Student Fellows Program Spring 2022 Research Projects
Below is a list of the proposed research projects for GHI Spring 2022 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.
Clinical Skills Development in Zanzibar
Faculty Mentor: Christina Marea, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing and Health Studies / Post-Doctoral Fellow GHUCCTS
Project Description: Dr. Marea is a Ph.D. researcher and clinical Certified Nurse-Midwife working in collaboration with a community health center in Zanzibar to develop and implement an educational partnership to support clinical skill development with Zanzibari clinicians and increase global health competencies among CNM students at Georgetown. Activities for this project will include attendance at Zoom meetings with Dr. Marea and collaborators in Zanzibar, supporting the development of pre-departure and return curricula for U.S.-based students. Additional activities including assisting with the development of research protocols, conducting literature reviews, conducting qualitative interviews and analysis, manuscript preparation, and possible travel to Zanzibar in December 2022 pending public health guidelines and available funding.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Law Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Interest in global health workforce development and a commitment to an anti-colonial approach to global engagement; Capability for literature review including familiarity with major academic databases like PubMed; Attention to detail; Willingness to learn new skills; Excellent interpersonal and time management skills.
Skills Preferred: Familiarity with data/statistical analysis in SPSS and qualitative interview and analysis methods a plus.
Work Modality: Remote work
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COVID Analysis and Mapping of Policies: Country Entry Requirements
Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Katz, Professor, Center for Global Health Science and Security (CGHSS)
Project Description: This student will support policy mapping on the COVID-AMP project, with a specific focus on country entry requirements for travelers worldwide. Using identified sources, the student will find and code policies for one or more WHO regions, with a potential goal of cataloging policies in place prior to the emergence of the Omicron virus variant. If time allows, this role may include collaborating with CGHSS staff to write a research brief analyzing the policies of one WHO region. Examples of former analysis research briefs can be found here under “research briefs”: https://ghss.georgetown.edu/covid19/. We have a robust research portfolio. The student will work with both faculty and staff and will be invited to participate in broader center activities.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Law Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Excellent writing skills; Interest in global health; Attention to detail
Skills Preferred: Experience in data visualization; Additional languages; Experience with Tableau, InDesign, or Airtable; Statistical training; practical background in or experience in outbreak investigations and response
Work Modality: Remote and In-person work
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COVID Response/Recovery in Appalachian Mountains
Faculty Mentor: Jessica Kritz, Assistant Professor, Department of International Health
Project Description: The student will support a long-term project on COVID response/recovery in rural Madison County, NC (Appalachian Mountains). Activities include literature review on community resilience; data analysis of interviews related to COVID response. The student will need a demonstrated interest in rural health and/or social services delivery.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students
Skills Required: Excellent research and writing
Skills Preferred: Spanish language
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
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COVID-19 Vaccination in Prisons
Faculty Mentor: Shweta Bansal, Associate Professor, Department of Biology
Project Description: 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. With the COVID-19 vaccination rollout, these health disparities were 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
Skills Required: Data collection skills, data analysis, Python programming, infectious disease epidemiology
Work Modality: Remote work
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Drug Resistance
Faculty Mentor: Paul Roepe, Professor, Department of Chemistry
Project Description: The Roepe laboratory works to elucidate mechanisms of drug resistance and to translate this knowledge towards development of better therapy. Current projects include cloning and expression of antimalarial drug resistance proteins, lipid kinases and other biomembrane active enzymes, development of biochemical, immunological and chemical biology approaches for studying their function, and design, synthesis and testing of novel antimalarial drugs and drug combinations based on that information. The Roepe group takes great pride in long-term collaborative work; key collaborations with laboratories at the NIH (NCATS, NIAID), The Johns Hopkins Univ., Columbia Univ., The Scripps Inst., Walter Reed Army Inst. of Research, Notre Dame Univ., Univ. Kentucky, Yale Univ., and Georgetown Univ. have been particularly productive. They also take great pride in providing an exemplary training environment, particularly for members of STEM underrepresented groups, as an available Roepe lab “list of trainees” summarizes. Many different projects can be devised based on student interest.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Basic science skills, at freshman chemistry, freshman biology level or above, but relative training in different fields of science (including social science) does not matter.
Work Modality: Remote and In-person work
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Early Childhood Intervention
Faculty Mentor: Toby Long, Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Training Director, Center for Child and Human Development (CCHD)
Project Description: The student will work on an early childhood intervention project by analyzing and synthesizing information from 10 low- and middle-income countries describing their system of supports for young children with disabilities. The synthesis will be used as a framework to create an integrated program of early intervention in Jordan. The project will also entail a scoping review of early intervention systems worldwide.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior Students
Skills Required: Excellent writing; ability to work independently; knowledge of disability and the American early intervention system.
Work Modality: Remote and In-person work
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Giardia & the Production of Anti-inflammatory Molecule IL-10
Faculty Mentor: Steven Singer, Professor, Department of Biology
Project Description: The protozoan, Giardia duodenalis, infects 300-500 million people around the world and is a major contributor to growth-faltering in children. Interestingly, infection with Giardia may limit disease severity caused by other enteric pathogens, possibly by reducing inflammatory immune responses in the gut. The student will help analyze how host immune cells interact with the parasite to determine how Giardia enhances production of an anti-inflammatory molecule known as IL-10 and if this can limit inflammation caused by other infections. This project involves working with mice.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Students
Skills Required: Student should have prior experience in an immunology lab
Work Modality: In-person work
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Giardia & Signaling Pathways
Faculty Mentor: Steven Singer, Professor, Department of Biology
Project Description: Giardia is a protozoan parasite that infects 300-500 million people and is a major contributor to growth faltering in children. Infection with Giardia leads to "leaky gut" a condition in which small molecules can cross the cellular barrier normally separating the intestinal lumen from the bloodstream. The student will help determine which signaling pathways are triggered by the parasite resulting in leaky gut using both cell culture and animal model experiments. This project involves working with mice.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Students
Skills Required: Student should have experience performing cell culture, Western blots and working with animals
Work Modality: In-person work
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Global Access to Cancer Care through Precision Medicine
Faculty Mentor: John Marshall, Chief, Division of Hematology-Oncology, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital and Associate Director for Clinical Care, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
Project Description: The specific project depends on student’s skills.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Medical Students
Work Modality: Remote work
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Health Challenges Toolkit
Faculty Mentor: Jessica Kritz, Assistant Professor, Department of International Health
Project Description: This student will work on developing a toolkit to help communities resolve complex health challenges. Focus areas are community resilience and the role of culture. Case studies from Accra, Ghana; West Virginia; North Carolina, California.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students
Skills Required: Excellent research and writing skills
Work Modality: Remote work
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Health Security Net Project
Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Katz, Professor, Center for Global Health Science and Security (CGHSS)
Project Description: This student will 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. There is potential for writing a research brief to be published on the CGHSS website with findings from an analysis of the database (see examples of research briefs here under “research briefs”: https://ghss.georgetown.edu/covid19/). We have a robust research portfolio. The student will work with both faculty and staff and will be invited to participate in broader center activities.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Law Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Excellent writing skills; Interest in global health; Attention to detail
Skills Preferred: Experience in data visualization; Additional languages; Experience with Tableau, InDesign, or Airtable; Statistical training; practical background in or experience in outbreak investigations and response
Work Modality: Remote and In-person work
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Impact of Field-based Research Semester Abroad
Faculty Mentor: Myriam Vuckovic, Associate Professor, Department of International Health
Project Description: Prof. Vuckovic recently published a mixed-methods study on the impact of experiential learning (GLOH 392 - the department's field-based research semester abroad) on the medium and long-term effect on students’ careers and life-choices, and on developing essential global health competencies. Through this study, the benefit of the experience for recent global health graduates has clearly been shown. However, the question whether the program - and similar field experiences at other universities - also aligns with the needs, preferences and priorities of our partner organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America deserves closer attention and will be the subject of this follow-up study, to assure that the partnerships we maintain are equitable and mutually beneficial. The student will help design this planned study, conduct background research on how historical and politico-economic forces have shaped and continue to impact global health policy, research and practice, and potentially help to conduct in-depth interviews with our partner organizations (former and current preceptors) around the globe.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior Students
Skills Required: Excellent literature-based research skills; very good writing skills; cultural competence
Skills Preferred: Prior experience abroad; interviewing skills
Work Modality: Remote and in-person work
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Newborn Care in Jordan
Faculty Mentor: Indira Narayanan, Adjunct Professor, Department of Pediatrics/Neonatology
Project Description: The project relates to providing support for newborn care in Jordan. This is part of a 5-year USAID/University Research Corporation supported project for which Georgetown University has been invited to be a partner. In the first year, the focus will be on (a) learning the background and the existing status of newborn care in the country that will focus on a desk review of key available information and (b) developing plans for the necessary activities. The student will have the opportunity to gain real life experience in how international programs are developed to support care in a low- and middle-income country, in particular, keeping in mind promotion of quality of care, expansion to scale, and sustainability.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: A willingness to learn
Skills Preferred: The ability to carry out a search for appropriate information including documents and publications and prepare suitable summaries (this can be taught to the student)
Work Modality: Remote work
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People Living with HIV in Eswatini
Faculty Mentor: Samson Haumba, Assistant Professor of Medicine, GUMC, Department of Medicine/ Center for Global Health Practice and Impact, Country Resident Director, CGHPI in Eswatini
Project Description: The ambitious 95-95-95 strategy was announced by UNAIDS in 2014, aiming to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 by achieving 95% diagnosed among all people living with HIV (PLHIV), 95% on antiretroviral therapy (ART) among diagnosed, and 95% virally suppressed (VS) among treated. Eswatini is one of only two countries in the world to have attained these UNAIDS targets of HIV epidemic control, by 2020. However, epidemic control goals cannot be sustained without reaching and supporting PLHIV who present late to care or disengaged and are re-engaging in care.
To reduce morbidity and mortality in people presenting with AHD, Eswatini is implementing the WHO recommended package of interventions including screening, treatment and prophylaxis for major opportunistic infections, rapid ART initiation (1), and intensified adherence support interventions (2). The AHD package intends to widen access to key medicines and diagnostics to manage the most common causes of illness and death and enable PLHIV to reach and maintain viral suppression. The project will examine sociodemographic factors associated with viral suppression among PLHIV presenting with AHD in Lubombo and Manzini, Eswatini. The student will work with Prof. Haumba to analyze the data and prepare reports, manuscripts, and other program documents as a result of this work.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Interest in global health and policy and commitment to the project
Skills Preferred: Skills in using SPSS/STATA
Work Modality: Remote work
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Research for How to Correct Misinformation in Social Media
Faculty Mentor: Leticia Bode, Associate Professor, Communication, Culture, and Technology Program
Project Description: This student will provide research for Professor Bode’s book, tentatively titled How to Correct Misinformation on Social Media. The student will provide help on a chapter that compares lots of different proposed solutions to misinformation on social media on a range of criteria by 1) compiling and documenting policies and approaches pursued by platforms, both currently and in the past, 2) compiling and documenting solutions proposed by academics, think tanks, journalists, pundits, etc., and 3) compiling evidence on different criteria for evaluating those proposals (e.g. which ones work? how much do they cost? what are the tradeoffs? etc.). This is all public information, but it will take some time, care, and attention to sort through to find the most relevant pieces.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate and Graduate Students
Skills Required: Attention to detail; initiative to get started; willingness to learn new skills; good communication,
Skills Preferred: Some experience with spreadsheets and Google docs
Work Modality: Remote work
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Postpartum Care Intervention
Faculty Mentor: Christina Marea, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing and Health Studies / Post-Doctoral Fellow GHUCCTS
Project Description: This student will support a project aimed at implementing a transformative postpartum care intervention to support Black birthing people and mitigate the effects of structural racism. The student will work with Christina Marea, PhD, MA, CNM and Ebony Marcelle, MSN, CNM, faculty in the SNHS and recently funded PI of the Hillman Innovations in Care Award. A strong commitment to health equity, anti-racism, reproductive justice, and community-based participatory research methods is critical. Activities may include assisting with literature searches, manuscript preparation, data transcription and cleaning, supporting focus group facilitators, IRB applications, meeting scheduling / note taking.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students, Law Students, Medical Students; Students from historically and/or structurally marginalized groups are encouraged to apply.
Skills Required: Excellent time management and ability to work independently; Strong writing skills; Basic understanding of research principles, and willingness to learn more including some possible self-study; Strong interpersonal skills including ability to work with diverse groups.
Skills Preferred: Qualitative data analysis including experience with qualitative analysis software, basic quantitative data analysis using SPSS and/or STATA.
Work Modality: Remote and In-person work
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Social Distress, Chronic Illness, and Health Equity in Kenya and South Africa
Faculty Mentor: Emily Mendenhall, Professor, School of Foreign Service
Project Description: This project will involve qualitative data analysis of projects at the intersection of social distress, chronic illness, and health equity. Prof. Mendenhall is working on multiple projects that require coding: one study is on vaccine hesitancy in Eldoret, Kenya, and another project is on women's health throughout life in Soweto, South Africa. This role will be a deep dive into careful coding of qualitative interviews. This student will most likely work on more than one project and collaborate with Prof. Mendenhall’s colleagues overseas.
Who Can Apply: Undergraduate Junior/Senior and Graduate Students
Skills Required: Careful reading/analytic skills; Curiosity about qualitative work and dedication to carefully and respectfully learning about and coding narratives of people with different backgrounds and beliefs; Strong writing skills and previous courses in anthropology, sociology, disability studies, medical humanities, history, or STIA is preferred.
Work Modality: Remote work and In-person work
Opportunities for Only Graduate and/or Medical and/or Law Students
Exposure to Inhaled Infectious Agents
Faculty Mentor: Rosemary Sokas, Professor, Department of Human Science
Project Description: The National Public Health Institute of Liberia is collaborating with an Infectious Disease Isolation Unit in Monrovia to evaluate reusable elastomeric filtering facepiece respirators among healthcare workers exposed to inhaled infectious agents, such as tuberculosis. We have exempt status from Georgetown's IRB and will be undergoing IRB review in Monrovia in January, with the intervention evaluation to begin shortly afterwards.
Who Can Apply: Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Both communication skills, to conduct key informant interviews, and quantitative skills, to evaluate survey results, will be useful.
Work Modality: Remote work
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Financing Global Health Security and Pandemic Preparedness
Faculty Mentor: Wu Zeng, Associate Professor, School of Nursing & Health Studies
Project Description: This student will support a study aimed at developing a costing tool to estimate resources for financing global health security and pandemic preparedness. The student will be expected to conduct literature review of existing costing tools used in the field, identify strengths and limitations of each tool, and support the development of the tool.
Who Can Apply: Graduate Students
Skills Required: Knowledge on health economics or/and health financing; excellent skills in using Excel; quantitative skills
Skills Preferred: Knowledge of Visual Basic for Application (VBA)
Work Modality: Remote work
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Georgetown Outbreak Activity Library (GOAL)
Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Katz, Professor, Center for Global Health Science and Security (CGHSS)
Project Description: This student will 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 student 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. We have a robust research portfolio. The student will work with both faculty and staff and will be invited to participate in broader Center activities.
Who Can Apply: Graduate Students, Law Students, and Medical Students
Skills Required: Excellent writing skills; Interest in global health; Attention to detail
Skills Preferred: Experience in data visualization; Additional languages; Experience with Tableau, InDesign, or Airtable; Statistical training; practical background in or experience in outbreak investigations and response
Work Modality: Remote and In-person work
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Global Health and Medical Education
Faculty Mentor: Kacie Saulters, Associate Professor, School of Medicine
Project Description: The student may support (1) lit review of graduate medical education global health curricula and writing a descriptive paper of MedStar Global Health Track for dissemination; (2) curriculum development and evaluation for GUSOM/MedStar Global Health Boot Camp elective with potential for scholarly dissemination. Prof. Saulters is also happy to mentor a project a fellow already has in mind, particularly if it is at the intersection of global health and medical education.
Who Can Apply: Medical Students
Skills Required: None
Work Modality: Remote work
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‘How to End a Pandemic’ Project
Faculty Mentor: Rebecca Katz, Professor, Center for Global Health Science and Security (CGHSS)
Project Description: This student will work on the ‘How to End a Pandemic’ project that captures stories from and celebrates the tens of thousands of people engaged in ending the COVID-19 pandemic. This individual will expand the current website page (https://ghss.georgetown.edu/how-to-end-a-pandemic/) by initiating and conducting video interviews with individuals who have taken steps to mitigate the impacts of the virus, in addition to writing biographies about these people. To create a more visually appealing aesthetic to present the project, the fellow will design graphics and implement WordPress layouts for the page. This role will also include researching and applying for grants suitable for supporting this project. The student will also work with center staff to build new engagement and outreach projects. We have a robust research portfolio. The Fellow will work with both faculty and staff and will be invited to participate in broader center activities.
Who Can Apply: Graduate Students, Law Students, and Medical Students
Skills Required: Excellent writing skills; Interest in global health; Attention to detail
Skills Preferred: Experience in data visualization; Additional languages; Experience with Tableau, InDesign, or Airtable; Statistical training; practical background in or experience in outbreak investigations and response
Work Modality: Remote and In-person work
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Research for Global Health Law (2nd ed.)
Faculty Mentor: Lawrence Gostin, Professor, Law Center and Faculty Director, O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law
Project Description: The student will have one ongoing project while contributing to research and possibly writing for occasional articles, as the opportunities arise. Prof. 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, now underway, 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. Prof. Gostin, whose work on global and public health emphasizes health equity, is currently focusing primarily on legal and policy responses to COVID-19 that respect human rights and advance public health. With COVID-19 remaining a national and global crisis, we expect that articles, or possibly other projects, for which the fellow may conduct research, and possibly help draft, would most likely be related to COVID-19.
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
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Quality Improvement in Health Care
Faculty Mentor: Martine Etienne-Mesubi, Assistant Professor, Center for Global Health Practice & Impact
Project Description: The Center for Global Health Practice & Impact is working on developing proposals within the coming months. This student must be able to conduct literature reviews, develop or have an understanding of monitoring and evaluation of projects, as well as an understanding around quality improvement in health care. The student will be asked to support writing, revising as well as providing input to these documents. The student must also have some knowledge of international programs. There will be some supportive work needed around other center global programs as they begin implementation of research protocols. The student must be flexible with their time as our programs function in different time zones. Meetings and discussions may happen later in the evening or early in the morning.
Who Can Apply: Graduate Students
Skills Required: This student must have some knowledge and skill around quality improvement, evaluation of projects, literature review and writing
Work Modality: Remote and In-person work
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Sexual Transmitted Infections in Women Living with HIV
Faculty Mentor: Christian J. Hunter, Professor, Center for Global Health Practice & Impact
Project Description: This student will support an upcoming study of sexual transmitted infections in women living with HIV (Eswatini, Malawi, and Cameroon). Prof. Hunter’s current work is on global health with a focus on people living with HIV and tuberculosis. She has mentored multiple medical students, residents, and graduate students in research projects that have led to publications. She enjoys helping trainees develop skills in research methods, data analysis, and writing.
Who Can Apply: Graduate Students, Medical Students
Skills Required: Basic understanding of HIV, sexual transmitted infections
Skills Preferred: Rudimentary statistics (can be learned during the fellowship)