MEET THE NEW RESEARCH ASSISTANTS AND GLOBAL INNOVATION FELLOWS JOINING THE START CENTER THIS FALL

The Strategic Analysis, Research, & Training (START) Center is thrilled to introduce the eight newest team members joining our Center this fall. The team includes one MSIS student from the Foster School of Business, one MPA student from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, one MS and two PhD students in Epidemiology, two MPH Students in Global Health, and one PhD student in Implementation Science. Learn more about each of these impressive new team members below.

INCOMING GLOBAL INNOVATION FELLOWS

Sydney Garfinkel

Sydney Garfinkel is a second year Master of Public Administration student at the Evans School. Prior to her graduate studies, Sydney worked at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a United States federal foreign aid agency. At MCC, Sydney built and implemented the monitoring and evaluation framework for a joint MCC-PEPFAR data capacity and health systems strengthening project in Cote d’Ivoire and Tanzania. Last year, Sydney was an intern at PATH where she translated data and evidence into policy recommendations for a maternal, newborn, and child health nutrition project. Most recently, she was an RA in the Department of Global Health on a neglected tropical disease project with the Global WACh team. Sydney is motivated by working with global health organizations and stakeholders in low- and middle-income countries, and translating data and evidence in to actionable, locally-driven policy, messaging and impact. Post MPA, Sydney intends to pursue a career focused on the intersection of policy, business and international development. She holds a BA double major in International Studies and French and a minor in Global Health from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Jean Francois (JF) Seide, MPP

Jean Francois (JF) Seide is a Masters student in Information Systems at the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington. He received a Master of Public Policy from the University of Oxford, in England, and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, with a focus in Operations and Technology Management from the University of Portland, Oregon. After his studies in Oxford, JF went back to Haiti, where is from, to start his own management and IT consulting firm to help businesses and institutions leverage the power of technology to institute socio-economic change. His work focuses on implementing financial technology projects to increase and improve financial inclusion in Haiti. He is looking forward to joining like-minded individuals at the START Center to continue his work.

 

INCOMING RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

Ifunanye Jacinta Azie

Ifunanye Jacinta Azie is a first-year MPH student in the department of Global Health at the University of Washington. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Public Health Technology from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, Nigeria. Ifunanye describes herself as a passionate advocate for adolescent and women’s sexual and reproductive health, and girl’s education. Most recently she worked with Strong Enough Girls Empowerment Initiative (SEGEI) – an international non-profit organization that empowers adolescent girls and young women through education (formal & informal), mentorship, and life skills development as a program coordinator where she oversaw the mentorship arm of the non-profit. Through the START Center, she hopes to apply her research and analytical skills to push for better policies that impact positively on the lives of girls and women. Her research interests include sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young women, gender equality, HIV/AIDS and health policy.

Justy Antony Chiramal, MBBS, MD, DTMH

Justy Antony Chiramal is an MS student in Epidemiology at the University of Washington. She received her MBBS and MD in Internal Medicine from the Christian Medical College, Vellore in India, and her Tropical Medicine training from the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru and the Mahidol University, Thailand. She has worked as a clinician at charitable hospitals in Southern India, as part of epidemiology work in Bangalore, in tobacco cessation activities, and led an outbreak investigation of hospital acquired infection. Prior to joining START, she worked as a clinical consultant and data scientist in developing algorithms that could screen chest X-rays for Tuberculosis. Most recently, she worked as a clinical consultant and data scientist in developing algorithms for COVID-19 which was deployed at 70+ sites across the world. Her research interests include infectious disease epidemiology including surveillance and exploring the interface of data analysis and medicine.

Erin Ingle

Erin Ingle is a first year MPH student in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Denver with a degree in International Relations and Economics. As an undergraduate, Erin studied in Amman, Jordan where she completed research on refugees, health, and humanitarian aid. After graduating, Erin served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania where she worked on community based health and income generating projects with her community. She has additional experience working for grassroots nonprofits and the federal government. Her research interests encompass a variety of topics in global health including sexual and reproductive health, population studies, and social determinants of health. Erin is eager to live in the Pacific Northwest and sees her position at the START Center as an opportunity to continue channeling her passion for global health into tangible change through research.

Camerin Rencken, ScM

Camerin (Cami) Rencken (she/her) is an Epidemiology PhD student at the University of Washington. Cami received her ScM in Global Public Health from Brown University and her BS in Global Disease Biology from the University of California, Davis. While in school, Cami lived in Durban, South Africa working as a part of an injury research group identifying barriers to continuation of care for burn survivors. Additionally, she led a team exploring the role of peer support on ART adherence amongst adolescents living with HIV in Cape Town. Before joining START, she worked at Shriners Hospitals for Children – Boston developing computer-based instruments to measure the long-term biopsychosocial outcomes in children after injuries. Her research interests include global injury and violence prevention, using epidemiologic data to inform public health policy and practice, and improving access to healthcare through evidence–based interventions with a particular focus on LMICs.

Priyanka Shrestha, MSc

Priyanka is a PhD student in Implementation Science at the University of Washington Department of Global Health. She has an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh, and an MSc degree in Control of Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). After her master’s degree, she assisted in multiple projects at the International Diagnostics Centre at LSHTM, researching diagnostics quality and policy importance for public health emergencies, one health, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Besides research, she has also served in project management and capacity building roles at the World Health Organization to advance social innovations in health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Most recently, she engaged with a global health consultancy to employ interdisciplinary research and community-based participatory methods for vector borne disease projects. Her research interests include community-based health research, health system inequities, health innovations, and implementation science.

Gregory Zane, MPH

Gregory Zane is a PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Washington. He received a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology at the University of Washington, and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from The Ohio State University. Previously, he conducted microbial ecology research at Ohio State, pediatric emergency medicine research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and public health evaluation work in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Gregory most recently served as the lead Outbreak Systems Epidemiologist and WA Notify Epidemiologist for the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 response. Through these roles, he provided epidemiologic support for centralized case investigation and contact tracing (CI/CT) processes, as well as expanding the implementation and evaluation of the Bluetooth Exposure Notification tool, WA Notify. His research interests include HIV and STI prevention, point-of-care testing, disease surveillance, and outbreak coordination.