The End-Of-Life lab strives to assist health care providers, patients with terminal disease and their families in ethical, informed medical decision making. Research projects geared to understanding terminal stages of disease burdens and patient and ... family’s needs helps to provide focused medical care. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurological condition resulting in motor, nonmotor and emotional symptoms and can affect both the patient and their care partners quality of life. This project is retrospective research deign using patient self-reported surveys from Parkinson’s clinics at IU health Methodist to assess differences in symptoms burden based on gender. Patient demographics were obtained and used to classify patients into respective gender cohorts. Symptoms were gauged on a four-point-Likert scale of “not at all” to “A great deal”. These symptoms varied from nonmotor-symptoms to spiritual and psychosocial symptoms as well as care partners reported burdens. Read more

In the United States, 1 in every 8 women is diagnosed with breast cancer according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Approximately 17% of these diagnoses are triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most lethal and aggressive ... breast cancer subtype as it lacks overexpression of the normal chemotherapy targets, hormone receptors, and Human Epidermal Receptor 2 (HER2). This is important because due to the absence of these protein receptors, it is difficult to find a targeted treatment, one of the main causes of poorer survival rates in TNBC patients. There are many ways in which to approach studying triple negative breast cancer as it is associated with many factors. My project focused on understanding how varying the lipid composition of TNBC cell membranes can lead to more aggressive cancer and metastasis. One of the main methods used to study the lipid composition for my research is small angle x-ray scattering. By studying these data, it is hoped that this will increase our understanding of targeted ways to treat and/or prevent metastatic breast cancer and help save the lives of countless women affected by this disease. Read more

In the digital pathology lab, I scan and use an automated whole slide scanner by scanning slides and moving them on a database for analysis. Our main goal is to use new artificial intelligence packages to predicate patient disease free survival (DFS) ... and survival. Overall, being part of the lab has shown me how digital pathology tools that have limited artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in research and education can make a significant difference. My research on colon cancer helped me become more equipped to understand the process of colon cancer. Read more

Our goal is to improve the quality of care for pediatric patients suffering from chronic pain due to a variety of causes. It is our hope that by studying the various factors that influence pediatric pain patients' experience of their condition and th ... nd the care that they receive, we may be able to identify areas where the quality of the care that we provide can be improved. The focus of my project is the development of a comprehensive survey which will be used in a clinical setting and possibly in future research to evaluate the various factors that influence pediatric chronic headaches. Read more

The Undiagnosed Rare Disease Clinic (URDC) is a project that works with patients who may have an undiagnosed rare disease that’s likely caused by a genetic mutation. The clinic is pediatrics focused but accepts patients of all ages, and assesses thei ... r medical conditions via clinical and research strategies. The purpose of the project is to help effected patients and families of effected patients uncover a diagnosis, learn how to adapt with it, and direct them to a care plan if applicable. Read more

For my project I have chosen to create an interactive platform highlighting sex education that will utilize concerns and interest of Indiana Youth. Data will be pulled and analyzed from the INPACT, and INCAST research projects to inform the platform. ... Viewers will be able to watch demo videos on reproductive health, see the main concerns of youth, listen to discussions around sexual health topics, and even post questions they may have or want to learn more about on a community board. Read more

In this research we gather 24 various healthcare apps across the world to see if they are still available to be downloaded and used. During the research we gathered 24 articles about the healthcare apps and created an excel sheet where we put in our ... data. Next we searched the internet, app store, and google store to see if it was still available or not. After we gather the information, we put all that information into an excel sheet. We are currently writing a research paper about our findings and hope that others will figure out a way to keep healthcare apps still available. Read more

Working with the only comprehensive Sickle Cell clinic in the state of Indiana has been a rewarding experience. My work focused on data collection, where I would be given forms visiting clients had filled out and digitally copy them into our many dat ... abases that we use to receiving further funding to benefit the many children and families who experience Sickle Cell Disease. Read more

The Social Determinants of Health team at Eskenazi Health aims to diminish disparities in factors such as food insecurity, diaper need, transportation, etc. Pediatric diaper need is a nationally underfunded resource for parents. Through a partnership ... with Indiana Diaper Bank, Eskenazi Health aims to become a healthcare system offering pediatric diaper resources to the community. Over the course of my internship, I have surveyed parents at Eskenazi Health Center Pecar on their children’s diaper needs, as well as their experiences on receiving diapers through community resources. This research also helps in determining the impact coping mechanisms of parents who have diaper need. Over 200 surveys in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole at several Eskenazi Health clinics have been conducted. Read more

Kids HealthCast is a pediatric focused podcast recorded by pediatric residents at the IU School of Medicine. This podcast is made for parents and the public to educate on how to support children’s development, mental and physical needs, and even addr ... esses various concerns and questions people may have regarding pediatric health. With this podcast, we hope to keep parents updated, aware, and educated on ways they can keep their children safe and raise them in a fulfilling environment that will help them to thrive. The podcast consists of parenting tips, current news that is relevant to children's health, informative main topics, and answers to several questions parents may have! My fellow intern, Cynthia, and I record the residents, edit the podcasts, create social media posts, and instruct the residents when recording. A new episode is available monthly on Spotify, apple music, and their website. Read more