Showcase

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 ... iteria 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 ... uality 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

I am currently a Senior at IU Indianapolis with a major in Health Service Management. I chose Health Service Management because I have always only known health care. Many people in my family work in the health care system and I want to be that person ... that advocates for change within and outside. I am currently working on a student on-boarding project for my internship. This is my personal project in which I have complete control over the project. It's exciting to see my plans, thoughts, research, informational interviews and best practices develop into this completed project that may be implemented throughout our school for any student hired. Read more

As a Social Media and Marketing intern for the Office of Student Employment, I am responsible for a multitude of tasks. I manage all their social media platforms, assist with the production, editing and posting of the Learning and Earning Podcast, an ... d also provide headshot services for our students at IUPUI. My project during this internship is to create a process that future social media and marketing interns can easily follow involving the Learning and Earning Podcast. I plan to leverage my technical skills that I have developed over the years and throughout my internship to create a podcast process that is user friendly and efficient. Read more

At the Office of Student Employment, my role as one of the Career Services involves taking appointments and drop-ins for resume and cover letter writing and review, assisting in job search strategies and looking for part time on-campus positions via ... the Handshake job platform, planning tabling events at different locations around campus, assisting in giving presentations on various topics like OSE services and Handshake to other students, and being a peer mentor for the Hire Achievers program. Along with these duties, my big project is researching and creating a PowerPoint Presentation on the uses of AI technology and how it can be implemented in our office and for student use in career services. Read more

My professional portfolio encapsulates my journey as an undergraduate student studying Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University of Indianapolis. With a commitment to becoming a resource for individuals and communities, my experiences include worki ... ng part-time at Primrose Daycare and serving as a Career Service Intern at the Office of Student Employment on campus. With my passion for youth development and faith-based initiatives, my three years in childcare have fueled my compassion for young people. As a devoted Christian, I seek to align my values with my career, contributing to relational community engagement and helping those in need. My portfolio showcases a comprehensive view of my educational background, professional experiences, skills, and aspirations in the philanthropic field, aiming for a future role within a faith-based nonprofit dedicated to youth development. The project that I am working on is creating the foundation for a Sophomore Career Bootcamp event for all IUPUI students. I have researched other campuses offering similar bootcamp events and have applied pieces of their events that might work well on this campus. I have had to develop a proposal, event timeline, budget and presentation for the event. My internship will culminate with the final presentation of my proposal. Read more