We Have RI Students Joining Our Efforts
As a medical student, at Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University (’21), Marcus Karim worked as an HCV Patient Navigator at The Miriam Hospital Infectious Disease Clinic.
As a medical student at Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University (ScM'19 MD'19), Austin Tam volunteered for the 2016 Hep C WaterFire event and was honored as a Torchbearer during the opening ceremony. Austin also taught the 2016 Qualified Professional Testing Counselor annual certification course held at the Medical School, teaching best approaches to HCV testing. As part of the Primary Care Population Medicine master's program at Brown University, he served as a HCV Patient Navigator at The Miriam Hospital Infectious Diseases Clinic.
As a medical student at Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, where he pursued both his MD and MSc in Primary Care Population Medicine (’20), Andreas Lazaris Andreas worked as an HCV Patient Navigator at The Miriam Hospital Infectious Disease Clinic.
As a medical student at Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University (’19), Alexa Kanbergs worked with Dr. Taylor as an HCV Patient Navigator in The Miriam Hospital Infectious Diseases Clinic. Alexa served on the 2017 Hep C WaterFire Planning Committee.
As a master’s student in the department of Epidemiology at the Brown School of Public Health (’17), Ayorinde Soipe, MBBS worked with Brandon Marshall, PhD and Dr. Taylor in modeling the most effective HCV treatment and prevention policies that will lead to a substantial decrease, and eventual elimination, of chronic HCV infection in Rhode Island.
As a medical student at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University (’18), Aaron Shapiro worked with RID Hep C to improve patient care at our HCV Clinic co-located within CODAC Behavioral Healthcare in Providence, RI.
As a medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University (’19), Nari Sohn worked as a Hepatitis C Patient Navigator at The Miriam Hospital Infectious Disease Clinic. Nari participated in the 2015, 2016, and 2017 C is for Cure: a Waterfire Lighting for RI Defeats Hep C events.
As a medical student at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University (’17), Naomi Adjei was the lead medical student liaison for C is for Cure: A Waterfire Lighting for RI Defeats Hep C. Naomi helped to plan the event’s educational activities and organize student volunteers. Naomi participated in the 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 Hep C WaterFires. She completed a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Harvard in 2017.
As a Brown University undergraduate in the Program in Liberal Medical Education (’17,MD’21) concentrating in Public Health, Soumitri Barua worked with Dr. Taylor to determine state by state Medicaid reimbursement of sofosbuvir for the treatment of HCV. Results of this research were published June 2015 in Annals of Internal Medicine (see our RID Hep C reading list). Soumitri was the lead student liaison for the 2018 C is for Cure: A WaterFire Lighting for RI Defeats Hep C.
Now at the CDC, Aaron Kofman completed ID fellowship at Emory and Internal Medicine residency at the University of California, San Diego. As a medical student at the Alpert Medical of Brown University (’14), Aaron Kofman worked with Dr. Taylor for 3 years, helping to care for patients with HCV and HIV. Aaron’s HCV-related projects with RID Hep C included publishing on access to HCV treatment trials for patients with history of substance use; helping to develop an electronic medical screening for HCV in RI Baby Boomers; and profiling the work of ENCORE, Rhode Island's only Needle Exchange Program at AIDS Care Ocean State.
Ali Zaman worked with RID Hep C to help expand capacity for HCV treatment for opiate-dependent patients.
Burke Gao worked with Omar Galarraga, PhD and RID Hep C to model the costs of HCV treatment for RI's HCV population, and compared those investments with the resources saved from avoiding HCV-related complications.
Lizzy Kinnard worked with Brandon Marshall, PhD, and Dr. Taylor to estimate the true prevalence of HCV in RI. This research was published in Rhode Island Medical Journal's special July 2014 edition on HCV.
As a University of Rhode Island fifth year student in the Doctorate of Pharmacy program, Alyssa Falleni joined RI Defeats Hep C to help coordinate the public education component of the 2019 C is for Cure: A WaterFire Lighting for RI Defeats Hep C. She brought URI College of Pharmacy students into the event and hepatitis C elimination efforts.
