The Office of Health Equity Research (OHER) is pleased to announce the recipients and finalists of the 2024 OHER Awards for Yale Research Excellence.
Original health equity research papers were eligible for the award if first-authored by Yale-affiliated early-stage investigators and published in 2024. A call for nominations went out in November for Yale investigators to nominate their own, their team’s, and their trainee’s work. OHER received 47 nominations, an incredible indicator of how our Yale community views the importance of health equity research. Nominated papers were assessed for eligibility and underwent a rigorous review process. Based on reviewer scores 5 awardees and 6 finalists were selected.
We extend our deep appreciation to our panel of 32 reviewers, which included Yale investigators and New Haven community leaders, for their dedication to this effort.
A special congratulations to this year’s awardees! Please click on the links below to read their phenomenal work.
Awardees
Ash Alpert, MD, MFA
Disentangling gender, sex, and biology: a mixed methods study of gender identity data collection tools
Ash B. Alpert MD MFA CTR (they/them) is a queer and non-binary, disabled Ashkenazi Jew, hematologist, and an Instructor of Medicine at the Yale Cancer Center. For the last six years, Dr. Alpert has partnered with transgender people with cancer to investigate community solutions to improving their experiences and outcomes. Dr. Alpert received a Young Investigator Award from Conquer Cancer, the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Foundation to develop patient-centered and non-stigmatizing gender identity data collection methods to be implemented in oncology settings, investigate the experiences of transgender people sharing information with clinicians and accessing their electronic health records, and assessing the connections between experiences of violence and cancer risk for transgender people. Dr. Alpert is also a novelist, essayist, and poet.
Angela Haeny, PhD
Evidence that personalized racial stress procedures elicit a stress response and increases alcohol craving among Black adults with alcohol use disorder: A laboratory pilot study
Dr. Angela Haeny is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Racial Equity and Addiction Lab (REAL) at Yale School of Medicine. She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with a specialty in substance use disorders. Dr. Haeny is committed to eliminating racial disparities and enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, belonging, and justice which cuts across all aspects of her work. She has over 60 peer-reviewed publications. Her research investigates effective alcohol and drug treatments among individuals underrepresented in substance use research with a focus on Black adults. Her research also involves identifying understudied risk factors for substance use and problems especially salient to Black people. Currently, Dr. Haeny’s research is considering how to target racial stress and other relevant constructs in drug and alcohol treatment to improve treatment outcomes among Black adults. This work is currently funded by a 5-year career development award from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Brigid Cakouros, DrPH, MPH
Exploring equity in global health collaborations: a qualitative study of donor and recipient power dynamics in Liberia
Brigid has always approached her work from a curiosity driven and systems thinking perspective. She is drawn to navigating complex public health issues by considering resilient and sustainable interventions, and she particularly enjoys applying qualitative methods and strategic foresight when possible. Brigid joined Yale as a postdoctoral associate from 2022-2024 working on the BRIDGE-U: Liberia partnership. Prior to Yale, she was a postdoctoral fellow based at the University of Cape Town studying health system resilience. In 2024, she was selected as an inaugural Science for Development Fellow at USAID, focusing on furthering the localization of humanitarian aid. This particular paper was an opportunity not only to apply methods of interest but to dig deeper into the more uncomfortable dynamics of global collaborations, and Brigid is honored to have been selected for this award.
Jasmine Khubchandani, MD
Living Flat: Stories from Women of Color After Mastectomy
Dr. Jasmine Khubchandani a general surgeon in-training at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, MA and following graduation in June 2025, she will be completing her breast surgical oncology fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. She was a National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) Fellow at the Yale School of Medicine, where she also earned her Master in Health Sciences. Additionally, she has completed research fellowships at the Codman Center for Clinical Effectiveness in Surgery at MGH and at the Center for Surgery and Public Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Her current research focuses on health equity and understanding the influence of cultural identity on the experience following breast cancer surgery. Dr. Khubchandani’s work leverages local community partnerships to bring the voice of those most impacted by the work to the design and implementation of the study.
Mytien Nguyen, MSc
Association of Socioeconomic Status, Sex, Racial, and Ethnic Identity With Sustained and Cultivated Careers in Surgery
Mytien Nguyen is an MD/PhD candidate in the Department of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine dedicated to advancing biomedical research and equity in education. As a low-income first-generation college graduate, she aims to blend scientific rigor with a commitment to diversity and inclusion. She is the co-founder and President of the National First-Generation and/or Low-Income in Medicine Association (FGLIMed), a national organization that supports and empowers individuals from underrepresented backgrounds in medicine. Through her scholarship and leadership, she aspires to foster a more inclusive and equitable future in healthcare and biomedical sciences.
Finalists
Adrian Acuna Higaki, MD, MRes
Gender representation trends in cardiothoracic surgery journal editorial boards
Article
Caitlin Ryus, MD, MPH
Examining trends in emergency medicine journals' publications about racism
Article
Maria Crouch, PhD, MS
The Together New Haven Project: Focus Groups to Understand Health, Well-Being, and the Interaction of City Government among Historically Marginalized Communities
Article
Minhee Sung, MD
Clinician and Practice Characteristics Associated With Support of Office-Based Methadone: Findings From a National Survey
Article
Oladimeji Aladelokun, PhD
Growth characteristics of HCT116 xenografts lacking asparagine synthetase vary according to sex
Article
Rachel Forman, MD
Association of Neighborhood-Level Socioeconomic Factors With Delay to Hospital Arrival in Patients With Acute Stroke
Article
Review Panel
Alycia Santilli, MSW
Amos Smith, MSW
Ann Greene
Benjamin Oldfield, MD, MHS
Carolyn Macica, PhD, MS
Cece Calhoun, MD, MPHS, MBA
Chelsey Carter, PhD, MPH
Darcey Cobbs-Lomax, MPH, MBA
Daniel Sarpong, PhD, MS
David Monedero-Alonso, PhD
Jason Martinez, MS
Joanne McGolin, MDiv, MS, MBA
Josefa Martinez, PhD, MHS
Ke’ala Akau, MPH
Kristen Nwanyanwu, MD, MBA, MHS
Kristina Talbert-Slagle, PhD
LaDrea Ingram, EDd, CHES
Maritza Bond, MPH
Mayur Desai, PhD, MPH
Melissa Lang, DrPH, MPH, MPA, MA
Nadine Horton
Natasha Ray, MS
Rosana Gonzalez-Colaso, PharmD, MPH
Sakinah Suttiratana, PhD, MPH, MBA
Sandra Bulmer, PhD, MS
Sandra Zaeh MD, MS
Sarah Christie, PhD, MPH
Sarwat Chaudhry, MD
Susan Nappi, MPH
Tara Rizzo, MPH
Terika McCall, PhD, MPH, MBA
Valentina Greco, PhD