Lola Arakaki

Lola Arakaki is a PhD student in Epidemiology at the University of Washington. She holds a MPH in Epidemiology from Columbia University. Lola has experience working on meningococcal disease surveillance studies as a Health Research Training Program intern in the Bureau of Communicable Disease at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH). After receiving her MPH, she transitioned to NYC DOHMH’s Bureau of HIV/AIDS as an evaluation specialist. Her portfolio included monitoring and evaluating programs that linked low-income HIV-infected individuals to care and social services. Lola was also an Institute of Translational Health Sciences TL1 trainee. Lola's research interests include influenza, HIV/AIDS, vaccines, and infectious disease epidemiology. Her dissertation focused on influenza vaccine effectiveness.

Lola had this to say about her time with START, “my time with START was wonderful! I was impressed with how much START invests in training and supporting their research assistants. I learned so much about project management, client interactions, and work in the global health space. The work was incredibly fulfilling, and I loved the community and relationships fostered at START.”

Specific Skills: data analysis, program monitoring and evaluation, literature review