2023 Awardees
- Melanie H. Chitwood is a doctoral candidate in the Ted Cohen Lab. She is interested in using mathematical models to understand the transmission and prevalence of tuberculosis in high burden settings. She has previously worked as a Research Associate in the Cohen Lab, where she was involved in projects in Brazil and on COVID-19 estimates and projections. Melanie received her BA from Hampshire College and her MS in Global Health and Population from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
- Andin Fosam is a 4th year MD/PhD student at the Yale School of Medicine, currently completing her PhD focused in muscle metabolism and physiology. Prior to starting medical school, Andin earned her Bachelor of Science, double majoring in Biological Sciences and History of Philosophy and Science, and minoring in Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). While at Pitt, she also competed as an NCAA Division 1 Track and Field athlete, where she currently holds the school record in the hammer throw. Andin is highly motivated by her experience as an athlete and spends her time in the lab studying how to adapt strength training protocols to help prevent muscle loss after surgery. She leads both clinical and translational studies to better understand how modified strength training protocols may improve post-surgical recovery. Andin is also heavily involved in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at Yale and initiatives to recruit and retain underrepresented individuals in science and medicine.
- Kelly is a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Her research interests focus on reducing vector-borne and zoonotic diseases in low income countries by identifying social, biological, and environmental risk factors of disease. Specifically, she hope to use molecular epidemiological studies to gain insight into pathogenesis and to improve the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
- After completing her undergraduate degree at Georgia Tech, Ann spent 9 months in India conducting public health research with a Fulbright research fellowship. Ann plans to continue public health research during her PhD with a mixed-methods approach. Ann enjoys spending time hiking and outdoors.
- A is a PhD student in the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics program. Their research focuses on evaluating the state of Connecticut's opioid overdose alert system, understanding barriers public health professionals face when responding to overdoses and developing new overdose alert technologies to help mitigate these barriers. Their work utilizes a combination of causal inference, spatiotemporal modeling and implementation science techniques in addition to close collaboration with New Haven syringe service programs.
- Katerina Santiago is a PhD student in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health. She earned her Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine and her Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Biology with Honors from the University of Miami. Prior to her doctoral studies, Katerina worked as a research associate at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine where her research focused on occupational exposures and their association with various health effects such as injuries and cancer and how such risks vary by race and ethnicity. Her current research interests are epidemiology of cancer, with a specific interest in gastrointestinal cancers, and how genetic risk interacts with environmental and occupational exposures.
- Thi Vu is a PhD student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale University. Prior to coming to Yale, she led various projects at the UNC Center for AIDS Research, Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, and the UNC School of Nursing. She has experience in qualitative methods and community-engaged research in the areas of PrEP, HIV/AIDS, safety in assisted-living, and transitional care for persons with dementia. She is interested in psychosocial aspects of aging and caregiving among older adults with HIV/AIDS and older adults with dementia, and is currently working with Professor Joan Monin at the Social Gerontology Health Lab.