Public health student research shines
A group of students and recent graduates of The University of Texas at Arlington’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation (CONHI) showcased its research to the Texas public health community as part of the UTHealth School of Public Health Research Beyond Boundaries Conference.
Ariel Hall, who graduated in May with a Master of Public Health (MPH), was the first-place research award winner for her work on a project titled “Using Community-Based System Dynamics Modeling to Address Racial Disparities in Maternal Health.” It was funded by the CONHI Center for Research and Scholarship Pilot Grant Project.
Hall planned and assisted with the implementation of a group model-building session called the Black Maternal Health Co-Design Studio. It involved nine community stakeholders—including mothers from the community, OB/GYNs, doulas, women’s health program administrators and others—who convened to design a diagram that illustrated the complex and interrelated factors that contributed to disparate severe maternal morbidity outcomes among non-Hispanic Black women.
“I was just happy that I got the opportunity to share research that I am passionate about,” Hall said. “My mentor, Dr. Kyrah Brown, was supportive and helped me throughout the entire process, so I was able to confidently submit my poster.”
Graduate public health student Berford Moncriffe placed third for a research project titled “Cognitive limitations and diabetes comorbidity among racial and ethnically diverse older adults by nativity status in the United States.” It was funded by the Michigan Center for Contextual Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease and the National Institute on Aging.
Also presenting at the conference were recent MPH graduates Bala Yadu Vamsi Sankuratri and Racquel Owino, as well as Portia Ebgu, a sophomore working on her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Other CONHI presenters included public health undergraduate student Jhoceline Moza and graduate students Hannah Affleck and Danny Dabroy.
Faculty research mentors Erin Carlson, Liao Yue, Brown, Tiffany Kindratt and Ziyad Ben Taleb worked to prepare and support the CONHI presenters.
“Drs. Erin Carlson and Tiffany Kindratt were responsible for making sure the faculty were aware of the conference and encouraged us to have our students submit an abstract,” said Brown, assistant professor of kinesiology. “We are so proud that eight CONHI students prepared and delivered in-person or virtual presentations at the conference. Next year, we hope to have an even larger group.”
- Written by Amanda Wenzel, College of Nursing and Health Innovation