Division of Biology and Medicine
Center for Global Health Equity
Student Spotlight and Testimonials
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Student Spotlight
The HEIDS program is designed to inspire, train, support, and retain students as a community of scholars to become leaders in research and treatment of emerging infectious diseases with a broad focus on HIV. HEIDS Scholars participate in faculty-mentored infectious disease research and participate in didactic research training. The HEIDS program also supports conference travel and publication fees for scholars, and HEIDS scholars are highly encouraged to submit abstracts to conferences on a local, national, and international level. Both this research training and conference participation provide critical professional, networking, and academic opportunities for students during these early stages of their research careers.
Student Testimonials
With the help of this grant, I learned about extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB), a disease that is understudied and difficult to diagnose, yet very prevalent in some countries. I received training from experts in the field about how to develop a qualitative study, how to effectively conduct a qualitative interview, how to code data using an information analysis software, and how to analyze qualitative data using Immersion/Crystallization analysis…Learning these skills was immensely formative for me and my career development because it helped me realize that I most likely would like to pursue qualitative research in my career in the future. Additionally, I received great mentorship from my assigned mentor on this project and feel very fortunate to have learned from someone whose career goals and values very much align with my vision for my career…I feel very passionate about the work we conducted and the voices we highlighted and would like to continue incorporating research in global health and infectious diseases during my medical residency training and beyond.
While my career goals have always been focused on clinical medicine, this experience both deepened my interest in global health and sparked a greater interest in the research side of practicing medicine: by gaining both formal training through the medical school and hands-on experience through my work in Rwanda, I feel more capable and confident in pursuing further research experiences in my future career. Learning about topics like data management and safe research environments and then putting them into practice first-hand was a very effective method of research training.
In the HEIDS program, I gained robust experience in conceptualizing and designing research studies and sharpening research questions, along with a broad exposure to cardiology, infectious diseases, and clinical research principles. In addition, I have the opportunity to contribute to statistical analysis and manuscript writing…Looking forward, I am certain that I will incorporate research into my career as a future physician-investigator.
I am also grateful for the Emerging Infectious Disease and HIV Scholars Program at Brown University, which provided me with a network and the support of like-minded staff, trainees, and the academic community that encouraged my work and research during my time at Brown University.
Conference and Publication Highlights
Selected Student Conference Abstracts
| Student Name | Abstract Title | Conference Name | Conference Dates & Location |
|---|---|---|---|
Araia, Ermias | Statin Use as a Marker of Cardiovascular Risk and Healthcare Utilization in HIV patients over 75 | UCLA CHIPTS HIV Next Generation Conference | January 31, 2025 / Los Angeles, California. |
Arango, David | Challenges and opportunities for laboratory-based diagnoses: an in-depth context analysis for point of care technology developers through global collaboration | United National Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) International Research Conference | December 3-4, 2024 / Brussels, Belgium |
Arango, David | Challenges and opportunities for laboratory-based diagnoses: an in-depth context analysis for point of care technology developers | Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) Conference | February 20 - 23, 2025 / Atlanta, Georgia |
Bunch, Kaden | Leveraging Machine Learning to Predict Pediatric Sepsis Mortality | Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) conference | February 20 - 23, 2025 / Atlanta, Georgia |
Bunch, Kaden | Leveraging Machine Learning to Predict Pediatric Sepsis Mortality | American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) conference | November 13-17, 2024 / New Orleans, Louisiana |
Cintron, Chelsie | A qualitative assessment of adolescent TB care services | Union World Conference on Lung Health | November 12-16, 2024 / Bali, Indonesia |
Dandapani, Hari | Developing Machine Learning Models to Improve Cardiovascular Risk Prediction for People with HIV | American College of Cardiology (ACC) Conference | March 29 - 31, 2025 / Chicago, Illinois |
Goosman, Madeline | Comparative analysis of the utilization of best practice dehydration treatment protocols and survival of patients with acute diarrhea: a retrospective cohort study | American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) conference | November 13-17, 2024 / New Orleans, Louisiana |
Kaczynski, Matthew | Predictors of long-term cardiovascular outcomes among patients with acute myocarditis using cardiac MRI | American College of Cardiology (ACC) Conference | March 29 - 31, 2025 / Chicago, Illinois |
Smith-Sreen, Joshua | Factors Associated with Never Previously Testing for HIV Among Injury Patients Seeking Emergency Care Acceptability of Digital HIV Tools in Emergency Care: a Qualitative Study Among Injury Patients | The African Conference for Emergency Medicine (AfCEM) | Gaborone, Botswana / November 6-8, 2024 |
Swanson, Trina | Developing Emergency Medical Care Policy Across Kenya: A Framework for Development and Implementation | Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) conference | February 20 - 23, 2025 / Atlanta, Georgia |
Swanson, Trina | Developing Emergency Medical Care Policy Across Kenya: A Framework for Development and Implementation | The African Conference for Emergency Medicine (AfCEM) | November 6-8, 2024 / Gaborone, Botswana |
Walters, Skylar | Developing Deep Learning Methods to Catalyze Viral Discovery and Identification from Metagenomic Datasets | Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS) | November 13-16, 2024 / Pittsburgh, PA |
Walters, Skylar | Vyriad: a Deep Learning Framework to Catalyze Viral Discovery and Identification from Metagenomic Datasets. | Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB) Annual International Conference | July 20-24, 2025 / Liverpool, England |
Selected Student Publications
Coming soon.