Department: Department of Family & Preventive Medicine
Mentor Title: Associate Professor
Project Title: Circadian timing and energy balance study
Project Background
This study, sponsored by the National Institute of Health, examines the associations between circadian misalignment and sleep duration with neurobehavioral processes that affect obesity, such as impulsivity as well as insulin resistance and eating behaviors.
Student role
The student will participate in helping the team complete the study including assisting the team with running the protocol including administering computerized neurobehavioral assessments, measuring eating behaviors and collecting sleep and circadian assessments. The student will also be involved in lab presentation, data analysis and interdisciplinary team meetings.
Student learning outcomes & benefits
The student will participate in helping the team complete the study including assisting the team with running the protocol including administering computerized neurobehavioral assessments, measuring eating behaviors and collecting sleep and circadian assessments. The student will also be involved in lab presentation, data analysis and interdisciplinary team meetings.
Mentoring philosophy and specific mentoring activities
Mentoring involves a commitment to guiding the student in learning what our lab does, why we do it and guiding them to learn basic skills that will translate to many different areas of science and careers. The student will meet with Dr. Baron weekly in 1:1 meetings and other staff and graduate students more frequently throughout the week. They will be involved in operations meetings, data collection, data entry and analysis. The student will be made part of the team and asked to provide input into our meetings. Another role of this summer program will be the exposure to different career paths in medicine, psychology and public health research.
College: School of Medicine and Huntsman Cancer Institute
Department: Department of Surgery
Mentor Title: Associate Professor
Project Title: Cancer Health Services and Disparities Research
Project Background
Much of our group’s research examines system level problems that result in delivery of low-value care or contribute to health disparities. Undergraduate students will select from a portfolio of projects that examine differences in access, social support, socio-economic status and opioid abuse as contributors to disparities in outcomes among vulnerable populations. We will then focus efforts on disseminating research through a mentored experience that emphasizes scientific writing and presentation with additional exposure to experiences across the research continuum from project inception to publication.
Student role
Our research group has multiple projects that are ready for dissemination. The primary role for students working with our group is to write about our group’s research findings. This includes writing scientific abstracts, papers and posters. In addition, interested students are provided with opportunities to shadow in a clinical setting including in the operating room and outpatient clinic
Student learning outcomes & benefits
Students will learn valuable skills as a scientific writer and be included as an author on any scientific publications to which the student contributes work. Those interested in pursuing a career in medicine will also be provided with exposure and time to explore clinical aspects of the field.
Mentoring philosophy and specific mentoring activities
Dr. O’Neil works with participating students to develop a tailored plan that achieves the individual’s goals. Students meet with Dr. O’Neil at the beginning of the research experience to define goals and expectations. They will then have a weekly meeting to establish a research and clinical observation plan which will be executed by the student as an independent learner. They will also participate in a weekly lab meeting where they are integrated as a member of our research group.
Department: Department of Family & Preventive Medicine
Mentor Title: Chair, Professor
Project Title: Role of families in tobacco use and cessation among African and Middle Eastern immigrants in the United States
Project Background
The prevalence of smoking among Muslim immigrant men have been found to be higher than the United States national average. Families play a role in socialization of many Muslim immigrant families and may play a role in smoking initiation and cessation. The survey will comprise four focus group sessions exploring the link between the family set-up and smoking.
Student role
The student will work with the research team in recruitment of participants, facilitation of the focus groups, transcription of recordings and thematic analyses of the transcribed data.
Student learning outcomes & benefits
The student will receive guidance and support from Dr. Okuyemi. The student will gain confidence in and knowledge of the basics of beginner stage research experiences. The opportunity to network and work with a highly skilled and professional team of researchers.
Mentoring philosophy and specific mentoring activities
Dr. Okuyemi’s career in the last 20 years has focused on research and programs to improve the health of underserved populations, including minority, immigrant, refugee, and homeless populations, and to eliminate health disparities/inequities using pharmacological and culturally tailored behavioral interventions as well as community-engaged research approaches. Dr. Okuyemi has a passion for mentoring and has mentored faculty (>20), postdoctoral fellows (>10), and graduate and undergraduate students (>20), many of whom have progressed to establish independent academic, research, or other health professional careers.
College: School of Medicine and Huntsman Cancer Institute
Department: Department of Family & Preventive Medicine
Mentor Title: Professor
Project Title: Metabolic Diseases Among Rural Breast Cancer Survivors
Project Background
Population-level data has previously offered invaluable insight on increased risks of disorders among cancer survivors compared to a general population cohort. The undergraduate student will work on a study aiming to investigate whether breast cancer survivors have a higher risk of metabolic diseases compared to women who have never had breast cancer. The study design is a cohort study based in Utah. The data is available to be analyzed, and the student will be trained in a statistical program (e.g., STATA or SAS).
Student role
The primary role of the student will be writing summary of previous literature on breast cancer survivors and disparities in depression risk, and analyzing SEER-Medicare data.
Student learning outcomes & benefits
Students will learn valuable skills as a scientific writer and be included as an author on any scientific publications to which the student contributes work. Those interested in pursuing a career in medicine will also be provided with exposure and time to explore clinical aspects of the field.
Mentoring philosophy and specific mentoring activities
Dr. Hashibe is the Chair of the Research Mentor Program for junior faculty in her department at the University of Utah (Department of Family and Preventive Medicine). The program provides formalized matching of mentor/mentee, planning of quarterly one-to-one mentoring with mentor tools, peer mentoring across the four divisions, and mentor/mentee training. She has mentored 8 postdoctoral fellows, all of whom hold faculty or research scientist positions at universities such as UCLA, National Taiwan University, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai and the University of Maryland. She currently mentors two postdoctoral fellows and three junior faculty members. Dr. Hashibe will work with the participating student to understand their goals and develop a plan to help them achieve those goals. Dr. Hashibe will meet bi-weekly with the student to review results and how things are going. The student will work closely with Dr. Hashibe’s team of highly skilled researchers and professionals; they will have the opportunity of becoming an integrated team member of this research team.
Project Title: Understanding inequities in hypertension management and related outcomes in the Veterans Health Administration
Project Background
Our goal is to reduce hypertension-related morbidity and mortality racial/ethnic disparities in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) by optimizing antihypertensive medication management in primary care teams. Achieving and maintaining the most recent intensive blood pressure control guidelines, such as those released by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association in 2017, may avert half a million cardiovascular disease events over 10 years in the US population. The goal of this project is to contrast patient-, provider-, and facility-level factors associated with intensive antihypertensive medication management (initiation, adherence, and intensification) and blood pressure control by race/ethnicity by leveraging the VHA national electronic health record. The findings from this project will help us to leverage the VHA Office of Health Equity Primary Care Equity Dashboard, launched in 2021, an audit feedback tool, to support the eventual development of a team-based playbook designed to mitigate hypertension disparities and support implementation of evidence-based care among racial/ethnic minority Veterans.
Student role
The student will have the opportunity to select from multiple research questions falling within the broader scope of the project. Some of the knowledge gaps we seek to address include the following: 1) unknown adoption of the new intensive BP EBPs by race/ethnicity; 2) few real-world VA studies of virtual and non-VA community care for hypertension; 3) limited understanding of provider/team or healthcare facility factors related to intensive antihypertensive medication management by race/ethnicity in VHA. My team has the data and statistical support personnel to support the research. The student will partner with the team to lead and/or contribute to the refinement of the research question, analysis plan, and will be mentored through the dissemination of research products, which could include an abstract submission, poster/oral presentation, manuscript or report development, and publication.
Student learning outcomes & benefits
The student will gain an understanding of the research opportunities and health equity research priorities of the largest integrated healthcare systems in the US. They will gain hands-on experience contributing to team science, developing collaboration and communication skills, learn project management strategies, and will gain an understanding of the multiple roles of individuals who contribute to team science. The student will be encouraged to attend regular team meetings and will be given the opportunity to present internally and externally on research activities. The student will learn how co-lead a research project, including how to review the relevant literature to the research, identify knowledge and practice gaps, develop a hypothesis, and plan a research study. They will learn some of the challenges and opportunities of working with ‘big and real-world data’. The student will learn some of the methods used in epidemiology, health services, and implementation science research, as they are interested.
Mentoring philosophy and specific mentoring activities
My philosophy is to meet the mentee’s needs and their definition of a successful experience. I aim to be wholistic in my approach to support their advancement and not just the research products. Once the mentee and I agree on the research question they want to address, we will prepare a timeline, planned deliverables and activities, discuss resources needed, and formulate an agreed upon list of mentor/mentee expectations. I will meet with the mentee 1 on 1 at least weekly to ensure they are receiving support they need to be successful, that milestones are being met, and we will also discuss any adaptations needed to milestones and expectations. I will be highly accessible to the mentee while also aiming to empower them to being creative and self-led.
Mentor Title: HCI Investigator and Associate Professor (Dept. Communications)
Project Title: Population Science, Cancer Control and Population Health Research Focus
Project Background
African Americans (AA) continue to have the highest overall death rate and shortest survival for most cancers when compared to all racial/ethnic groups1-3. This is despite a decline in cancer mortality throughout the U.S1. Black immigrant (BI) populations also show high proportional cancer incidence rates when compared to AA1, 4. In the state of Utah, the numbers for these groups are small but growing and disparities exist5 and reflect national cancer disparities.2 Genetic susceptibility testing tools (GST)6-9, are used to identify individuals at high risk for cancer, manage disease risk, and ultimately, to reduce morbidity and mortality10. However, AA and BI populations are less likely to access these tools due to limited awareness 11-14 and knowledge about GST15-19.
We will convene with community members to inform the development of innovative GST risk communication strategies through community engagement studios44 in the SLC area.
Student role
If selected, the student will be responsible for assisting the Principal Investigator and research team with preparing for Community Advisory Board meetings, attending a training on Community-Based Participatory Research and Qualitative methodology. The student will also be responsible for assisting the Principal Investigator and team with specific aspects of cancer related Community-Based Participatory Research that includes preparing for and attending Research meetings and at least one Community Advisory Board during his/her summer program, writing a literature review, conducting necessary literature searches, and recruiting participants for the community engagement studios. This individual also must be up-to-date on human subjects training.
Student learning outcomes & benefits
The student who will participate in this research program will have (1) Received introduction or continued education in community-based participatory research that involves Cancer-related research that involves African American and Black immigrant populations in the Greater Salt Lake City area; (2) Gained a greater understanding of population science, communication science research and research design; (3) Introduction or continued education in qualitative and quantitative theory and methodology for population-science research.
Mentoring philosophy and specific mentoring activities
In addition to the summer research program support, the student will receive feedback on individually assigned projects that will include but not limited to one-on-one meetings with the Principal Investigator. These meetings would occur every 2 weeks and are in addition to research team meetings. The PI would also invite the student to at least one Cancer Control Population meeting within Huntsman to observe and complete an objectives and goals plan at the beginning of the program to assess goals of the program and the successful completion of the summer research opportunity with the PI (Principal Investigator). It is the goal of the PI to provide an opportunity that is both intellectually stimulating but also a guided experience that includes mentoring from the PI but also other research team members and community members. The student will also walk away with (1) a completed writing research project and (2) experience that contributes to the development of communication risk strategies for African American and Black immigrant populations within the area and a greater understanding of public health communication research overall.
