During the summer before my senior year I participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, which is a highly competitive research intensive program. I began working with my research mentor, Dr. Jessica Kahn, who also became my mentor for the McNair Scholars Program. The McNair Scholars Program began in honor of Dr. Ronald McNair who died on the challenger accident, and it is for underrepresented minorities who want to pursue doctorate degrees. Dr. Kahn works in Adolescent Medicine and I was working with her on a surveillance study monitoring human papillomavirus (HPV) rates in the community among vaccinated and unvaccinated young men and women. The research was my first exposure to epidemiology, as I was looking at the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine in young women 11 years after being introduced in a community. From this experience I was exposed to the field of public health, epidemiology, and adolescent medicine which solidified my desire to obtain a doctorate degree in Epidemiology. There are so many researchers doing cutting edge research making Cincinnati Children’s an international leader in pediatric medicine, research, and education. Personally, I believe that working in the lab has helped me understand my role as an individual within a research institution.
Dr. Kahn has been a great mentor throughout not only my SURF experience, but also my McNair Scholars experience! I have been able to learn so much from her. She also allowed for me to really take responsibility for my research project. I gained experience in data analysis and development of a statistical analysis plan, gained experience in patient recruitment and data entry. Throughout the summer, SURF students were given endless opportunities to attend seminars and brown bag lunches, which I definitely took advantage of and was able to learn more information about different graduate programs offered at UC. Upon completion of the SURF program, I presented research in poster format at the 2017 SURF Capstone and was awarded honorable mention. I was even able to complete a research paper. Going into the fall, I submitted an abstract to attend the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine during the Spring. I will also be working on a manuscript to hopefully publish the results from the research! I truly enjoyed my SURF-CCHMC experience and am completely grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in such a wonderful program.
UPDATE: I am now published!!!! I submitted a manuscript to Pediatrics, that was accepted at the beginning of this year.
LINK: https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/143/2/e20181902