Student Research Highlights
Chemistry major Daniel Echelman ’11 carried out an epidemiological study of breast cancer awareness and outreach efforts in Nakuru, Kenya. This project was an extension of earlier work he did with a local NGO using theatre to promote health awareness.
Woodrow Wilson School major Ashley Schoettle ’10 conducted research in Geneva to gain a firsthand perspective on the malaria programs at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. She looked for ways in which the Fund could strengthen its leadership position in international support programs to better serve the needs of the global community, especially during the economic crisis.
Anthropology major Josh Franklin ’11 conducted a comparative analysis of access to healthcare technology and the right to health in Porto Alegre, Brazil. His research built on his previous study of access to complex, high-cost treatments and the constitutionally guaranteed right to health.
Woodrow Wilson School major Mathias Esmann ’11 researched the prevention and control of malaria in Sierra Leone, building on two previous summers spent providing insecticide-treated mosquito nets and malaria prevention education to over 30 Sierra Leonean villages. He carried out this work as part of Global Minimum, an NGO he co-founded to combat the spread of malaria while promoting development within Sierra Leone.
Molecular Biology major Irfan Kherani ’11 did a biological and administrative study on the effectiveness of the H1N1 influenza vaccine in Australia. Working first at the World Health Organization and later in Australia, he analyzed the H1N1 strains’ origin and variety, examined vaccine implementation, and assessed the vaccine’s impact on immunizing against H1N1 strains.
Religion major John Torrey ’11 researched the role of religious organizations in promoting health and delivering care in Bagamoyo, Tanzania. He conducted a systematic, ethnographic analysis of how the area mosques and churches act to foster health locally, and he volunteered for a local HIV/AIDS home-based care NGO to observe how religious institutions relate to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Chemistry major Karolina Brook ’10 studied cholera in India and Bangladesh, complementing her laboratory research on quorum sensing in the cholera bacterium with field exposure to the disease. She observed the clinical management of cholera and the living conditions that facilitate the breeding of cholera, in the process acquiring practical skills in clinical, epidemiological and database-based studies.
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology PhD candidate Ann Thomas researched how environment affects primed immunity in insects, studying related mechanisms and implications for infectious disease dynamics.
Sociology PhD candidate Michael Benediktsson investigated why some suburban environments present particular hazards for a growing population of low-income residents. To explore this question he examined four suburban counties with different levels of pedestrian and house fire mortality.