Health

Health: Conquering Physical, Mental, and Public Challenges

Cleo Samuel

June 13, 2018

Cleo Samuel is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research focuses on improving the equity and quality of supportive cancer care — such as care that optimizes comfort, function, social support, and overall quality of life — through the use of health informatics tools that address systemic barriers to care.

A Massage for Your Brain

June 12, 2018

A series of studies by one research group in Oregon reported that, on average, children move one full level down the autism spectrum after 20 weeks of Qigong Sensory Training (QST) — a type of massage therapy adapted from Traditional Chinese Medicine. UNC postdoc Kristin Jerger found these results so intriguing that she has published a feasibility study for a new line of research on the neural mechanisms of QST massage.

Decoding Dorothea Dix Hospital

June 7, 2018

Can the creation of a new park be influenced by a centuries-old mental hospital? The City of Raleigh has tasked UNC Community Histories Workshop researchers with merging the past and the future at Dorothea Dix Park.

Kripa Ahuja

June 6, 2018

Rising junior Kripa Ahuja is an undergraduate researcher in the Division of Clinical Laboratory Science within the UNC School of Medicine. She is also a research assistant at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research focuses on cloning the AAV-CXCL 12 gene — an important cancer biomarker.

Virginie Papadopoulou

May 30, 2018

Virginie Papadopoulou is a research assistant professor within the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNC and NC State. Her research focuses on the circulatory bubble dynamics that lead to decompression sickness in scuba divers and astronauts, and how physiological factors acting on microbubbles affect ultrasound cardiovascular imaging and cancer treatment.

Teresa Zhou

May 16, 2018

Teresa Zhou is a PhD student in the Department of Economics within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. She is a recent recipient of a 2018 Impact Award from The Graduate School. Her research focuses on the policies that are most effective in attracting and retaining physicians in underserved and rural areas, and how changes in physician supply affect patient welfare in the United States.

Frances Reuland

May 9, 2018

Graduating senior Frances Reuland is a research assistant at The Water Institute. She is majoring in environmental sciences and Spanish, with a minor in chemistry within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. She also plays on the varsity women’s soccer team. Her research focuses on how inadequate energy affects environmental health conditions and facility operations within Malawian healthcare systems.

Cherrel Manley

May 2, 2018

Senior Cherrel Manley is an undergraduate researcher within the UNC College of Arts & Sciences, majoring in biology with a minor in chemistry. She is also a McNair Scholar. Her research focuses on the relationship between maternal exposure to phthalates — substances commonly found in industrial chemicals — and pre-term births within the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.

Samantha Kistler

April 25, 2018

Samantha Kistler is a doctoral candidate and graduate research assistant in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry within the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Her research focuses on developing and evaluating the modifications that occur within Ras proteins, which may allow for protein-specific drug targeting. Mutated Ras proteins are found in up to 30 percent of cancers.

Different Disorders, Similar Stigma

April 16, 2018

People with autism are twice as likely to use drugs and alcohol than someone without the disorder — a statistic that most people are unaware of. To educate the public on this topic, UNC autism professional Ann Palmer and addiction specialist Elizabeth Kunreuther teamed up to write a book: “Drinking, Drug Use, and Addiction in the Autism Community.”