Eleven undergraduate and graduate students from across the country were selected to participate in the Rutgers Institute for Health’s Summer Research Internship Program. The 10-week program paired students up with faculty mentors to pursue a research project and receive valuable career guidance throughout the summer.
Students also participated in weekly forums led by Institute for Health faculty who discussed their research and their career journeys. Forum leaders included Drs. Darina Petrovsky, Carolyn Sartor, Yanping Jiang, Brett Millar, Ethan Halm, Michelle Chen, Joel Cantor, Dawne Mouzon, as well as Maria Eva Dorigo, Melanie Doren, Nicole Swenarton and Joseph Brecht.
Atharva Bhusari, pursuing Master of Science, Statistics (Data Science), Rutgers University
Mentor: Zeeshan Ahmed, Core Faculty Member, Rutgers Institute for Health; Assistant Professor of Medicine, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Project: Artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches to using integrated clinical and multi-omics data to predict cardiovascular disease.
Daisy Pelaez, pursuing Bachelor of Science in Public Health and Master of Public Health in Epidemiology, Rutgers University School of Public Health
Mentor: Carolyn Sartor, Core Faculty Member, Rutgers Institute for Health; Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Project: Focused on secondary data analysis and manuscript support for a large-scale study of cultural and environmental influences on substance use in Black, Latinx, and White youth.
Saige Addison, pursuing Bachelor of Arts in Social Work, Purdue University Northwest
Mentor: Ubydul Haque, Core Faculty Member, Rutgers Global Health Institute; Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Rutgers School of Public Health
Project: Focused on examining the effect of Urban Heat Islands (UHI) on mental and physical health outcomes.
Amber Yuill, Principal Lab Technician, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey
Mentor: Elizabeth Luth, Core Faculty Member, Rutgers Institute for Health; Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Rutgers University
Project: Supported the collection and analysis of data from hospice clinicians and family caregivers of persons living with dementia.
John Celona, pursuing Bachelor of Arts in IT and Informatics, Rutgers University School of Communication and Information
Mentor: Michelle Chen, Core Faculty Member, Rutgers Institute for Health; Assistant Professor, RWJMS
Project: Conducted a data analysis and literature review of studies in digital health and neuropsychology.
Karolin Wadie, Pursuing Master of Public Health in Epidemiology, Rutgers School of Public Health
Mentors: Mary O’Dowd MPH, Executive Director, Health Systems and Population Health Integration, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, and Kathryna Corpuz, MPH, Administrative Fellow, Population Health, Office of Clinical and Health Affairs, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences
Project: Worked with the Student Health Services on an HPV prevention project, as well as provided assistance to the Office of Population Health’s PHOENIX summer program and social media launch.
David Prilutsky, pursuing Bachelor degree, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs
Mentors: Dr. Ethan Halm, Vice Chancellor for Population Health at Rutgers Health and Deputy Chief Population Health Officer at RWJBH, and Jack Hemphill, Associate Program Manager, Rutgers Office of Population Health
Project: Provided assistance to the Office of Population Health with their PHOENIX summer program and launch of social media pages, as well as the iPHD and NJHealth Study projects.
Nathalia Gomez, pursuing Bachelor of Science in Health Studies, Fairleigh Dickenson University
Mentors: Dr. Ethan Halm, Vice Chancellor for Population Health at Rutgers Health and Deputy Chief Population Health Officer at RWJBH, and Jack Hemphill, Associate Program Manager, Rutgers Office of Population Health
Project: Supported a patient navigator program to improve breast cancer screening adherence, as well as provided assistance to the Office of Population Health’s PHOENIX summer program and social media launch.
Jay Xu, pursuing PhD in Biostatistics, University of California, Los Angeles
Mentors: Jim Lloyd, Research Specialist, Dr. Stephen Crystal, Director, Rutgers Center for Health Services Research, and Molly Nowels, Biostatistician
Project: Utilizing iPHD data and other linked datasets to develop an understanding of community-level drivers of health outcomes and health care disparities.
Sharvari Kolte, pursuing Master of Science in Health Administration, Rutgers Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Mentor: Dr. Darina Petrovsky, Core Faculty Member, Rutgers Institute for Health; Assistant Professor, Rutgers School of Nursing
Project: Assisted in conducting research studies focused on older adults with cognitive impairment involving recruitment, enrollment, data collection and entry, management and preparation for analysis.
Yuyang Zhu, pursing Master of Science in Epidemiology, Rutgers School of Public Health
Mentor: Dr. Yanping Jiang, Core Faculty Member, Rutgers Institute for Health; Instructor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Rutgers University
Project: Assisted in conducting studies focused on neighborhood and social influences on wellbeing and physical health of older Chinese immigrants involving primary data collection, secondary data analyses of existing datasets and manuscript writing.
Interns Daisy, Nathalia, David, Karolin and Sharvari after their final presentations.
Interns Karolin and David with mentors Dr. Ethan Halm and Jack Hemphill and forum leaders Nicole Swenarton and Joe Brecht.
Dr. Joel Cantor and the NJHealth Study team presenting during an Internship Forum.
Intern Karolin discussing the work she did over the summer in her final presentation.
Dr. Ethan Halm presenting during an Internship Forum.
Intern Nathalia discussing the work she did over the summer in her final presentation.
Dr. Darina Petrovsky presenting during the first Internship Forum.