Students are winners at research conference









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Winners of the College of Public Health Student Research Conference were, from left: (first row) Dr. Trisha LeVan, Zaeema Naveed, and Dr. Ali Khan; (second row) Xiaoting Sun, Natalia Trinidad and Alexandra Farfalla; (third row) Moses New-aaron, Adenike Sulaiman and Jessica Seimen; (fourth row) Meagan Helmick and Morshed Alam. Not pictured: Alethea Chiappone.


The annual College of Public Health Student Research Conference was held April 5 and featured 26 posters by 27 M.P.H and Ph.D. students as part of Public Health Week.

Eleven students were awarded prizes by the event sponsor, the College’s Research and Development (R&D) Committee. College of Public Health faculty members and alumni served as judges.

The conference was organized by the R&D Committee student representatives Sarbinaz Bekmuratova, graduate research assistant, health services research & behavioral health, and Tambudzai Ndashe, research assistant, health promotion, social & behavioral health.

“It is a great opportunity for students to showcase their research, exchange research ideas and interact with the UNMC community,” Ndashe said. “It also highlights various levels of research collaboration going on between the College of Public Health and community organizations, the state of Nebraska and at the federal level.”

Trisha LeVan, Ph.D., associate professor, epidemiology, and chair of the R & D Committee, said the conference demonstrated the incredible diversity of research underway in the college. “Research projects range from epidemiology and biostatistics to obesity and infectious disease. Sometimes we don’t realize how diverse the research is here.”

Ali S. Khan, M.D., M.P.H., dean of the college, said the amount and quality of the research continues to increase every year. He presented $100 to each of the winners.

Awards given to M.P.H. students were:

  • Jessica Seimen, health services research & administration
  • Moses New-aaron, biostatistics
  • Natalia Trinidad, epidemiology
  • Adenike Sulaiman, environmental, agricultural & occupational health
  • Alexandra Farfalla, environmental, agricultural & occupational health

Ph.D. students:

  • Alethea Chiappone, health promotion, social & behavioral health
  • Morshed Alam, biostatistics
  • Meagan Helmick, health promotion, social & behavioral health
  • Xiaoting Sun, health services research & administration

The Outstanding Award — sponsored by CityMatCH — went to Ph.D. student Zaeema Naveed, epidemiology.

“This year’s event received double the number of submissions, demonstrating that there is a lot of great research going on,” Bekmuratova said.

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