Graduate Research Assistant (2021 – 2022)

While getting my Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Pennsylvania, I was the recipient of a graduate assistantship on Dr. Allison Curry’s team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention (CIRP). Prior to joining CIRP, I had worked on several different research teams in various disciplines such as cardiovascular medicine, community development, and agricultural economics. My interdisciplinary background is part of what drew me to the public health field and working on Dr. Curry’s team was the first opportunity I had to pursue research that directly applied my public health training. I was thrilled to support various epidemiologic projects with mentorship from Lauren O’Malley, MPH.

During my time as a Graduate Research Assistant at CIRP, I primarily worked on designing a large database in REDCap that will ultimately store all the data collected for our Longitudinal Cohort Study of Driving Among Teens with and without ADHD and Parents. This project was particularly meaningful to me because I had some prior experience using REDCap, and this allowed me to dive deep into the backend of building several complex surveys within a database. One highlight of my training experience at CIRP was presenting the work I did on our ADHD longitudinal cohort study at a CIRP Quarterly Research Symposium.

Upon completion of my assistantship and my MPH, I was invited to take on a new role on the team as a Clinical Research Coordinator II. I’m excited to continue working on a team that offers such outstanding mentorship and opportunities for professional growth. It’s an honor to use my passion for public health to contribute to a team that is doing such important research to support teens and young adults with neurodevelopmental differences.