Summer 2022 Interns

I am a doctoral student in Kinesiology at the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. I am passionate about working toward early identification of people at risk of chronic health conditions and improving their health and well-being. My doctoral dissertation will be focused on the health of caregivers. Psychological well-being is one of the most essential aspects of caregiving and this internship will provide an opportunity to advance my knowledge and potentially integrate psychological well-being into my dissertation work. I am excited to be working with Dr. Susan Peters on studying workers’ health and well-being through a longitudinal study. I am looking forward to improving my analytical skills and understanding qualitative research through this internship.

My research interests revolve around the intersections of positive mental and physical health, interpersonal relationships, and psychosocial factors. I am thrilled to be working with Dr. Elyse Park and Dr. Angela Walter on the Smoke Free Support Study 2.0, which assesses the comparative effectiveness and implementation of a new virtual tobacco cessation treatment in community oncology settings. My overarching goal for the summer is to help inform subsequent, multi-level and multi-faceted implementation strategies that reach a wide range of relevant populations.

I am a graduate student in the Adult Development and Aging PhD program at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I earned my master’s degree in psychology from Georgia Tech in 2021. My research focuses on identifying vulnerability and resilience factors for daily stressor exposure and reactivity and examining the associations between stressor exposure, well-being, and memory across the lifespan. I am interested in learning more about dissemination and implementation science and how we can apply research findings to inform practice and policy. I look forward to working with Dr. Shoba Ramanadhan this summer.

I just finished my first year of a two-year program in the Masters of Public Health at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. This summer, I will be working with Dr. Susan Peters on exploring work-related wellbeing using the Thriving from Work measure. This work is significant because the results will be used to inform better workplace policies and practices. I am very grateful to Dr. Peters and the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness for this wonderful opportunity!

My general research interests cover a wide range of topics, including: the effects of stereotyping and prejudice on intergroup relations; the relationship between mental health and physical outcomes; and the neurological mechanisms behind psychopathology. This summer, I am thrilled to work with Dr. Mesfin Bekalu in researching whether social media usage is associated with positive health outcomes, as well as exploring the possible factors that would moderate or mediate this association. Through this opportunity, I will be able to both contribute to and hone my skills in data analysis and manuscript writing.

This summer, I will work with Dr. Sara Lazar at Massachusetts General Hospital on the impact of mindfulness on people’s health and how psychological and physical health can interact with each other. I am thrilled to build the research skills on my previous clinical trial on meditation and acupuncture on depressive symptoms. I hope to apply the epidemiological and biostatistics skills I acquire during this internship to real-world settings. I hope through the research, we can inform policymaking and improve the mental health conditions of the general public innovatively.

I am a third-year student at UCLA, majoring in psychology with a minor in community engagement and social change. I am interested in studying which factors, particularly interpersonal relationships and resilience, promote emotional and physical well-being, specifically for adolescents and adults who’ve experienced trauma. I aim to apply my experiences conducting research with underserved youth to inform the development and implementation of effective and feasible evidence-based treatments.

I am excited to work with Dr. Elyse Park on integrating tobacco treatment into lung screening this summer. I look forward to learning more about tobacco cessation programs and how to improve their effectiveness. This work will allow me to get a better understanding as to how interventions that address both mental and physical health of a person can deter vulnerable populations from negative health choices.

This summer I am very excited to be working alongside Dr. Christopher Celano and his research team on several interesting projects exploring health behavior adherence and collaborative care models for individuals with cardiovascular diseases. They are currently evaluating the efficacy of an intervention that harnesses a combined approach of positive psychology and motivational interviewing to promote behavior change. I am looking forward to engaging more deeply in the research process and strengthening my patient engagement and analytic skills.

I’m currently working toward my MPH in Health and Social Behavior and a concentration in maternal and child health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. My research interests include positive psychology, asset-based approaches to mental health promotion, eating disorders prevention, and policy translation. I’m also interested in the intersections between well-being, physical and mental health, and exercise. I’m very excited to work with Dr. Christopher Celano on research connected to the promotion of health and well-being in individuals with medical illness. Through this unique internship opportunity, I’m looking forward to gaining hands-on, tangible experience in positive psychology.