Outstanding Teaching Assistant – Katie Labgold

Katie Labgold is a 2nd year Epi PhD student with Dr. Michael Kramer and was this year’s winner of the 2nd Annual Epidemiology Program Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award! Over half of the students in Katie’s lab section of Epi 591U (Applications of Epi Concepts) took the time to write about their appreciation for her efforts as their TA and to explain why she is deserving of this award.  Her name will be added to a plaque that will be hung in the Epidemiology Department, and each year a new name will be added.

We sat down with Katie this week to chat about her experience at Rollins:

Q: What are your research interests?

A: I’m interested in all things social, spatial, and reproductive epi! My current research interests include the application of epidemiological theory and methods to explore the socio-political determinants of family planning access and reproductive health outcomes. I am an incoming doctoral fellow with the Center for Reproductive Health Research in the Southeast (RISE) at Emory.

Q: What is it like to be a Teaching Assistant?

A: One of the best aspects of TAing 591U is that it is a two-way learning experience. I had a great set of students who were very engaged during our lab section. This allowed us to work through the concepts they found challenging, and in the process I gained a deeper understanding of the material. I think these concepts are critical to becoming a better epidemiologist (we didn’t have this class in my program), so it was a great experience to help facilitate our Emory epi students’ engagement with these topics.

Q: Are you going to TA again anytime soon?

I’ll be TAing spatial epidemiology with Michael in the fall, and I am very excited to TA this course for so many reasons, I don’t think I can list them all here! An exciting aspect of this course is the combination of spatial epidemiology thinking/theory with hands-on analysis in R – I’m getting excited just thinking about it!

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Katie studied Archaeology and Chemistry during her undergrad at the University of Virginia, followed by an MPH in Population Health Research at UVa.

CONGRATULATIONS EMORY EPIs!

Congratulations to our Emory EPI graduates! We are so proud of your hard work and success throughout your time at RSPH and are excited to see the great contributions you will make to public health. Make sure to keep in touch– we’ll still see you each Monday with our Alumni Confounder! Congratulations on a job well done!

Thesis Spotlight: Ramya Ramaraju, EPI MPH 2019

Ramya Ramaraju, EPI MPH 2019

Thesis: Assessing the Unexpected Impacts of Rotavirus Vaccination on Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) in the United States

Advisor: Dr. Ben Lopman

My Experience: “I worked with Dr. Lopman and used the MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database to assess whether there are any existing associations between Rotavirus Vaccination and ITP.

What’s next: “I’ll be completing the one year MBA at Emory’s Goizueta Business School.”

Share your #IamEmoryEpi story!

We want to share the success of current students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Let us know what you’re up to now & how Emory Epidemiology led you there! The Google form will take <5 minutes to complete! Feel free to email us at sphepidept [at] emory [dot] edu if you have questions! Click Here to Submit your Experience!

Student Spotlight: Ariana Gobaud, EPI MPH ’19

Ariana Gobaud,  Second Year EPI MPH

Practicum Name and Organization: “Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Provider Inquiries in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Expert Medical Consultations, 2013-2017” at the CDC Division of TB Elimination, Field Services Branch

My Experience: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the oldest diseases, and we are lucky that the rates of incidence are so low in the U.S. These low rates, however, mean that healthcare providers are not well trained in diagnosing and providing treatment for patients with TB. The CDC funds 5 centers to provide expert medical consultation and training to assist US providers in the management of TB. Medical consultations are saved as text documents in an online database. I quantitatively and qualitatively  analyzed consultations provided specifically for multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB from 2013-2017 to identify the provider type, setting of caller, and year of the call, and to identify main themes of consultations regarding MDR TB. This week I am presenting these findings at the National TB Conference in Atlanta!

What’s Next for me:I will be attending Columbia in the Fall for my PhD in Epidemiology.

Congratulations, Ariana! The Epi Department will miss you!

First Year Students Emma Klein and Christina Chandra present at the HIV and Aging Conference

First year GLEPI MSPH student Emma Klein and EPI MPH student Christina Chandra presented this week at an HIV & Aging Conference.

Emma said:

“I was able to present research that I conducted at my REAL job about older adults using methadone for recovery from opioid use disorder. It was an honor for my abstract to be selected and for my PI to allow me to represent the team. My favorite thing about the conference was the opportunity to connect with more established researchers who were very supportive of my work and my career ambitions.”

Congratulations Emma and Christina!

Student Spotlight: Allison Foster, 2nd Year EPI

Allison Foster, 2nd Year EPI MPH

Practicum: Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, WI

Last summer, I completed my practicum in Marshfield, Wisconsin at the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute (MCRI) in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Population Health. For my REAL position, I work on domestic influenza surveillance efforts in the Influenza Division at CDC, and the MCRI is one of five sites in the U.S. Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network which provides annual estimates of flu vaccine effectiveness. During my practicum, I had the opportunity to be mentored by some of the nation’s leaders in flu research while working on a project to assess the association between asthma and serious outcomes following influenza illness among school-aged children. I was also able to lead a journal club discussion, shadow clinicians and other clinic staff members, and assist in drafting a funding application for vaccine research. I recently presented a poster of my project at the ASPPH Annual Meeting in Arlington, VA on March 21, and I am currently working on a manuscript for publication.

Student Spotlight: Pragati Prasad

Pragati Prasad, 2nd Year EPI MPH Student

I have been a Graduate Research Assistant for Dr. Samuel Jenness at the Rollins School of Public Health for the past year and a half. Working on the ART-Net study, I was in charge of the entire data management pipeline: managing emails from survey participants, merging survey data, missing data imputation, and creating derived variables.

At EmoryEPI, I’ve learned: There is always more than one way to do something. Because of this, it is vital to understand *why* we chose the approach we end up going with, as it informs how the data can be interpreted for every analysis afterwards.

My favorite part of my EmoryEPI experience: Being responsible for data that is currently used for various projects – and will continue to be – made me aware of how important it was to always provide high quality work.

Recent Publication: Jenness SM, Weiss KM, Prasad P, Zlotorzynska M, Sanchez T. Bacterial STI screening rates by symptomatic status among men who have sex with men in the United States: A hierarchical Bayesian analysis. Sexually Transmitted Diseases. July 24, 2018.

Student Spotlight: Cynthia Jones

Cynthia Jones, 2nd Year MPH Student

I am a graduate research assistant with the Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) support center. In partnership with other organizations, our team conducts operational research activities that address challenges faced by NTD control and elimination programs globally. My responsibilities include managing data from surveys that quantify the presence of helminthic infections – onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, and loiasis – and representing our findings to support and inform ongoing program activities.

At EmoryEPI, I’ve learned: The key to excellent data management is excellent documentation – the truth is always in the details. Much of my job requires extensive attention to detail, and thanks to the professors who require thorough descriptions of code work and study methods, activities such as reproducing data manipulations and performing trace-backs are no problem.

Being part of a team that supports disadvantaged populations around the world through its unique role in the fight against NTDs is extremely motivating and challenges me to continue learning and developing new skills so that I can contribute to the best of my abilities. It’s an exciting time to work in NTDs!

Student Practicum (APE) Spotlight: Zara Khan, Ibis Reproductive Health

Zara Khan, 2nd Year EPI MPH

Undergrad: Rice University, Cognitive Sciences

Research Interests: Sexual and reproductive health, developmental origins of human disease

Summer Practicum Experience: I spent the summer working on my dream practicum in Oakland, CA with Ibis Reproductive Health, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing rigorous research and principled partnerships to advance sexual and reproductive autonomy, choices, and health worldwide. My work mostly entailed quantitative and qualitative analysis for several projects, including a randomized controlled trial of a smartphone app to provide women in Indonesia access to information about medication abortion. After my summer internship, I have continued my work with Ibis as a consultant. My supervisor, Ruvani (also a Rollins Epi grad!), remains one of my most trusted mentors, helping guide my trajectory both at RSPH and within the SRH field.