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Student News - Spring 2022
March 2022
SPHIS graduate student named to Kentucky Derby Festival 2022 Royal Court
Nancy Ngo, a second-year graduate student in the Dept. of Health Management and Systems Sciences, was selected to the Kentucky Derby Festival (KDF) 2022 Royal Court.
She is pursuing a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Health Policy, is a Trustee's Scholar, and serves on the Graduate Student Executive Council and the Director of Professional Development.
Ngo was one of five students selected out of over 80 applicants for the program. One of the five will be crowned the Derby Festival Queen by a spin-of-the-wheel at the annual Fillies Derby Ball on April 9 at The Galt House. Each woman will receive a $2,000 scholarship ($1,000 from the Fillies and $1,000 from the Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation).
The Court will act as ambassadors for the KDF and the community as they attend more than 70 events this spring. The Royal Court is coordinated by The Fillies, Inc., a volunteer group that works closely with KDF.
Candidates for the Princess Program must maintain a minimum 3.0 grade-point average and are selected by a panel of three out-of-state judges. Criteria for selection includes knowledge of the Derby Festival, poise, intelligence, personality and campus and community involvement. Read more from UofL News.
SPHIS graduate student launches nonprofit to assist individuals with traumatic spinal cord injuries
Kiara James, 2017 alumna of our BA in Public Health program and current MS in Health Administration student, started Pushing Forward, a local nonprofit that assist individuals with traumatic spinal cord injuries to live independently. Through grants and communication donations, Pushing Forward installs residential wheelchair ramps, assists with minor home modifications, and provides rental release assistance. In 2020, two wheelchair ramps were installed thanks to her nonprofit.
Recent graduate earns fellowship with the National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program
Recent graduate Sivarchana Mareedu, PhD, MS, ’21 accepted a National Institute of Health Fellowship with the National Biosafety and Biocontainment Training Program (NBBTP) for 2022-2024 in Bethesda, Maryland.
This two-year program is designed to train fellows specifically to support high containment research environments by acquiring knowledge and skills necessary to meet the scientific, regulatory, biocontainment, biosafety, engineering, communications, management, and public relations challenges associated with the conduct of research in these facilities.
Through the NBBTP Fellowship training, Mareedu aspires to complement her background in occupational safety, biosafety, and public health and be a leading scientist and policy advocate in these areas.
Doctoral candidate awarded NIEHS T32 Environmental Health Sciences training grant fellowship
Johnnie Newton, doctoral candidate in the Dept. of Epidemiology and Population Health, was awarded a predoctoral fellowship in the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) T32 Environmental Health Sciences training grant program through the UofL School of Medicine.
The NIEHS T32 predoctoral and postdoctoral training program prepares trainees to consider multifactorial environmental health problems in multidisciplinary environmental health science research utilizing both integrative biology and translational approaches. Trainees gain a better understanding of the interactions of environmental toxicant exposure and lifestyle factors in pathogenesis and leave equipped to become the next generation of leaders in environmental health.
HMSS doctoral candidate published in Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition
Emmanuel Ezekekwu, doctoral candidate in the Dept. of Health Management and Systems Sciences (HMSS) and CHOT graduate research assistant, published an article in the Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition titled, “Community-Based and System-Level Interventions for Improving Food Security and Nutritious Food Consumption: A Systematic Review.” This review examined the most effective community-based and system-level interventions that have increased nutritious food consumption across food-insecure populations. The research team concluded that future efforts in this area should prioritize multicomponent interventions that address the specific social and economic barriers facing the target population to positively impact food security and nutritious food intake. Co-authors included Sonali S. Salunkhe, doctoral candidate in HMSS and CHOT graduate research assistant, J’Aime Jennings, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Health Management and Systems Sciences, and Brandy N. Kelly Pryor, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences.
