Showcase

I work with the IUPUI ECHO Center to organize educational events (ECHOS) on vital topics like HIV, cancer, hepatitis C, etc. ECHO is a platform that allows users to communicate with medical experts from various states who give both didactic content a ... nd real-world examples. Through this platform, one gets to develop a variety of skills, including the ability to provide constructive criticism and apply that feedback to make corrections. One also has a tremendous opportunity of acquiring some highly beneficial teamwork abilities, such as leadership, collaboration, and critical thinking, by interacting with healthcare professionals. Overall, the IUPUI ECHO center is a location where you may gain a lot of knowledge from experts and learn how to collaborate with others and politely take their advice. Through time, one learns how pleasurable it can be to work with others who have similar perspectives and more experience than you have, since you feel more at ease asking questions and getting the task done correctly. This internship with IUPUI ECHO center has far exceeded the expectations because not only do you learn a lot but also interact with new people on a daily basis, both of which you are eager to do. Read more

This past year I have had the opportunity to intern in the Office of Adolescent Medicine at IU Health. This experience has entailed a wide variety of workshops, meetings, projects, and research. Through the past 7 months, I have attended LGBTQ ECHO M ... eetings through the School of Public Health, the Indiana ACLU monthly Policy Meetings, and workshops held by the medical library at IU School of Medicine. During my time, I worked on creating a content guide for first time patients at Riley's Gender Health clinic, what to expect for their first in person and online appointments to help alleviate any anxiety new patients experience. I am also working with Dr. Richard Brandon-Friedman and his research team on their research regarding the mental well-being of gender expansive youth who are receiving gender affirming care. We are currently still conducting this research study and will conclude before the end of 2023. Read more

As the world came to a stop due to the Covid-19 pandemic, educational institutions grappled with teaching students via remote learning programs. This created hardships for students who could no longer get first-hand experience with models and other l ... earning materials. That is why our site began developing models that can be downloaded as 3D PDFs. These models consist of animal skulls and human anatomy depicting muscles, internal organs, and various other structures. The first is geared toward k-12 education and the latter is focused on medical/professional students along with graduate education. These 3D PDFs will serve as a resource to study for many students and allow them to better comprehend in-class models while being at home, in the library, or on the go! Read more

The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) is one of 60 National Institute for Health (NIH) funded centers that works to aid in enhancing the field of medicine. One of their locations includes the Clinical Research Center at IU ... Health University Hospital. The CRC supplies high-quality clinical research services and utilities to Indiana's top research talent. Our facilities include a skilled nursing team, lab processing, and a clinical space and equipment for researchers to use. My role at the CRC includes being a Student Nurse in which I help the nurses with any tasks they need including sending labs, drawing blood, taking vitals, etc. Additionally, I work with administration to do audits of monthly reports, study correspondence, and learn about how billing works in our unit. My project summarizes the various diabetes studies that are conducted here with a special focus on a study that I worked on. The purpose of this study, titled, “Diabetes Related to Acute Pancreatitis and its Mechanisms (DREAM),” is to find out how many people with acute pancreatitis develop diabetes. I plan to utilize this experience and the knowledge I gained for years to come. Read more

Osteoclasts are the primary cells involved in the process of bone breakdown. Many bone diseases, including osteoporosis and periodontitis, involve increased osteoclast activity. Estrogen also plays a significant role in bone metabolism, and the absen ... ce of estrogen leads to increased osteoclast activity. The Pyk2 tyrosine kinase is a key protein involved in the regulation of osteoclast breakdown activity. Absence of Pyk2 decreases osteoclast activity. The objective of this study is to establish a potential relationship between Pyk2 and the estrogen receptor (ER) alpha (ERa) and/or beta (ERb) in osteoclasts. In addition, we examined Nedd4 protein, which targets proteins, including the estrogen receptors, for degradation. The overall hypothesis is that absence of Pyk2 may activate Nedd4 to degrade ERa, decreasing osteoclast activity. Bone marrow preparation was performed using both male and female wild type (WT) mice, as well as from mice that were missing the Pyk2 gene (Pyk2 KO). Bone marrow cells were then cultured with media to induce osteoclast formation. Mature osteoclasts were used for qPCR analysis to measure gene expression of the genes mentioned. The results suggest that in the absence of Pyk2, Nedd4 expression is upregulated, with no differences in ERa/ERb levels. Read more

The Well Child & Oral Health Clinic is held at IU Health Primary Care Central Indianapolis as an interprofessional environment where a team works to provide comprehensive wellness and oral health examinations for pediatric patients. The team is compr ... omprised of Family Medicine Residents, Dental and Dental Hygiene learners, and clinic staff. The age of patients ranges from 1-18 years old. Parents or caregivers of children attend the patient visit with the child. As a pediatric clinic, the residents and learners work in pairs to see each patient. The pairs allow each profession to learn more about others' roles and responsibilities, how to communicate with patients, and how to collaborate to create a “comprehensive” care plan. Oral health examinations are imperative to health and wellbeing of all individuals. Additionally, poor oral health has consequences that interact with chronic conditions. It is reported that patients with untreated oral health conditions tend to receive health care in emergency rooms where their dental concerns are often not treated. Innovations in Oral Health and Primary Care Integration (2021) reported that models of primary care and oral health integration provide an opportunity to meet patients' oral health needs across the socio-economic spectrum. Read more

As part of my role in the Healthy Sleep for Kids Laboratory, I have been studying the development, detection, and treatment of a variety of sleep disorders in infants, children, and adolescents from underserved populations. My internship has revolved ... around two projects: Sleep and Health in the Home (SHH) and Evidence-based Detection of Pediatric Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). SHH aims to understand predictors of the disproportionate rates of high Body Mass Index (BMI) in Black and Latinx children by examining sleep and feeding patterns in infants. There is growing evidence that the risk of high BMI is associated with certain sleep and feeding patterns. In order to prevent unhealthy weight later in childhood, it is essential to identify these patterns. The OSA Project is focused on the impact of health communication in the detection of OSA in children. Through this project, we developed and refined an OSA infographic in English and Spanish with feedback from parents and medical providers. The infographic will be ultimately shown to parents to increase OSA detection and referrals. As many families participating in both studies speak Spanish at home, I have been able to apply my bilingual skills to the research. Read more

You've probably heard one of the many terms related to dementia, but the meaning of the term dementia is constantly shifting as more research evolves. That's because dementia is a condition of the brain, or an umbrella term, and not a disease. An umb ... se. An umbrella term covers a broad category of similar topics, rather than a specific item. FTD, like Alzheimer's, is a specific brain disease, while dementia is a term to describe this group of symptoms. It is roughly estimated that 50,000 to 60,000 people in the United States are affected by FTD, making up an estimated 10-20% of all dementia cases. For rare diseases like this to become topical, it often requires media input and celebrity showcasing; a case in point is how Bruce Willis was recently diagnosed with FTD. The goal of this project is to peer under the umbrella term of dementia, inform the audience on what exactly FTD is, and discuss the ALLFTD study. I hope you can walk away with a better understanding of FTD and the dementia umbrella. Read more

The Lifespan Resiliency After Family Trauma (LifeRAFT) research program studies how stressful life events affect how parents and their children think, feel, and act by using questionnaires, DNA samples, and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging scans ... . The purpose of our research is to examine how the difficult things that parents and their children have been through in their lives affect them so that we can help make better treatments for those who have gone through traumatic experiences. One of the LifeRAFT research studies focuses on parents' stress and substance use and how those two problems relate to their children's brain development. Understanding how parents' mental health and children's development are related is important because it might help us understand why some children are at greater risk for substance use and other problems than others. In turn, we could reduce negative outcomes for children at the greatest risk. Read more

Disorders of the gut-brain interaction are heterogeneous gastrointestinal disorders characterized by disturbances in gut motility, food sensitivities, the gut microbiome, and other systematic effects. A common disorder of the gut-brain axis is irrita ... ble bowel syndrome, which may induce constipation, diarrhea, pain, anxiety, depression, and numerous other symptoms. Disorders of the gut-brain axis are difficult to investigate due to the complexity, variability, and widescale effects of symptoms across patients. Throughout my internship, I have worked alongside the research team to investigate the physical and psychological effects of IBS, the receptiveness to care in patients with IBS, and research regarding other matters related to gastroenterology. At my internship, I helped to conduct research regarding the prevalence of IBS in individuals with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disease. This research aimed to assess the prevalence of IBS, determine treatment modalities for gastrointestinal symptoms, and characterize dietary habits and food sensitivities within this patient population. Furthermore, additional research that I have taken part in has investigated the receptiveness to cognitive behavioral therapy in patients with IBS. Overall, this research has aimed to improve the understanding and treatment of various disorders of the gut-brain interaction. Read more