DRIVE in Research Pathway Program Awards

The Diversity, Respect, and Inclusion are Vital for Excellence (DRIVE) in Research Pathway Program aims to improve the diversity of the research workforce underrepresented in maternal and child health-related research while supporting mentorship and training.


FY 2025 Awards

Chioma Aka | She/Her/Hers | Sophomore | Major: Intended Major: Symbolic Systems: Biomedical Computation

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Laura Simons, Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Exploring Pain Flares in Adolescents with Chronic MSK Pain: The Role of Wellness Behaviors and Pain Catastrophizing

 

Ana Altamiranda | She/Her/Hers | Freshman | Major: Intended Major: Biology and Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Glaivy Batsuli, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Utilizing Factor VIII Antibodies to Define Binding Characteristics

 

Nailah Arthur | She/Her/Hers | Sophomore | Major: Symbolic Systems: Neuroscience and Psychology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ananta Addala, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Three Hands are Better than One: The Triangulation when Tackling the Disparities in Young Children with T1D

 

Yashaswi Bista | She/Her/Hers | Sophomore | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Hilary Jericho, Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Creating Celiac-Friendly Schools: Enhancing Environments for Children's Health

 

Isabella Dang | She/Her/Hers | Freshman | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ruth Lathi, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Project Title: What Could Have Been: Exploring Guilt, Grief, and Shame Following Miscarriage in Hispanic Patients

 

Diba Dindoust | She/Her/Hers | Sophomore | Major: Intended Major: Bioengineering and Data Science minor

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Ivana Maric, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Omics Profiling of Maternal and Neonatal Outcomes using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence

 

Lindsay Flores | She/Her/Hers | Sophomore | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Trung Pham, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Tissue Immunity and Immunophysiology During Persistent Infection

 

Carrie Giang | She/Her/Hers | Sophomore | Major: Undeclared

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kara Meister, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology

Project Title: Clinical Phenotypes: Post-Radiation Thyroid Function in Cancer Survivors

 

Yudith Gradilla | She/Her/Hers | Freshman | Major: Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Lin, Professor of Pathology

Project Title: Blocking Atf6: A New Path to Treating Retinopathy of Prematurity

 

 

Ariana Jose | She/Her/Hers | Sophomore | Major: Intended Major: Psychology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Anisha Patel, Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Drivers of Ultra-Processed Food Consumption:

Perceptions of Parents and Students in the San Joaquin

Jamie JudahBram | She/Her/Hers | Sophomore | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Christopher Russell, Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Quantifying Caregiver Stress and Quality of Life
by Language in Pediatric Medical Complexity

 

Jesse JudahBram | He/Him/His | Sophomore | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rishi Mediratta, Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Quality Measures for Children with Pneumonia
in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

 

Matthew Lamban | He/Him/His | Freshman | Major: Undeclared

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Stephanie Chao, Associate Professor of Surgery

Project Title: PLEDGE: Developing an Evidence-Based
Curriculum for K-12 schools on Firearm Safety

 

Suhani Luitel | She/Her/Hers | Freshman | Major: Intended Major: Computer Science/Neuroscience/Biomedical Engineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gary Darmstadt, Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Burden of stillbirth in South Asia

 

Ilana Mendez | She/Her/Hers | Freshman | Major: BioEngineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Valerie Chock, Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: 2 NIRS and a Baby: Understanding Oxygenation Bias in Preterm Babies

 

Guadalupe Miranda | She/Her/Hers | Freshman | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jochen Profit, Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Pilot Study on Barriers to Family Presence in the NICU

 

Jonathan Mulenga | He/Him/His | Sophomore | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Elizabeth Egan, Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Investigating the Role of CD59 During Malaria 

Parasite Infection of Red Blood Cells

 

Rubi Quinto | She/Her/Hers | Sophomore | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Litt, Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Preterm Children with Autism Diagnoses Receive Treatment More Often Compared to Term-born Peers Despite Later Diagnosis and Lower Symptom Severity

 

Isabella Roman | She/Her/Hers | Junior | Major: Political Science with a minor in Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Klein, Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Policy Research to Support Adolescent Health and Well-Being

 

Andrea Roman-Fernandez | She/Her/Hers | Freshman | Major: Bioengineering

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Moss Zhao, Instructor of Neurosurgery

Project Title: Next-Generation Medical Imaging for Pediatric Brain Diseases

 

Abigail Roman-Ramirez | She/Her/Hers | Junior | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alka Goyal, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Assessing the Prevalence and Risk Factors of Avoidant
Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) in Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Alex Thao | He/Him/His | Sophomore | Major: Undeclared

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Christin Kuo, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Characterizing N-Cadherin Expression in Pulmonary
Neuroendocrine Cells During Mouse Embryonic Lung Development

Kandy Topete Gomez | She/Her/Hers | Sophomore | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Woo Baidal, Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Parental Stress and Infant Feeding Styles Among Food

FARMacia Participants

Sophia Trabanino | She/Her/Hers | Freshman | Major: Chemistry

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Natalia Gomez-Ospina, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title: Clonal Dynamics of Microglial Cell Replacement by
Bone Marrow Derived-Cells

 

Kelly Vo | She/Her/Hers | Freshman | Major: Psychology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jennifer Frankovich, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics

Project Title :Navigating the Neuropsychiatric Storm: An Analysis on
Usage of Neurotropic Medications for PANS

 

Jennifer Wang | She/Her/Hers | Freshman | Major: Human Biology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Juliet Knowles, Assistant Professor of Neurology

Project Title:  Therapeutic Potential of BHB-Amino Acids in

Generalized Epilepsy