MEET THE NEW RESEARCH ASSISTANTS JOINING THE START CENTER THIS WINTER

The Strategic Analysis, Research, & Training (START) Center is thrilled to introduce the two newest team members joining our Center this winter. The team includes one MPH student in Epidemiology, and one MPH Student in Global Health. Learn more about each of these impressive new team members below.

FATIMA AL-SHIMARI

Fatima Al-Shimari is a first-year MPH student in the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington. She received her undergraduate degrees in Biology (BS) and Chemistry (BA) from the University of Washington. Fatima loves engaging with all things related to research and innovation. During her undergraduate studies, she led various projects in collaboration with the University of Washington and the Seattle Children’s Hospital. After completing her undergraduate studies, she worked as a researcher with the World Health Organization and other local and international NGOs and a few med-tech start-up companies abroad. She also helped plan and facilitate multiple international maternal and child health conferences, including the 2018 AMCHP Conference and the 2019 SAHM conference. Through the START Center, she hopes to apply her data analysis skills to better public health outcomes. Her research interests include maternal and child health, infectious diseases, social determinants of health, and Global Fund projects.

SAMANTHA LEDUC

Samantha LeDuc is a second-year MPH Epidemiology candidate in the Maternal and Child Health track at the University of Washington. Sam earned her B.S. in Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Washington. After completing her undergraduate education, Sam worked at UWMC in microbiology before moving to DC. Once there, Sam worked at the National Institutes of Health where she focused on analysis and reporting of the NIH’s reproductive health, women’s health, and pediatric portfolios. Most recently, Sam worked as a Summer Associate at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she focused on routine immunization services in select polio high-risk subnational areas. Sam’s primary research interests lie in reproductive health, specifically on genetic determinants of health, vaccine safety and delivery, and sexually transmitted infections.