Summer Assistantship Faculty Sponsor List Summer 2015
Below is a list of Brown faculty who have expressed an interest in working with medical
students this summer. We urge you to contact them early in your application process to
discuss potential collaborations. Please note that that you are not limited to faculty on
this list – you may identify other faculty mentors independently.
Faculty were asked if they would be able to provide funding for student work outside of
the Summer Assistantship process. Their answers are included below.
Esther Choo, MD MPH, Department of Emergency Medicine
55 Claverick Street, 2nd Floor
(401) 444-8731
Esther_choo@brown.edu
Title: A Web-Based Intervention for Drug-Using Women Experiencing Intimate Partner
Violence
Brief Description: This project will test the acceptability and feasibility of an integrated
web-based brief intervention for partner abuse and drug use among women in
counseling for substance use.
Qualifications: Due to the nature of the project, only women RAs are eligible. Empathy
and maturity and comfort with a diverse patient population with complex social, medical
and psychological needs are necessary.
Funding: None.
Thomas Roberts
Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Brown University
Biomed Center 205
401-863-3608
Thomas_roberts@brown.edu
Project:
Determinants of passive force production in muscle.
Skeletal muscles can actively produce force when they contract, but they also produce
force passively when stretched. Remarkably, there is no agreement among muscle
physiologists what structures are responsible for this passive force. Many
neuromuscular disorders involve a stiffening of passive muscle. There is an opportunity
for students in the lab to use mechanical measurements of isolated muscles to test
hypotheses about the source of force in passive muscle.
Qualifications/Previous experience:
Students should have good quantitative skills, an interest in physiology, and a
willingness to work with animals.
Funding:
I have funding to support materials and supplies for this project but I don't anticipate
having funding to cover a stipend.
Megan Ranney
Dept of Emergency Medicine
55 Claverick St, 2nd Flr
401-444-2557
megan_ranney@brown.edu
Project: Digital Health Innovation in the ED
Description: The student's role on the project will depend on her or his particular
interests, with the possibility of being involved in research and/or clinical QA and/or
patient engagement ("e-patient") coordination. Regardless, the student will be part of a
larger research and development team, and as such will benefit from extensive
mentorship from gradaute-level students and research assistants. I organize a summer
journal club each summer for SRA students to teach basic research methodology, and
will engage the student in this weekly event. I will also meet with the student in person
on at least a weekly basis (more frequently at the start of the summer) to discuss their
questions and progress with the project. I will provide the student with tailored readings
to enhance his or her own academic development. I will review weekly reflection
papers and offer the student the opportunity to complete an independent sub-project as
well.
Qualifications:
 Highly organized, outstanding attention to detail and ability to multi-task, selfmotivated, ethical


Able to think on feet
Strong interpersonal skills: ability to interact well with patients in a clinical setting
and quickly develop rapport
 Willingness to work weekend/evening hours as needed
Preferences:
 Interest and /or prior experience with digital health (mobile health, social media)
 Coursework in public health and psychology
 Interest and/or prior experience with mental health and/or high-risk adolescents
 Prior experience with qualitative methodology
 Comfort discussing sensitive topics
 Familiarity with citation software (e.g., EndNote), Stata or similar statistical
software, and/or NVivo
Funding: Not clear at this time whether funding will be available
Alan Gordon MD
Associate Medical Director, Butler Hospital
Chief Clinical Addiction Services, Butler Hospital
Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior of Brown University
Telephone: (401)-455-6439
Fax: (401) 455-6689
agordon@butler.org
Butler Hospital dual diagnosis partial is a site of very active training that includes BMS
elective rotations, psychiatric residents, family medicine residents, PhD psychology
interns. Student evaluations are universally very positive. There are many opportunities
for clinical or research projects.
Funding: We do not provide funding.
Wael Assad MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Brown University Alpert Medical School
Member, Brown Institute for Breain Science & the Norman Prince Neurosciences
Institute
Functional Neurosurgeon, Rhode Island Hospital
Office: (401) 793-9134
Wael_assad@brown.edu
We employ electrophysiological recordings in awake patients undergoing deep brain
stimulation surgery to understand the link between neural activity and cognitive / motor
function. We aim to develop better methods of brain stimulation that are responsive to
particular brain states in order to more precisely modulate neural circuits.
Able to sponsor a medical student for the summer, or for a full year through the Doris
Duke Foundation.
No dedicated funds at this time.
Jack A. Elias MD
Dean of Medicine and Biologic Sciences
Frank L. Day Professor of Biology and Medicine
Brown University
Warren Alpert Medical School
Box G-A1, 97 Waterman Street
Providence, RI 02912
401-863-3336
jack_elias@brown.edu
No specific project information available at this time.
Barbara S. Stonestreet, M.D.
Department of Pediatrics
Women & Infants Hospital
101 Dudley Street
Providence, RI 02905
401- 274-1122 x47429
BStonestreet@wihri.org
Inter-alpha Inhibitors in Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury
Neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI) remains a major cause of acute perinatal brain injury,
leading ultimately to neurologic dysfunction manifesting as cerebral palsy, mental
retardation, and epilepsy. Cerebral oxygen deprivation and/or reduced blood flow due to
umbilical cord occlusion, prolonged labor, and/or intracranial hemorrhage produce an
inflammatory response contributing to neuronal cell death. Unfortunately, current
treatment and prevention strategies in newborns are lacking and inadequate. There are
no currently available therapies to prevent/treat and/or attenuate brain damage in
premature infants and the only available therapeutic intervention for full term infants is
hypothermia, which is only partially protective.
Inter-alpha Inhibitor Proteins (IAIP) are naturally derived molecules that have been
shown to play an important role in modulating inflammatory response by downregulating pro-inflammatory cytokines in several experimental models of newborn and
adult systemic inflammation and in models of inflammation-induced premature labor.
Moreover, decreased IAIP has been shown to accurately predict the development of
sepsis in premature infants and decreases in IAIP have been detected following
induced ischemia in the ovine fetus brains. Thus, exogenous treatment with IAIP is
likely to attenuate inflammation-induced brain injury in neonatal incidences of cerebral
ischemia. Our recent data strongly demonstrate the beneficial effects of early
administration of IAIP in established models of HI injury in the ovine fetus, neonatal rats
and adult mice. Not only does IAIP treatment reduce neuroanatomical injury in the brain
of experimental animals, but long-term improvement on learning and memory tasks was
achieved. The goal of this Phase I SBIR project is to confirm and obtain proof-ofconcept of the neuroprotective effects of IAIP in newborn brain injuries. We hypothesize
that IAIP treatment will reduce neuronal death and attenuate the development of
ischemic-reperfusion injury in the brain. The Specific Aims of the study are to examine
the therapeutic effects and long-term behavioral outcome of delayed IAIP treatment in
neonatal rat hypoxic-ischemic brain injury model.
The proposed studies have significant translational potential to develop IAIP as a novel
agent to prevent/attenuate brain damage in infants at risk for mental retardation.
Student should have a background in Neurobiology.
We are unable to provide funding for this.
Beatrice E. Lechner, MD
Neonatologist, Department of Pediatrics
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
401-274-1122, ext. 47438
blechner@wihri.org
“Extracellular matrix mechanisms of preterm premature rupture of fetal membranes”
We will be working with biglycan-decorin double knockout mice to define the
mechanisms of preterm premature rupture of membranes and thus preterm birth. We
use the mouse model as well as cell culture models.
The ideal student would have basic lab skills including pipetting, running gels, PCR,
possibly histochemistry and biochemistry.
I will not be able to provide funding.
Beatrice E. Lechner, MD
Neonatologist, Department of Pediatrics
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
401-274-1122, ext. 47438
blechner@wihri.org
“Neonatal end of life care globally”
We will take a survey based approach to eliciting culturally and economically based
differences in attitudes and practices in neonatal end of life care in a number of
countries including the US, Europe and Asia.
The ideal student will have an interest in palliative care and a background in survey
based research and/or palliative care.
We will not be able to provide funding.
Hilary F. Sweigart/Manager
Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME)
Visiting International Medical Student Program (VIMS)
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
91 Waterman Street, Rm 210, Box G-A2
Providence, RI 02912
Hilary_Sweigart@Brown.edu
Tel: 401.863.9790
Summer Research Assistantship in Emergency Medicine
Application deadline is February 2, 2015
Summer Research Assistantships in Emergency Medicine are made available annually
on a competitive basis to students enrolled in Alpert Medical School or the Program in
Liberal Medical Education. This is an excellent opportunity to become engaged in a
research project under the supervision and mentorship of a Brown faculty member [e.g.
Instructor rank or above]. Students who are awarded an assistantship will carry out their
research project at a Brown-affiliated hospital between June-August.
Support for a 10-week summer research assistantship to work with a faculty is $3,500.
Other employment is usually not authorized during the defined work-week tenure of the
assistantship, and academic credit cannot be obtained for work performed under this
form of support.
Katherine M. Sharkey, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry & Human Behavior
EP Bradley Hospital Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory
300 Duncan Drive
Providence, RI 02906
tel: 401-421-9440
fax: 401-453-3578
katherine_sharkey@brown.edu
I have projects in two research areas that would support a student summer project.
Title: Perinatal Sleep and Mood
We have two projects related to perinatal sleep and depressive and anxiety disorders.
The first is a prospective study of the effects of sleep and genetics on mood during the
perinatal period. Participants are women with a history of a mood disorder (major
depressive disorder or bipolar disorder) who are studied during pregnancy and in the
postpartum period. Sleep is recorded for one week using wrist actigraphy at several
time points during the perinatal period. Participants provide DNA samples for
genotyping and saliva samples for circadian phase assessment with melatonin. The
second study is a pilot clinical trial of a sleep and circadian rhythm intervention to
improve sleep and mood in pregnant women with depression. The student would
participate in visits with participants, recruiting participants, scoring sleep data. There
are several projects that could emanate from this data set.
Previous experience in sleep research or women's health would be ideal.
Funding through the lab may be available but student should still apply for SA funding.
There is also a second research area in collaboration with Dr. Richard Millman.
Title: Pilot Study of Phenotypic and Genotypic Predictors of Treatment Success and
Recovery from Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome
This study is inspired by the clinical observation of significant variability in the responses
both to disease and treatment among patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The
aims of the proposal are to begin to define unique OSA phenotypes that have different
symptom and treatment trajectories and to investigate whether specific biomarkers,
physiologic or psychologic features, or neurocognitive performance profiles can
distinguish these subgroups. During this pilot study we will recruit patients presenting
for evaluation for sleep-disordered breathing prospectively and obtain medical history,
blood samples, psychological measures of stress, social support, attitudes about
treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), and neurobehavioral
performance before OSA treatment. We will follow the patients for the first 3 months of
treatment, and obtain a second blood sample, battery of neurobehavioral performance,
and information about treatment compliance and symptom relief at 3 months.
No funding is available for this project.
Eli Y. Adashi, MD, MS, CPE, FACOG
Obstetrics and Gynecology, WIHRI
101 Dudley St
Providence, RI 02905
Phone: 401 863 9037
Email: eli_adashi@brown.edu.
Potential projects include but are not limited to: Violence in Healthcare Settings; The
Quality Improvement Universe; The Medicare Advantage Conundrum; The "Doc Fix":
Act 18; Assisted Suicide
No qualifications required. Familiarity with database management is helpful.
No funding available beyond SAs
Ghada Bourjeily, MD
Biomed Medicine Department
Women's Medicine Collaborative
146 West River Street
Providence, RI
Phone: 401-444-8664
Ghada_bourjeily@brown.edu
Title of project: Obstructive sleep apnea in patients with end stage renal disease
Description of project: This study aims at assessing patients with end stage renal
disease for the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea and the impact of fluid shifts
before and after dialysis on the pathogenesis of sleep apnea. The study will evaluate
subjects before and after dialysis with home sleep studies, ambulatory blood pressure
monitor, and measure various anthropometric parameters including body fluid and fat
composition.
Qualifications/ prior experience: An ideal candidate would be someone with some prior
clinical research experience, data entry, consenting but our team is willing to train the
student if such experience is not available.
Funding: Unfortunately we cannot provide funding as this is a pilot project and is
departmentally funded.
Project PI: Maureen S. Hamel PGY4
Academic Supervisor: Brenna Hughes, MD
Associate Professor Obstetrics and Gynecology
Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine
Department of OBGYN
WIH Rhode Island
101 Dudley Street
Providence, RI 02905
Phone: (Maureen Hamel): 508-479-9190
Page: (Maureen Hamel): 401-452-0004
Title: Intrapartum vancomycin in GBS-positive women: The effect on vaginal group B
streptococcus colony counts
Description: Antibiotics are given to laboring women to reduce the risk of perinatal GBS
infection. While it is clear that antibiotics reduce infection rates, the mechanism by
which these drugs prevent neonatal GBS is not well established. One theory is
antibiotics work to reduce bacterial load in the birth canal. To our knowledge, the
relationship between vancomycin and vaginal GBS colony counts has never been
studied. In this prospective cohort study, our objective is to determine the relationship
between intrapartum IV vancomycin and vaginal GBS colony counts. We also plan to
determine whether or not infants are colonized with the bacteria.
Qualifications/Previous Experience: Ideal candidate will have had some experience with
patient interaction. Responsibilities may include: identifying potential patients,
recruitment, specimen handling, organizing study materials, data abstraction and data
entry.
We are unable to provide support for this unfunded project. All time and materials are
being donated in-kind.
Daphne Koinis Mitchell, Ph.D
Associate Professor (Research), Dept of Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Brown Medical
School
Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Research), Brown Medical School
Director, Community Asthma Program, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence RI
Daphne_Koinis-Mitchell@brown.edu
NOTE: Please direct inquiries to Sheryl Kopel, Sheryl_Kopel@Brown.edu
Project NAPS-PA “Asthma and Physical Activity in Urban Children: Cultural and
Contextual Factors”
(Koinis Mitchell and Jelalian, PIs) Associate professors (research), Dept of Psychiatry &
Human Behavior, Brown Medical School. NAPS-PA is a longitudinal, multimethod study
examining asthma, physical activity and obesity in inner city minority children between
7-9 years of age. Involvement will include assisting with research participant recruitment
and scheduling and with administering questionnaires to youth with asthma and their
parents, study tracking setup and documentation, data entry, lab organization, and other
tasks integral to research. Summer interns also will assist with asthma education
activities at a local week-long summer camp for children with asthma. Opportunities to
assist with preparing research presentations or manuscripts may also be available.
Qualifications: Strong organizational and time management skills, excellent attention to
detail, a thorough working knowledge of all MS Office applications, comfort and
experience interacting with children and parents from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
Spanish fluency and access to a reliable car are advantages but are not required.
No funding is available.
Philip A. Chan, MD, MS
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases
Brown University
The Miriam Hospital
1125 North Main Street
Providence, RI 02906
PChan@lifespan.org
(401) 793-4859
Title: Addressing HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in Rhode Island
Description: Students will work at The Miriam Hospital Immunology Center STD Clinic
under the supervision of Dr. Philip A. Chan. The urban centered clinic provides free
testing to the community. Students will also work on outreach and research projects
related to the clinic and HIV/STD prevention.
Unfortunately, no funding is available.
Jisu Li, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine, Dept. Medicine,
Tel: 401-444-7387,
ji_su_li_md@brown.edu
Title: Hepatitis B virus and liver cancer. We are studying host factors involved in HBV
life cycle and liver cancer. Identification and characterization of these factors will
establish novel targets for interruption of HBV infection and cell malignant
transformation.
Requirements: familiar with molecular biology, cell biology; good at hands on work.
Students will need to apply for a Summer Assistantship for funding.
David Egilman MD, MPH
President GHETS
Clinical Professor of Family Medicine
Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University
8 North Main Street
Attleboro, Massachusetts 02703
Office 508-225–5091 Ext 11
degilman@egilman.com
I can take three students.
Two will do research on pinnacle hip transplants. They will research and publish
previously secret information on the hazards of these implants the corrupt and unethical
conduct of the physicians who help market them including ghostwriting. They will
explain the system of corrupt practices that permeate medical device development and
marketing.
One will continue work on a curriculum called how to cheat on an epidemiological study
in medicine.
Funding may be available but securing a Summer Assistantship would be preferable.
Muhib Khan M.D.
Rhode Island Hospital
590 Eddy Street
muhib_khan@brown.edu
We are currently involved in various research projects focusing on stroke patients. The
projects will involve data collection retrospectively on stroke patients admitted to RIH
over the last 3 years. Our main focus is on neuroimaging parameters. We strive to find
how different variables on neuro-imaging lead to patient outcomes. This will include
extensive review of CT, MRI and TCD data on these patients. This is a very fast moving
field in neurosciences with advances happening on a daily basis. Involvement in such
research projects will enable the medical students understand the value of currently
applied methods in care of stroke patients. I am optimistic that the medical students who
work with us will hopefully be able to publish articles through these projects.
No funding is currently available for this project.
Roland C. Merchant, MD, MPH, ScD
Associate Professor
Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Rhode Island Hospital
Office: (401) 444-5109
rmerchant@lifespan.org
Title: Substance use/misuse among Latino Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam
Hospital Emergency Department Patients
Description: This project entails reviewing and processing data from a recently
completed study assessing substance use/misuse among emergency department
patients. The student involved will conduct analyses under our study group’s
supervision and prepare applicable tables and figures as well as a manuscript for
submission to a peer-reviewed journal. The analyses will entail an assessment of Latino
patients vs. non-Latino patients in regards to substance misuse.
Qualifications: The project might be mostly of interest to Latino medical students, but
any interested medical student, especially those interested in race/ethnicity variations in
health care, are invited to apply. Those medical students with experience in data
analysis, preparation, and manuscript composition are strongly encouraged to apply.
No funding is available for this project.
Contact information:
Brian Clyne, MD
Department of Emergency Medicine
593 Eddy Street
Claverick 266
Providence, RI 02903
Ph: 401.444.9891
email: bclyne@lifespan.org
Title: Medical Student Leadership Development at AMS: A Curriculum Initiative
Description: This is a curriculum development project for a new leadership program at
AMS. Despite the well-described need for future physician leaders, medical school
leadership training programs are uncommon. Within the new Primary Care & Population
Health (PCPM) track at AMS, students will engage in a leadership development course
that aims to be competency-based, experiential, team-focused, and service-oriented.
Competency frameworks for medical leadership have been identified and course
objectives have been established. The SA project involves designing individual
modules, creating the course canvas site, writing leadership cases for small group
discussion, and identifying appropriate evaluation tools. There will also be opportunities
for scholarship related to leadership in medical education.
Preferred qualifications/previous experience:
The preferred student for this project will have previous teaching experience or formal
training in education. Foundational knowledge of adult learning theory and active
instructional strategies would be ideal. The project would be a natural fit for those
students pursuing a Scholarly Concentration in Medical Education.
No funding is available at this time.
Laura Stroud, Ph.D.
Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine
Coro West
Suite 309
164 Summit Ave, Providence, RI 02906
Maternal depression and smoking during pregnancy, placenta epigenetics, and infant
behavior. Our laboratory investigates biobehavioral pathways linking maternal mood
and behavior during pregnancy and infant behavior and stress response. We are
especially interested in the stress hormone, cortisol and epigenetic pathways in relation
to infant behavior.
Prior experience with research, classes in neuroscience, Psychology, and/or Biology
preferred
No funding available at this time.
Cynthia L. Jackson PhD
Director of Clinical Molecular Biology
Lifespan Academic Medical Center
Associate Professor of Pathology
office phone: 401-444-4370
fax: 401-444-8514
pager 401-350-5696
email: cjackson@lifespan.org
Location: Coro East, Suite 3201
167 Point street
Providence (on the shuttle route)
Project title: Molecular Muational Analysis of Endometrial Cancers
Project will involve the selection of tumors for analysis, nucleic acid extraction and
testing for a panel of mutations using several different molecular methods. Results will
be correlated to clinical characteristics. Done in collaboration with Drs. Xiong and He,
pathologists at women and infants hospital.
Currently have funding for supplies only. Planning to use these preliminary results to
apply for funding.
Laura McPeake
Lmcpeake1@lifespan.org
401-444-8878 (office)
The project is a systematic review on interventions for health care providers in the wake
of a critical incident (defined in the literature-includes mass casualty and all nature of
potentially disturbing cases). Mostly we need help sorting through articles for the review
article.
It could lead to further work for an interested student either in physician wellness or
disaster management/ems. My aim is to use the information gathered in the review to
do a trial of a resilience intervention for attending physicians who are involved in critical
incidents. My background is in physician wellness and in particular
meditation/mindfulness practice and their practical application in the health care
environment.
I would love a student who is facile with assessing medical literature or at least
interested in becoming facile.
Daniel Coghlin
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Clinical)
593 Eddy Street
Potter 108
Providence, RI 02903
401-444-7396
dcoghlin@lifespan.org
Project Title: Creating videos for improved patient education upon discharge from the
hospital
Brief Description: Design and create brief (less than 2 minute) videos regarding
common topics regarding patient education at discharge, such as examples of exam
signs to watch for once home, brief summaries of common pediatric discharge
diagnoses, and explanation of whom to call about questions after discharge. These
videos will be available for viewing within the patient’s electronic health portal upon
discharge home.
Qualifications: Digital media editing and/or video directing experience preferred.
I am not able to provide funding.
David Egilman MD, MPH
President GHETS
Clinical Professor of Family Medicine
Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University
8 North Main Street
Attleboro, Massachusetts 02703
Office 508-225–5091 Ext 11
degilman@egilman.com
Potential Project:
Development and Logistics: This person will be responsible for providing critical eventplanning, organizing, and logistical support to a wide array of GHETS projects. These
activities will include: 1) Assisting GHETS staff in logistics and event-planning for a
Board of Directors meeting and large conference in South Africa in September 2015, 2)
Working with GHETS staff to set-up summer fundraising events, and donor outreach.
This position offers exciting hands-on experience in program management, eventplanning, and donor relations in the field of global health.
Qualifications:
An ideal candidate will possess strong interpersonal skills, and be extremely organized
and detail-orientated. Past event-planning and logistics experience is a plus. The ideal
candidate will also possess prior experiences in cross-cultural settings, field experience
in a developing country, foreign language skills, and a background or demonstrated
interest in public health, development, media, or social justice.
We are not able to offer funding for the student at this time.
Joseph Diaz
Joseph_diaz@brown.edu
The project(s) would be to help develop and test bilingual patient education programs
for iPads/tablets and pilot test the programs in hospital/clinic settings.
Some degree of skill with computer programming or at least video editing would be
needed and Spanish-language skills would be helpful but not required.
There is no funding available at this time.
Edward Feller, MD, FACP, FACG
Clinical Professor of Medicine
Adjunct Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice
Box G- M 241, 222 Richmond St
Brown University
Providence, RI.02912
Office phone: 863-6149
e-mail: Edward_Feller@brown.edu
Student will be able to work with Dr. Feller and Dr. John Lonks, an ID specialist and
Director of Infection Control Unit at Miriam, to create a project based around infection
control. Examples of what the project could be about might include surgical infection, an
epidemiology study, opportunistic organism infections in hospitals or the community, or
the use of UV light to detect the magnitude of poor cleaning in hospitals.
No funding is available for this project at this time.
Orphaned Projects
These are projects started by students in previous years but that are being left behind
as those students enter residencies or clerkship years.
Daniel Ebner
Daniel_ebner@brown.edu
Project title: Metabolic Outcomes of the Fukushima, Japan Nuclear Disaster (and other
projects based out of Kyoto University).
Project description: Most research to date has focused on the radiological outcomes of
the Fukushima disaster, but little has gone into the metabolic outcomes related to the
disaster. We’re reviewing national health records to determine the role played by
evacuation and psychological threat of radiological exposure in the health outcomes of
Kawauchi Village. Kyoto University is also interested in people with other project ideas,
and open to suggestions.
If you’re interested in going to do research in Kyoto, Japan, this summer, let me know
ASAP, especially if you’re interested in this project in particular. There’s opportunity to
start working on a pub immediately.
Relevant qualifications that would be good to have for the project: Familiarity with
statistics. Japanese language/culture experience a plus but not required.
Maurice Hajjar
maurice_hajjar@brown.edu
(321) 331-8686
Project Title: Morbidity and Mortality of HIV-Infected Adults at a Teaching Hospital in
Accra, Ghana
Project Description: Retrospective chart review/mortality study exploring a wide variety
of medical, social, and demographic factors that contribute to mortality and morbidity in
patients admitted to the Fevers Unit (the HIV ward) at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital
and comparing those to inpatients who survived. This is a global-health project,
however there are opportunities to analyze existing data from different perspectives
without having to travel abroad, OR there are opportunities to collect further data abroad
in Ghana during the summer.
Relevant Qualifications: Interested in global health, HIV, and its impact on Sub-Saharan
Africa; access to a computer with Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access; all other skills
necessary will be easily taught to student.