Showcase

Breast cancer is common and affects 1 in 8 women. One third of patients who undergo axillary lymph node removal as part of the treatment of breast cancer experience lymphedema. It is estimated that lymphedema affects 5 million Americans. Lymphedema i ... s characterized by progressive arm swelling that hinders quality of life, reduces mobility, and increases risk for infections. There is no cure for lymphedema and current treatments are variably effective. Therefore, the goal of this laboratory is to study novel prevention and management strategies for lymphedema. The current study is to evaluate the effect of dermal lymphatic preservation in the development of lymphedema. Read more

Using the IU Wellness Inventory, Avi created a survey to gauge where students needed the most support in their mental, physical, and social health. Avi shared this survey with 33 students at the University of Illinois Chicago campus and the IUPUI cam ... pus. This presentation was made using the respondents' answers and the research from Harvard Health, Gallup, the ADAA, etc. This presentation covers tips like eating nutritiously on campus and managing stress with the resources available to IU students. This process models, on a small scale, how public health programs are executed. Sources and links to IU resources provided in the QR code in the presentation. Read more

During my time at the IU Center for Aging Research at the Regenstrief Institute, I worked in Dr. Fowler’s lab and with her research team. The primary focus of this lab is understanding cognitive aging and the implication of dementia on older adults’ ... lives and their caregivers. My work on the projects included tasks aimed at supporting the research team and ensuring seamless research participant involvement. A significant portion of my time was dedicated to the Brain Safe study scheduling calls for data collection, coordinating appointments, and ensuring that participants were able to engage with the research process seamlessly. For the DECAD study, I transcribed qualitative interview recordings into documents that can be used for analysis. This required careful attention to detail to accuracy to capture the verbatim insights and experiences shared by caregivers of people with dementia who were participants. Facilitating communication between participants and the research team was a key aspect of my role, demanding empathy and effective interpersonal skills. I strived to ensure that participants felt heard, valued, and supported throughout their involvement. This internship has been an eye-opening journey, providing invaluable insights into the daily challenges faced by individuals with dementia and those who support them. Read more

The U.S. child mental health crisis indicates insufficient access to behavioral health care in a timely manner. The Indiana Behavioral Health Access Program for Youth (BeHappy Program) seeks to address the behavioral healthcare workforce shortage by ... connecting community-based primary care providers to board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrists. Primary care providers are offered resources to effectively practice evidence-based care to their patient’s mental health needs, including assessment, diagnostic clarification, medication management, and treatment planning. The same-day telephone consultation responds efficiently, offering direct assessment and psychotherapy services virtually or in person, reducing the risk of worsening symptoms. In addition, Be Happy provides continuing education sessions about pediatric behavioral topics through ECHOs, giving primary care providers the confidence to independently address their patient’s mental health needs in the future. During my internship, I have assisted in coding quantitative and qualitative raw patient data which is helpful for analysis. The BeHappy clinic’s dataset can be compared with statewide data to identify the demographics they serve. It can also assess the program’s progress and provide feedback to the involved grants supporting the project. Read more

My research is in Dr. Amelia Linnemann’s Lab at Indiana University School of Medicine. The Linnemann lab studies the relationship between oxidative stress and pancreatic beta cell function and survival. This is relevant to Type 1 Diabetes, an autoimm ... une disease that is associated with the specific destruction of insulin producing beta cells, because the immune system produces cytokines such as IFN-? and IFN-? that have been shown to impair beta cell function through the induction of oxidative stress. To study this impact, we have stained a human beta cell line (EndoC-?H1) with dyes to measure mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial function. After collecting baseline images with a confocal microscope, we determined if the cytokines IFN-? and IFN-? cause changes in mitochondrial function and alter mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production. Image analysis was done using the National Institute of Health’s Fiji image analysis software. The results of this experiment will establish a potential disease mechanism of IFN-? and IFN-? in the development of Type 1 Diabetes by determining where mitochondrial oxidative stress originates, leading to the loss of pancreatic beta cell function. Read more

Hi! My name is Kate Wagner and I am an intern in Dr. Loghmani's Applied Regenerative Medicine Research lab. The goal of our research is to improve quantifiable soft tissue manipulation (QSTM) techniques in physical therapy and to create clear criteri ... a to help train future physical therapists. This work will aid those with injuries or muscle strains that could benefit from soft tissue manipulation and will also help future PT students. Currently, we are analyzing stroke pattern graphs that depict the different forces applied to the patients when our devices are being used. Something cool that we have discovered from looking at these graphs is that the region of the body plays a big role in how the graphs depict the forces. We have also been looking at the way in which each clinician conducts the QSTM strokes, as small differences in things like handhold can cause big changes on the stroke pattern graphs. This could greatly impact how future physical therapists are trained in soft tissue manipulation. Read more

Riley Hospital for Children is the main provider of pediatric HIV care to children and adolescents living with HIV in Indiana. My focus in this internship has been to investigate implementation challenges in HIV testing and care for children and adol ... escents in this setting. This has included collaborating in a retrospective cohort study of children and adolescents with HIV, evaluating trends in HIV diagnoses before and after 2020, and identifying missed opportunities for prevention or earlier testing and treatment. In related work, I am also supporting efforts to increase adolescent HIV testing in the ED setting, and I have developed a set of educational resources for children, adolescents, and families affected by HIV and their providers. This work has included an emphasis on social determinants of health, and addressing quality improvement and clinical challenges that impact pediatric HIV testing and care. As a result of this work, the team at the Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Disease and Global Health hopes to better address needs in this setting to improve adolescent HIV testing and prevention, and address challenges across the prevention and treatment cascades for perinatal and pediatric HIV. Read more

The LHSI research centered on assessing palliative care needs in patients with Parkinson disease. Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that impacts both motor and non-motor symptoms, creating a symptom burden that affects qualit ... y of life. Since Parkinson's is a progressive disorder, advanced care planning is essential. Advance care planning is a discussion used to prepare for the future and aid physicians in aligning patient preferences and medical interventions to improve their quality of life. Indiana offers several forms to support patients' plans: Health Care Representative (HCR), Power of Attorney (POA), Living Will, and Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST). There is a paucity of advanced care planning in hospital medical records available for admitting physicians to refer to when developing a plan of care. The research project aimed to determine the frequency and patient characteristics associated with patient reports of having advanced care planning and those available in the electronic medical records (EMR). The findings of this research will assist neurologists' knowledge about the patient and clinical characteristics to improve the timing and prevalence of advanced care planning in the future. Read more

Dr. Michelle Miller’s Perinatal Traumatic Stress Lab studies different therapeutic interventions to reduce traumatic stress symptoms in pregnant and postpartum populations. Improved perinatal maternal health may reduce perinatal health complications ... and improve infant health outcomes. The Perinatal Traumatic Stress Lab works to improve maternal health outcomes and prioritized reaching women in rural communities as well as women who may be experiencing discrimination and poverty. One intervention is Perinatal Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), which provides opportunities for pregnant and postpartum women who have experienced extremely stressful or traumatic events to engage in exposure-based therapy so we can study if NET reduces PTS, depressive, and dissociation symptoms. NET is a treatment commonly used for different trauma disorders that aims to help participants learn new ways to cope with their traumatic experiences. Our research provides new means for perinatal women to receive support during their pregnant and postpartum period. Read more