Meet the UW Epi Graduates of 2020

Research Interests: Genomic epidemiology, emerging infectious diseases, phylodynamics, virus evolution, public health bioinformatics

Awards or Recognition: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Plans post-graduation: I’ll be continuing on in my lab as a postdoc supporting ongoing work to monitor SARS-CoV-2 genomic epidemiology. 

Research Interests: HIV, Vaginal microbiome, Women’s health, Substance use, Vulnerable populations

Awards or Recognition: Excellence for Teaching Award – Teaching Assistant of the year, University of Washington School of Public Health (2017); STD & AIDS Research Training Grant Predoctoral Fellow (2018-2019); International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE) Student Conference Scholarship (2018); Keystone Symposia scholarship (2018); University of Washington Department of Epidemiology Travel Scholarship (2018); University of Washington Graduate School Travel Scholarship (2018); Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) Investigator Scholarship (2019)

Plans post-graduation: I have been working as a full time Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Medicine at University of Washington since June 2019.

Advice for students: Make friends with your cohort members — they will understand everything you are going through and will be there for the lows and the highs!

Favorite memory: Not a favorite memory specifically, but I have made several lifelong friends and colleagues through my time with the UW Epi department.

Research Interests: social epidemiology; socio-spatial inequities; built environment; cannabis; criminal justice

Awards or Recognition: Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy Fellow; RAND Corporation Summer Associate

Plans post-graduation: Postdoctoral Fellow at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC on the Interventions, Research, and Action in Cities Team working on how to design equitable healthy cities and mitigate negative effects of gentrification.

Advice for students: Be sure to slow down, take breaks, and be kind to yourself. The best thing I did was take an entire summer off from my dissertation.

Favorite memory: I have two: Friday study sessions in preparation for the preliminary exams with my first year cohort and weekly check ins with my mentor Anjum for 3+ years that were always quite grounding

Awards or Recognition: Predoctoral Fellow, Biobehavioral Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program; Predoctoral Trainee, Institute for Translational Health Sciences TL1 Program

Plans post-graduation: Advanced Medical Informatics Fellow, VA Salt Lake City Health Care System

Research Interests: Gun Violence, Suicide Prevention, Public Health Practice

Awards or Recognition: Communicating Public Health to the Public, Dissertation Grant from National Collaborative for Gun Violence Research

Plans post-graduation: T-32 Fellow at Harborview Injury & Prevention Research Center

Research Interests: Social epidemiology methods, housing instability, neighborhood effects, overall quality of life and mental health in cancer survivors

Plans post-graduation: I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University

Advice for students: Seek out your interests, in epidemiology and across health disciplines.

Favorite memory: Spending the ups and downs with my peers

Research Interests: Social determinants of health, social and income policy, obesity, physical activity, nutrition, work, cardiovascular disease

Awards or Recognition: Population Health Initiative Graduate Student Travel Award (x2)

Plans post-graduation: Working as a research scientist on the Seattle Obesity Study

Advice for students: Remember to stay grounded in life outside of academia. Things will get tough, but if you cultivate a hobby (like running or baking), adopt a dog or a cat, or something else it will help you get through those trying moments.

Favorite memory: First introductory epidemiology class with Ali, I will never forget the excitement of that first day and how his command of the material reminded me why I love the field of epidemiology so much!

Research Interests: Social epidemiology; political economy of health

Plans post-graduation: Beginning a postdoc in the Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program (PET) at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

Favorite memory: Playing (and losing!) on the Epi Department intramural soccer team

Research Interests: HIV-1 prevention; sexual and reproductive health

Awards or Recognition: Best Abstract Award, Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology Annual Meeting; Recipient of Global Opportunities in Health Fellowship; Recipient of Institute for Translational Sciences TL1 training grant; Top Scholar Award

Plans post-graduation: I will join CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service fellowship program, with a placement at the New York City Department of Health.

Advice for students: Say yes to as much as you can! You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much skills gained in side projects come in handy throughout your PhD and professional careers.

Research Interests: Applied epidemiology; public health practice; equity, diversity, and inclusion in epidemiology; interdisciplinary public health; whole person health

Awards or Recognition: SPH Endowed Fellow; Graduate School Medal Finalist; AAAS/Science Program for Excellence in Science

Plans post-graduation: Epidemiologist – Office of the State Health Officer, Washington State Department of Health. Presently serving as the Disease Containment Training Group Lead for the WA DOH COVID-19 Incident Management Team.

Advice for students: Getting your degree should be about filling up your toolbox with skills and methods you can bring with you into whatever area of work you enter.

Favorite memory: I loved being a Teaching Assistant and watching students learn and grow, while also challenging them to think outside of the normal bounds of our field.

Research Interests: Spatial epidemiology, spatio-temporal dynamics of infectious diseases, vaccines, disease surveillance

Awards or Recognition: UW Travel Award in 2018 (to present poster at the International AIDS conference at Amsterdam) and in 2019 (to present poster at the Epidemics conferences at Charleston, SC)

Plans post-graduation: Working for a research institute or a city/county health department (hopefully!!)

Advice to students: Start thinking about your projects early, pay attention in your Biostats classes, and don’t forget to have fun! Loving and enjoying the work you do is crucial and will get you through the hard times.

Favorite memory: In my first year, I won a large Kit Kat bar for answering a question on Interaction effects in Ali and Amanda’s epi methods class. That was fun because I never win anything!

Research Interests: HIV-1 prevention, adherence to microbicidal strategies such as the dapivirine vaginal ring, application of causal inference methods

Awards or Recognition: University of Washington Summer Institutes in Statistics and Modeling in Infectious Diseases Scholarship recipient, HIV Research for Prevention Conference Scholarship recipient, Innovation Award: Microbicides Trials Network

Plans post-graduation: Finding in a new position utilizing my PhD in Epidemiology.

Advice for students: Follow your dreams and never give up! There will be roadblocks but you’ll always find a new route to get to where you want to go in life. Best of luck to you all!

Favorite memory: The whole experience of being apart of the Epi community at the UW has been wonderful. Thank you so much to all of the amazing faculty (especially my advisor, Dr. Jared M. Baeten), Epi SAS department staff, and fellow students!

Research Interests: Mathematical Modeling, Population Health, Cost-Effectiveness, Infectious Disease Control, Meta-analysis

Plans post-graduation: Currently working as a Data Scientist

Advice for students: Take the meta-analysis course! Try courses in different departments.

Favorite memory: Epidemiology Holiday Party & Salmon Party

Research Interests: Infectious diseases, epi methods, biostatistics, mental health

Awards or Recognition: International Scholarship Award, The International AIDS Conference, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, July 2018; The Global Opportunities Health Fellowship, University of Washington, Department of Global Health, April 2018

Plans post-graduation: Joining CDC as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer

Advice for students: Pacing yourself is the key to completing the program in good time.

Favorite memory: After the prelim exam, my two classmates and I took a 8-day trip along the Oregon Coast. Although the water was too cold to get into, we had such a great time walking on the beach, watching sunsets, horseback riding and hiking in the redwoods in Redding, CA. It was the perfect get-away after a long quarter!

Research Interests: injury and violence, firearms

Awards or Recognition: Gilbert S. Omenn Award for Academic Excellence, PhD Outstanding Student Award for the Epidemiology Department, Jess Kraus Award for Best Paper published in Injury Epidemiology and selected by the editorial board, Student Fellowship in Unintentional Injury Prevention with the Society for Public Health Education and the Centers for Disease Control, TL1 Predoctoral Fellow with ITHS, Student Outstanding Science Award from the Society for the Advancement of Injury Research Annual Conference, Millennial Health Leader Summit Delegate to the Centers for Disease Control and the School of Public Health Endowed Fellowship.

Plans post-graduation: Postdoctoral fellowship with the Firearm Safety Among Children and Teens National Consortium.

Advice for students: Grad school can be really hard physically, mentally and emotionally. Make sure you take time away from your studies to maintain your support system, go for a run or do whatever else you need to do in order to stay sane. It is a marathon, not a sprint. I also think the best learning and growth comes from finding the right mentor for you. Make sure you have spent some time working with faculty before you develop your committee so that you can make sure you have the right group of people to best support your growth. 

Favorite memory: It would be impossible to pick one! There were so many wonderful memories I have, but the highlights would definitely be all of the time I spent with other students outside of the program going for walks, cooking, gardening, and taking trips together.

Research Interests: Inflammation, molecular epidemiology, cancer screening and surveillance, etiology and survivorship

Awards or Recognition: Chen Hu Family Endowed Fund, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; New Investigator Fellowship, 44th Annual Meeting of American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO); Fred Hutch Pilot Funds, $20,000 to support the primary data collection as part of my dissertation; Integrative Molecular Epidemiology Fellow, American Association of Cancer Research (AACR); Fred Hutch Outstanding Trainee Award; Best Poster Award, 40th Annual Meeting of ASPO; Multiple travel awards from the department, UW graduate school, and national conferences.

Plans post-graduation: Postdoc fellowship (haven’t made final decision yet)

Advice for students: Although it is important to start early and keep reaching out to people for funding and potential dissertation topics, remember to be kind to yourself. The first year can be stressful with a lot of things going on. Stay connected with your peers. I am grateful to have met and walked through this journey with them together.

Favorite memory: Happy hour with peers after we were done with the prelim; Hiking trips and our potluck gatherings during the first two years; fun lunch gatherings at Fred Hutch with colleagues and mentors.

Research Interests: Kidney disease

Plans post-graduation: Associate Consultant at Analysis Group

Research Interests: Environmental epidemiology in maternal and child populations

Plans post-graduation: Post doctoral fellowship

Research Interests: HIV care and prevention, epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections

Awards or Recognition: Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) New Investigator Scholarship

Plans post-graduation: UW Department of Medicine/Division of Allergy/Infectious Diseases faculty, research with the Public Health-Seattle King County Sexual Health Clinic

Thesis title: Dietary sources of melamine exposure among United States children and general population

Research Interests: Infectious diseases and environmental health

Plans post-graduation: CDC/CSTE Applied Epidemiology Fellowship

Thesis title: A higher plasma to red cell ratio is associated with lower 24-hour mortality in injured children receiving massive transfusion

Research Interests: Pediatric injury care, transfusion, firearm injury prevention

Awards or Recognition: Committee on Trauma Region X Resident Paper Competition Best Clinical Presentation for Washington State, December 2019; University of Washington Department of Surgery Schilling Research Symposium Best Poster Presentation, March 2019; Plans post-graduation: Return to finish general surgery residency training

Research Interests: Clinical epi, infectious diseases

Awards or Recognition: A photograph from my work with Public Health Seattle & King County on the COVID-19 response has been floating around in national news reports 🙂

Favorite memory: Students winning at the Epi Salmon Party!

Research Interests: HIV/STI Prevention, Maternal and Child Health, Surveillance, Infectious Diseases

Awards or Recognition: 2020 University of Washington Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence in Teaching Award Nominee

Plans post-graduation: Job searching, publishing my thesis, and exploring more of Seattle and Washington State (when it’s safe to do so!).

Advice for students: Go out of your comfort zone as often as you can and don’t be afraid to reach out for help!

Favorite memory: My favorite memories were getting to spend the summer working and travelling around Zimbabwe for my practicum with Helena Archer (also an MPH student in Epidemiology). Working at the Ministry of Health, whitewater rafting, and eating way too much dessert were some of the many highlights of the experience!

Research Interests: Injury, infectious disease, public health practice, crisis settings and response

Awards or Recognition: Grayston-Day Fellowship

Plans post-graduation: Epidemiology PhD

Advice for students: There are lots of fantastic opportunities; remember to be open, and even if the first or even the second thing doesn’t work out (as often happens!), if you keep looking and go into things eager to learn, you can find some really great experiences.

Favorite memory: I spent the summer in Harare as part of the SEAL Team exchange with the University of Zimbabwe. One of the friends of our main host, the advisor for the Field Epidemiology Training Program, took us out to Domboshava Rocks, this beautiful, beautiful place outside with cave paintings and colorful lichen outside the city (that’s where I am in the picture). We were there at sunset and everything was almost glowing; taking some time to step outside the city and a place that had been special and stunning to people for thousands of years reminded me to take a step back and appreciate my time there. I got to do some fascinating work and build connections and relationships that I hope to continue.

Research Interests: Chronic Disease, Maternal and Child Health, Environmental Health

Plans post-graduation: Completing an applied epidemiology fellowship with the California Department of Public Health

Advice for students: Don’t be afraid to seek out help from your peers and professors – everyone’s here to help!

Favorite memory: Working at state and local health departments through the SEAL Team – it was a great supplement to coursework we were doing in the classroom, and it allowed me to see the different career options available to epidemiologists in addition to academia

Research Interests: Infectious Disease, Social Determinants of Health, HIV/STIs

Plans post-graduation: I will be starting the PhD program in Epidemiology in Fall, 2020

Advice for students: Take advantage of all the learning resources around you – whether it be classes, faculty, extracurricular activities, and even your peers.

Favorite memory: The Epidemiology department Salmon Party that we had at the end of my first year in the program!

Research Interests: Nutrition and diet-related diseases, global health, community-based research and practice, and social determinants of health

Plans post-graduation: I will transition into the epidemiology PhD program in Fall 2020.

Advice for students: The MPH practicum is a great opportunity to do something outside of your usual interests and comfort zone. 

Research Interests: Adverse Childhood Experiences, Inflammation, Endocrinology, and Autoimmunity

Awards or Recognition: MPH Steering Committee Student Representative

Plans for post-graduation: Studying for the MCAT

Advice for students: Don’t spread yourself too thin and start talking to core faculty members about their work early and often.

Research Interests: infectious complications of injection drug use

Plans post-graduation: Infectious Diseases Physician

Research Interests: Sexual/reproductive health, mental health, queer health, health disparities

Plans post-graduation: Working as a full-time clinical research data analyst at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Advice for students: Don’t overthink it!

Favorite memory: Playing for the Epi department IM soccer team! We were terrible.

Thesis title: Correlates of HIV status non-disclosure by pregnant women living with HIV to their male partners in Uganda

Research Interests: Infectious diseases, HIV, maternal and child health, social determinants of health, anthropology

Awards or Recognition: Gilbert S. Omenn Award for Academic Excellence 2020; Outstanding Epi MPH Student 2020; Two Epi Non-Travel Awards; 9 publications during MPH program (including submitted ones)

Plans post-graduation: I will be starting the Epidemiology PhD Program at UW this fall. I will be studying neurocognitive health outcomes in HIV-exposed uninfected children, PrEP-exposed children, and children living with HIV, under the mentorship of Drs. Grace John-Stewart and Connie Celum.

Advice for students: Never forget your purpose here. It’s easy to forget the WHY when you’re swamped in homework and midterms, but hang on tight to your goals. When you achieve a goal, enjoy the moment, don’t look to the next goal right away (otherwise what’s the point of setting goals!). Keep a failures resume – stay humble and remember that it only takes one success to make it all worth it. Don’t be afraid to push yourself – the comfort zone is a beautiful place but nothing grows there. Be kind to others, people never remember what you say, they only remember how you made them feel. Enjoy this special time to find yourself and your dreams!

Favorite memory: Epi Salmon Party!

Plans post-graduation: Postdoc scholar-fellow in UW’s department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education

Advice for students: Don’t limit yourself to the required number of electives, there are a lot of really interesting classes!

Research Interests: HIV, metabolic diseases

Plans post-graduation: Continuing with the Epi PhD program!

Advice for students: Try to meet with/talk to faculty as much as possible!

Favorite memory: Winning at the Salmon party!

Thesis title: Hospitalization and mortality outcomes in the first five years after a childhood cancer diagnosis: a population-based study

Research Interests: Pediatric Oncology, Quality of Life, Symptom Management

Awards or Recognition: ASCO Conquer Cancer Young Investigator Award, St. Baldrick’s Foundation Fellowship Award, UW Palliative Care T32 Fellowship
 
Plans post-graduation: Continuing as an Instructor in Pediatrics at Seattle Children’s Hospital in the Division of Hematology-Oncology and member of the Palliative Care and Resilience Lab at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute. 

Research Interests: Injury, Social Determinants, Neighborhood Health, Epidemiological Methods, Spatial Epidemiology

Thesis title: Hepatocellular carcinoma screening reduces cancer-related mortality in patients with chronic hepatitis B infection

Research Interests: Hepatology, Transplant Hepatology, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Cancer screening

Plans post-graduation: Completing Transplant Hepatology fellowship, starting Transplant Hepatology faculty position at University of Virginia

Thesis title: Exercise partially explains the impact of body mass index on disease activity in Ankylosing Spondylitis

Research Interests: cardiovascular disease, axial spondyloarthritis, causal inference

Awards or Recognition: American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Distinguished Fellow in 2019; received grant funding for clinical epidemiology research from multiple sources, including the Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network (SPARTAN) and the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS). None of this would have been possible without the training that I received here.
  
Plans post-graduation: I will be an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Boston University and will continue clinical epidemiology research within the Section of Rheumatology.
 
Advice for students: Join Twitter and follow #epitwitter because that is apparently where the cool kids are at. 

Favorite memory: I loved giving standing ovations to professors at the end of the larger lecture courses. I’ve never encountered that in undergrad or in med school. Perhaps it’s unique to this program. But I truly felt the gratitude that we were giving through each of those standing ovations. And I’m sad that we didn’t get to do it for Marco Carone, for example, when BIOST537 ended this spring (due to COVID19). 

Research Interests: Pediatric pulmonology, Global health, Implementation science

Plans post-graduation: Acting Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital

Research Interests: Health Equity, Social Determinants of Health, Housing & Homelessness, LGBTQ Health

Awards or Recognition: 2018-2019 SPH Grayston-Day Fellowship; 2019-2020 Outstanding Epi Master’s Student 

Plans post-graduation: Working as a data analyst for Public Health Seattle King County’s Health Care for the Homeless Network

Research Interests: My interests include molecular and cellular pathogenesis, disease prediction and prevention, data visualization and communication, syndromic surveillance system development, and clinical trial design, conduct, and analysis. 

Awards or Recognition: Graduated without particular distinction

Plans post-graduation: Looking at jobs in public health practice or clinical research.

Advice for students: Stay balanced and have fun. 

Favorite memory: All of the great conversations I had with my peers and teachers.

Thesis title: Predictors of Pediatric In-Hospital Recurrent Cardiac Arrest

Research Interests: Pediatric resuscitation and identification of clinical deterioration.

Plans post-graduation: Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Critical Care at the University of Oklahoma.

Advice for students: Stay balanced and have fun. 

Favorite memory: All of the great conversations I had with my peers and teachers.

Research Interests: Genetic epidemiology, cardiovascular epidemiology, cancer epidemiology

Plans post-graduation: Maybe find a local job?

Advice for students: Get involved in the research asap

Favorite memory: preliminary test 🙂