Student Fellows Program Fall 2021 Research Projects
Below is a list of the proposed research projects for GHI Fall 2021 Student Fellows. Each project indicates whether it requires remote work or a hybrid of remote and in-person work. Any in-person work is subject to the university's operating guidelines. More information about the program and how to apply is available on the GHI Student Fellows Program page.
Opportunities for Undergraduate, Graduate, Law, and Medical Students
For this section, please take a closer look at who can apply for each project.
GUMC_Ghana Newborn Care
Faculty Mentor: Indira Narayanan, Adjunct Professor, Pediatrics/Neonatology, Georgetown University Medical Center
Project: The GUMC_Ghana blended learning program includes an international distance-learning program on improving quality of newborn care using video-conferencing (Zoom) and WhatsApp. It has two components: (a) a clinical component including case discussion and supportive technical elements in newborn care and (b) quality improvement/ quality of care elements. Expansion in 2021 will include better documentation of causes of neonatal deaths and improved care for the “at-risk” group of newborn babies. The help required will not only provide support to the project but will be a great learning experience dealing with practical real-life issues in global health. It includes (i) Attending Zoom sessions with care providers in Ghana and documenting meeting notes related to quality improvement/ quality of care elements; (ii) Maintaining data and helping in analysis; and (iii) Reviewing and developing summaries of relevant literature. The students will be taught the procedures.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Interest and commitment to the project. Interest in data/statistics and experience with SPSS a plus, although not essential, as the student fellow will be trained.
Work Modality: Remote work
--
Bioethics
Faculty Mentor: James Giordano, Professor, Department of Neurology
Project: The need to develop globally relevant and valid ethics for guiding and governing international progress in emerging bioscience and technology. Projects will be aimed at development for presentation at international meetings and/or submission for consideration for publication in the international peer-reviewed literature.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Law Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Interest, curiosity, capability for literature review
Work Modality: Remote work
--
Health Misinformation
Faculty Mentor: Leticia Bode, Associate Professor, Communication, Culture, and Technology
Project: This is a book project that Professor Bode is still collecting data for. The project broadly answers the question: what can we do to mitigate the effects of health misinformation on people's attitudes and behaviors? It considers a range of possibilities for preventing, eliminating, or mitigating the effects of misinformation using important criteria like costs, effectiveness, timeliness, and scalability. It focuses most clearly on correction of misinformation on social media as one important key to online misinformation mitigation. The book uses multiple research methods - including interviews, experiments, and surveys - that a fellow would be able to help with.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students
Skills Required: Attention to detail, willingness to learn new skills, experience reading academic research
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
--
COVID Analysis and Mapping of Policies Project
Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Katz, Professor, Center for Global Health Science and Security (CGHSS)
Project: COVID Analysis and Mapping of Policies Project
Professor Katz is seeking student research assistants to support policy analysis on the COVID-AMP project (www.covidamp.org). This role entails collaborating with CGHSS staff and other student RAs to write a research brief analyzing official policies instituted to address the COVID-19 pandemic by U.S. states, counties, and cities, as well as by other countries. Topic will be confirmed with in consultation with research team, but may cover one of the following research areas:
- Analysis of factors that might or might not make COVID-specific policies adaptable to other pandemic contexts
- Database of entry/exit travel restrictions
- Analysis of extensions over the course of the pandemic
Examples of former analysis research briefs can be found here under “research briefs”: https://ghss.georgetown.edu/covid19/
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Medical Students, Law Students
Skills Required: Required: Excellent writing skills, interest in global health, experience in Microsoft Word and Excel, attention to detail
Plus: Experience in data visualization; additional languages; experience with Tableau, InDesign, or Airtable; statistical training
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
--
Health Security Net Project
Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Katz, Professor, Center for Global Health Science and Security (CGHSS)
Project: Health Security Net Project
Professor Katz is seeking a student research assistant to contribute to ongoing efforts focused on pandemic preparedness and health security. The selected individual will be expected to contribute to the collection, management, and analysis of pandemic preparedness documents housed in Health Security Net (https://healthsecuritynet.org). There is potential for writing a research brief to be published on the CGHSS website with findings from an analysis of the database. The brief may cover one of the following topics, to be confirmed in collaboration with the research team:
- Analysis of World Health Organization pandemic preparedness documents before and during COVID-19
- Analysis of CDC recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Analysis of existing coronavirus research before the COVID-19 pandemic
See examples of research briefs here under “research briefs”: https://ghss.georgetown.edu/covid19/
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Medical Students, Law Students
Skills Required: Required: Excellent writing skills; interest in global health; experience in Microsoft Word and Excel; attention to detail
Plus: Experience in data visualization; additional languages; experience with Tableau, InDesign, or Airtable; statistical training
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
--
Syndemics
Faculty Mentor: Emily Mendenhall, Professor, Science, Technology, and International Affairs, School of Foreign Service
Project: This projects focuses on syndemics--a concept bringing together social, political, ecological, and biological determinants of diseases through a theory of synergy. Professor Mendenhall is working on reviews of syndemic literature as well as writing up a large study of syndemics from Soweto in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has five phases of data, with extensive waves of qualitative interviews around living with multimorbidity in contexts of economic scarcity as well as a 957 surveys of social, psych, bio, and environmental determinants of health. Some of this data has been written up; however, she is looking for a student who is motivated to work with this data (and can do so somewhat independently) to publish the work. Her team have published around ten papers already but there is more data than she can handle that needs to be analyzed, published, etc. Professor Mendenhall would prefer working with a student who has a passion for and experience working in southern Africa.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Law Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Strong analytic skills--either quantitative or qualitative; strong writing skills
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
--
Bayesian Approaches to Disease Prevalence
Faculty Mentors: Mark Meyer, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Georgetown College; John Kraemer, Department of Health Systems Administration, School of Nursing & Health Studies
Project: Disease prevalence is measured imperfectly, particularly when new diseases emerge and tests' validity is uncertain. Epidemiologists correct estimates of disease prevalence for test sensitivity and specificity, but the standard correction can, in some circumstances, lead to impossible prevalence estimates and usually produces erroneous uncertainty estimates. The team is developing Bayesian approaches to better estimate disease prevalence from imperfect test data. They are focused mainly on estimating COVID-19 seroprevalence, but we are also applying the approach to HIV and malaria prevalence. Their project aims to compare three approaches: a fully Bayesian approach, a faster and less computationally intense variational Bayesian approach, and a bootstrapping-based approach.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students
Skills Required: Proficiency in R and experience taking multiple courses in statistics. A minor in statistics or major in mathematics is preferred but not required.
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
--
Giardiasis
Faculty Mentor: Steven Singer, Professor, Biology, Georgetown College
Project: Lab based research on giardiasis. Projects include studies of epithelial barrier function and recognition of, and response to, the parasite directed by innate immune cells like macrophages. Both projects combine in vitro and in vivo analyses using cell lines and mouse models.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Students
Skills Required: Some laboratory experience is beneficial.
Work Modality: In-person work
--
Breast Cancer
Faculty Mentor: Judy Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Oncology, Georgetown University Medical Center
Project: Professor Wang is conducting an international study examining the relationships among nutrition, symptom severity, and functioning among newly diagnosed breast cancer patients in the United States and Taiwan. Students who are interested in this study will be involved in various research tasks including 1) receiving training for human subjects research, 2) enrolling breast cancer patients from Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center by an on-site visit or telephone, 3) administering the survey and dietary assessments, 4) entering and checking survey and clinical data, 5) participating in manuscript writing and grant applications if interested, and 6) assisting any research-related logistics such as literature review, IRB applications, and other administrative documents.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Fluent in speaking and writing English; skills in Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Basic analytical skills or Chinese language skills are a plus.
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
--
Conscientious Objection
Faculty Mentor: Andrés Constantin, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
Project: The fellow would contribute to two interrelated projects.
1) Tracing back the origins of the right to conscientious objection: this project will require research related to the origins and history of the right to conscientious objection in international lawmaking. In particular, the fellow would conduct systematic reviews of the debates and travaux préparatoires of international human rights law treaties protecting freedom of conscience.
(2) The findings of the first project will inform the conceptualization of the second project, which relates to the rise of corporate conscience-based claims in recent years. In particular, this project will seek to answer three questions: (a) Can corporations have a right to freedom of conscience? (b) Do corporations have a right to freedom of conscience? And (c) should corporations have a right to freedom of conscience?
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Law Students
Skills Required: Basic knowledge of international law; literature review; strong analysis and writing skills
Work Modality: Remote work
--
Early Childhood Intervention Systems
Faculty Mentor: Toby Long, Director, Certificate in Early Intervention, School of Continuing Studies
Project: Early Childhood Intervention Systems in LMIC: Based on information from the 2019 global survey on early intervention practices, the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development has selected 10 countries with a robust system of early childhood practice. The selected countries represent a variety of LMIC with similar profiles to perform a deep dive scan of specific policies, procedures, funding sources, personnel standards, etc. to determine the status of early intervention systems. The GHI fellow will assist with the analysis of the results from the global scan of early intervention programs. The fellow will assist in developing a through report and publishable manuscript.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Strong writing skills and desk research
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
--
Virus-Host Interactions in Mosquitos
Faculty Mentor: Radhakrishnan Padmanabhan, Professor Emeritus, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Georgetown University Medical Center
Project: Professor Padmanabhan's lab studies the globally important human pathogens transmitted by mosquitoes such as dengue virus and Zika virus in human and mosquito cells in cell culture experiments. They study the virus-host interactions using state of the art techniques such as Next Generation Sequencing (RNAseq). Identification of host genes in humans and mosquito host would facilitate development of inhibitors of virus replication and pathogenesis.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Interest in science and some basic techniques used in the lab; will be taught in-person when necessary
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
--
Neglected Tropical Diseases
Faculty Mentor: Claire Standley, Associate Research Professor, Center for Global Health Science and Security
Project: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to basic health services all over the world, including control programs for endemic diseases. Neglected tropical diseases are some of the world’s most common infections, resulting in substantial morbidity and even mortality, and yet receive much less attention and funding than other diseases, notably the “Big Three” of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. While numerous commentaries and modeling efforts have sought to investigate the impact of COVID-19 interruptions on NTD prevalence and burden, to date there are less available data on the actual consequences of the pandemic on these programs. Professor Standley's team has previously worked with colleagues in Nigeria and Guinea to uncover perceptions of these impacts from control program workers, and would like to expand this research further, possibly also looking at ways in which NTD endemicity intersects with that of other health conditions, within the context of the COVID-19 response.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Strong independent research skills, ideally including familiarity with major academic databases like PubMed and Web of Science. An understanding of neglected tropical diseases, including geographical distribution and impact on vulnerable populations, would be an asset, as would be language skills (French, Spanish, Portuguese, and/or Arabic).
Work Modality: Remote work
--
COVID-19 in Incarcerated Populations
Faculty Mentor: Shweta Bansal, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Georgetown College
Project: U.S. correctional facilities are overcrowded, poorly ventilated, and disproportionately populated by people of color. During the COVID-19 pandemic, 90% of the large clusters of COVID-19 during early 2020 occurred in prisons, and incarcerated populations have suffered higher rates of death compared than the general population. Now with the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, these health disparities are being exacerbated through lower vaccination rates among the incarcerated. Looking ahead, a detailed quantitative analysis is required of vaccination in prisons to protect these vulnerable populations.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior Student
Skills Required: Data collection skills, data analysis, Python programming, epidemiology
Work Modality: Remote work
--
Health Systems Assessment in Oceania
Faculty Mentor: Babatunji Oni, Senior Program Director, Center for Global Health Practice and Impact (CGHPI)
Project: GU-CGHPI has been tasked with carrying out a health systems assessment in three island countries within the Oceania region. This comprehensive assessment is a great opportunity for would-be medical and public health practitioners to gain an understanding and appreciation of national health systems in countries with varying income levels, and peculiar population challenges, including the effects of climate change. The globally-minded undergraduate or graduate student who seeks tangible experience in global health will find ample opportunity to exert themselves and gain experience on this project.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Ability to use and analyze data. Ability to conduct wide ranging desk research and assessments. Good interpersonal skills across multicultural divides. Good report and summary writing skills.
Work Modality: Remote work
--
Gender Equity in Asia
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Bouey, Department Chair, International Health, School of Nursing and Health Studies
Project: Gender Equity in Asia. This two year project will allow researchers to work with an international researchers' workgroup on three topics: legal protection of gender equity in South Korea; health equity in Pakistan; and gender equity in China's poverty relief programs.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Medical Students, Law Students
Skills Required: Literature search and synthesis; project coordination
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
--
Public Health Equipment Distribution in Nigeria
Faculty Mentor: Ibrahim Bola Gobir, Assistant Professor, Georgetown University Center for Global Health and Impact
Project: The proof of concept is meant to address the problems of theft, location, and functionality of equipment procured and donated to health facilities for COVID-19 response in Nigeria while also bringing about efficiency, transparency, and accuracy in equipment distribution plan across the country. It involves tagging of deployed equipment and supplies with readable-writable tags and seamlessly establishing contact between the tags and a central computer network, using either handheld or wall mounted Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices. The RFID device will be placed onsite within a radius that enables it to be able to read live presence of the equipment where it is placed and feed these geolocation data into a central database that can be visualized and analyzed remotely. This is expected to enhance monitoring of distribution and real time location of public health equipment deployed for disease surveillance and response as exemplified by COVID-19 in Nigeria.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students
Skills Required: Writing and literature review capacity
Work Modality: Remote work
--
Reproductive-Maternal-Neonatal-Child-Health Practices
Faculty Mentor: Myriam Vuckovic, Professor, Department of International Health, School of Nursing and Health Studies
Project: The student would help to conduct a realist systematic review of global Reproductive-Maternal-Neonatal-Child-Health (RMNCH) practices. The most promising evidence-based practices will be adapted and implemented in the Jordanian context. Specific focus will be placed on identifying best practices in respectful maternity care, with regards to improving providers’ performance accountability and commitment to provide quality RMNCH services, as well as on finding globally proven practices or innovations in family planning to increase demand of modern contraceptives. Professor Vuckovic's team will place special emphasis on researching evidence-based or informed practices in delivery of RMNCH services during COVID-19, to improve equitable quality RMNCH care during and in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students
Skills Required: Prior experience in systematic literature reviews and the realist review methodology would be a plus, as well as knowledge in the field of RMNCH
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
Opportunities for Only Graduate and/or Medical and/or Law Students
Outbreak Activity Library Project
Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Katz, Professor, Center for Global Health Science and Security
Project: Outbreak Activity Library Project
Professor Katz is seeking a graduate GHI fellow to assist with the development of a proposal for a textbook based upon the Georgetown Outbreak Activity Library (GOAL), available at https://goal.ghscosting.org. The GHI fellow will conduct background research on target audiences, similar existing works, and marketing plans, culminating in a draft 20- to 30-page proposal, including a sample chapter. This position will also involve fleshing out descriptions of activities conducted during outbreak response and writing or editing brief case studies based upon real-life outbreak response events, which would be published online and potentially in the eventual book.
Who Can Apply: Graduate Students, Medical Students, Law Students
Skills Required: Very strong writing and editing skills. Practical background in or experience in outbreak investigation, laboratory systems, humanitarian response, and/or logistical operations in a public health context
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
--
National Public Health Institute of Liberia Training Materials
Faculty Mentor: Rosemary Sokas, Professor of Human Science, School of Nursing and Health Studies
Project: Professor Sokas's team has been working in collaboration with the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) to develop, implement, and evaluate reusable elastomeric respirators for healthcare worker exposed to airborne transmissible diseases, such as tuberculosis and COVID-19. The training materials have been developed and the equipment is in place, ready for implementation. The goal for this coming semester is to conduct key informant interviews to assess user satisfaction and program implementation.
Who Can Apply: Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Excellent verbal and communications skills; basic data management skills
Work Modality: Remote work
--
COVID-19 and Global Health Law
Faculty Mentor: Lawrence Gostin, Professor, O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Project: The fellow would contribute to two projects: 1) Professor Gostin is developing a second edition of Global Health Law, a book first published in 2014 that defined the field of global health law and has served as the leading reference on the subject. The second edition will be a major revision, with numerous new chapters and updates to chapters in the first edition to bring the book up to date. The fellow will provide research support for this second edition and may have an opportunity to directly contribute to drafting material for the book. 2) Professor Gostin has been a leading voice on a law and policy response to COVID-19 that respects human rights and advances public health. With COVID-19 remains a global crisis and vaccine reluctance threatens progress in the United States, the fellow is likely to have the opportunity to provide research and potentially writing support to COVID-19 articles and possibly other projects.
Who Can Apply: Law Students
Skills Required: Strong research and writing skills will be important, along with an interest in global health issues and the potential of law to address them, equity and justice, and COVID-19.
Work Modality: Remote work