September 1, 2020
Please join us in congratulating to the six HERE Center’s research assistants out of 16 that were awarded with the CSU Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholarship! The scholarship consists of $3,000 stipend plus funded summer research opportunities and provides the scholars unique opportunities to explore and prepare to succeed in doctoral program.
Jean Pauline Serrano
Culture, Health, and Development Lab
Pauline’s research revolves around investigating the role individual and family processes play in health (mental, physical) and academic success in adolescents from underrepresented backgrounds. She utilizes a triangulation of methodological tools (i.e., survey, interview, biological markers) to enhance the quality of her research. Currently, she is examining the role that home-school cultural value mismatch – mismatch between family and academic obligations – have on self-report and biological markers (e.g., cortisol) of health during the transition to college. She is also exploring a range of potential individual factors that might foster resilience against this form of cultural mismatch and its negative effects on health. Results from her research will have important implications for the development of empirically-based interventions, programs and policies that aim to foster a positive transition into college. Pauline plans to pursue a PhD in Developmental Psychology and continue her engagement in meaningful research.
Idania (Dani) Brown
MeSA Lab
I am Dani Brown, a Master of Public Health student with an emphasis in Community Health Education. I am serving as President for Eta Sigma Gamma, a national public health honorary and am a member of CAMINO, a grant aimed at increasing representation of first-generation, Latino/a students in health science professions. I currently research the relationship between self-compassion, kindness turned inward and psychosocial stressors, including perceived discrimination among young adults with a predisposition to type 2 diabetes. Broadly, my research interests lie at the intersection between mental wellbeing and physical health through biological pathways. My interests lean toward stress management, coping, and mindfulness practices. I will apply to a Ph.D. program in Health Psychology to explore the connection between mental wellbeing and physical health outcomes. I will pursue a career in academia where I can continue researching wellness and teach evidence-based coping strategies like meditation to college students.
Angel Arizpe
MeSA Lab
Angel Arizpe is a second-year Master of Public Health student in the Applied Epidemiology track and a Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar. In the MeSA lab, he is currently studying the relationship between sociocultural stressors, such as perceived discrimination and health behaviors, such as sleep among young adults with a family history of type 2 diabetes. His interest also includes cancer epidemiology and its relationship with health behaviors and occupational health. He is also managing primary data collection and provides statistical support for the team such as providing descriptive statistics, univariate, and bivariate analyses, and multivariate regression modeling. In addition, Angel is looking to collaborate in a cancer research lab to examine the relationship between cancer and low-income night shift workers. Furthermore, he is interested in exploring the associations between environmental and social stressors among cancer patients receiving treatment. Angel is currently writing his master’s thesis on sociocultural stressors and coping mechanisms exploring ethnic differences among Hispanic and Somali adolescents.
Tiffany Chapman
MeSA Lab
Tiffany Chapman is a Master of Public Health student in Applied Epidemiology, Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Scholar, and vice president of Eta Sigma Gamma (national health education honorary). Her life-long research agenda is to investigate behavioral, psychosocial, and physiological risk and protective factors associated with comorbid physical and mental health conditions in multi-ethnic populations. As a graduate research assistant in the Metabolism and Stress Assessment (MeSA) lab, she has assessed the relationship between discrimination, resilience, and depression, as well as, sleep quality, body adiposity, and depression. Using MeSA data, her master’s thesis is to explore the association between allostatic load and depressive symptoms among multi-ethnic young adults with a family history of type 2 diabetes. Her future career goals include pursuing a doctoral degree in epidemiology, researching potential pathways connecting comorbid physical and mental health conditions, teaching at a university with a diverse student body, and motivating women with diverse backgrounds to become interested in disease prevention to inform health policies in their community.
Sarah Hwang
PAR-D Lab
Hello, my name is Sarah Hwang and I am a Senior majoring in Child and Adolescent Development. I am coincidentally a BUILD PODER scholar with a specific research focus in Positive Developmental Psychology. I aim to help guide the creation of policies and programs that promote culturally relevant initiatives for various racial-ethnic communities by studying mentoring functions and parent-child relations. As a burgeoning positive psychologist, I seek interventions that will allow individuals to develop a greater satisfaction with life (encompassing both purpose and meaning) in connection to their overall well-being. I gravitate towards developmental psychology the most, as it takes a lifespan perspective that views every stage of human life as interconnected phases of continuous growth.
Detrich Galloway
HOMME Lab
Detrich’s research focus is directed towards the examination of intersections in African Diaspora and population/community health; an area where historic theoretical frameworks for health interventions have been significantly flawed and where prominent gaps in research exist today. Maternal mortality and women's cardiovascular health are priority areas of research interest for Detrich, as she affirms her commitment to positively affecting health outcomes in Black and African American populations during her pre-doctoral scholarship. As a research assistant in the HOMME Lab, Detrich currently assists in a study where saliva and hair samplings are utilized as stress determinant biomarkers used to evaluate and promote innovative strategies that support birthing equity workers within professional healthcare systems. She ultimately hopes her research efforts will result in a greater body of evidence-based studies that build equity among underserved populations and more accurately assess and evaluate the strengths and needs of Black and African American populations.