27

    Rare Diseases

    Sara Mohamed

    Pharmaceutical Science

    Univ. of Mass. '26

    Cancer

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    Jacqueline Zhu

    Biomedical & Electrical Engineering

    Univ. of Toronto

    Respiratory Health

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    Minh Pham

    Biochemistry; Political Science; Public Policy

    UCLA '16

    SAC/SCC '25

    Cardiovascular Health

     

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    Arthur Musinguzi

    MPH & Epidemiology

    UMass Lowell '25

    Respiratory Health

     

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    Anirudh Mazumder

    Computer Science
    Texas Academy of Math '25

    Environmental Health

     

  • Research Fellows

    Review/Editorial

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    Tsering Yangchen

    Anthropology, Global Health & Health Policy
    Harvard '26

    Maternal & Child Health

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    Fatima Elmenshawy

    Computer Science; Computational Biology
    WashU '27

    Cardiovascular Health

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    Varun Jalapati

    Univ. Texas at Dallas '26

    Diabetes & Obesity

    Sophorn Suon

    Public Health

    Univ. Massachusetts Lowell

    Cancer

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    Walaa Ouf

    Pharmaceutical Science

    Univ. Massachusetts Lowell '25

    HIV/AIDS

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    Komal Thandi

    Stanford '28

    Rare Diseases

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    Bjorn Bjornsen

    Neuroscience & Environmental Science 

    '26

    Environmental Health

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    Audrey Todd

    MD Candidate
    Stanford School of Medicine '27

    Cardiovascular Health

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    Kassidi Thompson

    Economics: Finance & Public Policy
    Bentley Univ. '27

    Maternal & Child Health

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    Emma Lu

    Anthropology
    Harvard '26

    Environmental Health

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    Shivani Babu

    Human Biology
    Stanford '27

    Rare Diseases

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    Ijebusonma Agundu

    Master of Public Health
    Univ. Massachusetts Lowell '24

    Maternal & Child Health

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    Aayushi Gandhi

    Biology, Medical Humanities
    Stanford '27

    Maternal & Child Health

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    David Kim

    Harvard '27

    Cardiovascular Health

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    Mason Raymond

    Steel Canyon HS

    HIV/AIDS

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    Monique Santoso

    Stanford University

    Rare Diseases

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    Elizabeth Hong

    Bioengineering

    Stanford '27

    Cancer

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    Jenaysha Williams

    Psychology

    Stanford '27

    Maternal & Child Health

    Esther Clayton

    Molecular & Cellular Biology

    Harvard College

    Maternal & Child Health

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    Johanna Vu

    Sociology; Evolutionary Medicine

    UCLA '26

    Cardiovascular Health

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    Claire Zhu

    Neuroscience & Behavior

    Columbia '27

    HIV/AIDS

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    Andria Escobar

    Medicine

    UCR '27

    HIV/AIDS

  • Research Fellows

    Science Writing

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    Rina Matsunaga

    Economics & Global Health/Health Policy
    Harvard '28

    Cancer

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    Diala Ajaero

    Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
    Univ. of Michigan Ann Arbor '26

    Cardiovascular Health

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    Raina Lakhani

    Biological Sciences
    Univ. of Delaware '28

    Respiratory Health

    Raghav Thakur

    Applied Biomedical Sciences
    Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell '28

    Cancer

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    Aarush Kaboo

    Applied Biomedical Sciences
    Univ. of Texas at Austin '27

    Respiratory Health

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    Sarah Rose Odutola

    Biomedical Engineering
    Harvard '27

    Maternal & Child Health

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    Salma Ngokila

    Applied Biomedical Sciences
    Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell '28

    Diabetes & Obesity

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    Caden Wang

    Seven Lakes HS

    Cancer

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    Nikhil Damera

    Neuroscience
    Univ. of Texas at Dallas '25

    Diabetes & Obesity

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    Sophie Thompson

    Chemical Engineering
    MIT

    Environmental Health

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    Maisa Ali

    Biomedical Engineering

    Harvard '27

    Diabetes & Obesity

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    Victory Ikpea

    Public Health Epidemiology

    Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell '26

    Respiratory Health

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    Alyza Sokla

    Nursing

    Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell '28

    Environmental Health

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    Anika Christensen

    Human Evolutionary Biology & Music

    Harvard '26

    Rare Diseases

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    Neel Youts

    Health and Society

    Univ. of Texas at Austin '27

    Cancer

  • Policy Fellows

    Policy Report

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    Kendra Viloria

    Public Health

    OSU '24

    Maternal & Child Health

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    Nicole Dye

    Biology-Neuroscience
    Stanford '26

    Maternal & Child Health

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    Jeel Shah

    M.S. Pharmaceutical Science
    Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell '26

    HIV/AIDS

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    Christie Beckley

    Neuroscience & Economics
    Harvard '27
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    Emily Oh

    Cardiovascular Health
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    Mariya Meleganich

    Chemistry & Government; Statistics
    Harvard '26

    Cardiovascular Health

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    Arham Kundi

    Neuroscience
    Univ. of Texas at Dallas '25

    Rare Diseases

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    Anoop Kaur Phul

    MPH - Healthcare Management
    Univ. of Massachusetts Lowell '24

    Respiratory Health

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    Martin Orea

    Public Policy, Political Science, Social & Behavioral Sciences
    Santa Monica College '26

    HIV/AIDS

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    Kyle Phong

    Pyschology & Public Health

    UCLA '27

    Cancer

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    Shakeng Moua

    Respiratory Health

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    Emily Wang

    Computer Science; Biology; Political Science

    MIT '26

    Diabetes & Obesity

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    Ashley Huerta

    Public Health and Public Policy

    UC Berkeley

    Diabetes & Obesity

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    Ryan Whalen

    Applied Mathematics & Economics

    Harvard '28

    Diabetes & Obesity