StAT Alumni Residents

Class of 2022

Deema Akari

PREVIOUSLY: University of California Riverside

Project Description: Deema is partnering with Ravenswood Family Health Center and the Gardner Center for Youth to assess parental knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes about school readiness after participating in the Ravenswood Kinder Ready Program.

Simran Gambhir 

PREVIOUSLY: Drexel University

Project Description: Simran will be examining the perspectives and experiences of people who have undergone intimate partner violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically in relation to healthcare and telemedicine.

Ruzan Orkusyan

PREVIOUSLY: University of California Irvine

Project Description: In partnership with the San Mateo County Institute for Human and Social Development (IHSD) and Head Start, Ruzan will look at the parent and teacher experiences with preschool reopening during the Covid-19 pandemic to define the challenges, concerns and barriers faced by parents and teachers during the reopening process and opportunities for improvement. The overall goal of the project is to inform local efforts of IHSD to improve the experience of school reopening for families and teachers and ensure that Head Start continues to provide a safe learning and growing environment for young children.

Tatum Sohlberg

PREVIOUSLY: Oregon Health and Science

Project Description: Tatum is partnering with two community organizations, Dolores Huerta Foundation and Cultiva la Salud, to examine parent perspectives of quality, appeal, and healthfulness of school meals in the Central Valley during the COVID-19 pandemic using photovoice methodology. The goal of the project is to inform local advocacy efforts to improve nutritious offerings in local school-based meal programs during COVID-19 and beyond.