Journalism
As a freelance health and science writer, I strive to make science tangible, real, and apparent. Above all, I value integrating emotion-driven narratives into the translation of scientific complexities (in other words, how can we make bench science more personal? What's the bigger picture?). My work focuses on mental health services, medical technology, and the interactions between science and the law. My feature article in Healthline on the Caring Contacts model of suicide prevention was featured by the American Association of Suicidology in its reporting guide, “Media as Partners in Suicide Prevention.” My other writing has been cited by the Brennan Center for Justice and the National Drug Policy Alliance.
Currently, I am an Editorial Fellow for Scientific American, the oldest continuously published magazine in the U.S.
Health Law and Policy
My writing and research underpin my service in health law. As an intern for Greater Boston Legal Services, I worked with 40 families from the Haitian Refugee community to assist them in obtaining Medicaid coverage.
I have also served as a Policy Fellow for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, where I authored the legislative proposal for California Assembly Bill No. 2473, which was successfully enacted as a state law on September 27, 2022.
Research
My research focuses on the relationship between public health epidemiology and different forms of structural inequity, such as in labor markets and in the criminal justice system. Since June 2021, I have worked at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Health Inequality Lab to investigate the effects of jail healthcare accreditation on incarcerated populations’ morbidity and mortality rates. My research on this subject has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
Although my central passion is understanding the connections between disease transmission and the social determinants of health, this work is ultimately grounded in my biological science research. In 2020, I worked at the Harvard Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, studying viral infection-induced brain inflammation. My recent work integrates my interests in health equity and the progression of chronic diseases. As a Research Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, I study racial disparities in obesity comorbidities and links between weight stigma and obesity pathophysiology. My work on the obesity “cells-to-society” framework—which defines genetic, neurological, and environmental etiologies of obesity—is published in the European Heart Journal, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and International Journal of Obesity. I have also presented at the Northeast Undergraduate Research Organization for Neuroscience (NEURON) Conference and UAID National Conference on Reproductive Health and Literacy.
Science Outreach and Education
I have a genuine passion for science literacy and health advocacy that shapes my direct service in local communities. This work began in 2019 when I served as a Student Director for Elementary Science Education at the U.S. Agency for International Development. I spent two months teaching introductory biology and chemistry classes to middle school students in Central China's Hubei province.For the last two years, I have collaborated with The Family Van of Harvard Medical School to create and direct an afterschool program for immigrant families in the Greater Boston area. The program connects Boston youth, Harvard undergraduates, and Family Medicine-Psychiatry residents at Boston Medical Center to provide health screenings and mental health education. At its core, the program aims to promote health literacy and preventive care, and 70 families have engaged with our services. At Harvard, I also serve as the Director of the Boston Refugee Youth Enrichment Extension Program, where I lead English language lessons for elementary refugee students from Haiti, Somalia, Vietnam, and Ethiopia. When Boston Public Schools eliminated science from its elementary core curriculum, I organized a team of undergraduates to showcase physics, biology, and chemistry demos for these K-5 students. Finally, I am a Teaching Fellow for the Harvard Department of Statistics, where I help instruct the largest undergraduate statistics course at Harvard University (250 students). I assist students in developing problem-solving skills and statistical literacy (data wrangling, modeling, and visualization through R software).