Madison (Maddie) and Erin will be implementing ONE HEALTHy Community project and will partner with multiple secondary schools in Westmoreland County. Maddie and Erin will teach students about the connection between environmental health, human health, and animal health with support from One Health lesson plans. With Westmoreland County residents’ relatively high risk of exposure to Read More >>
Current Fellows
Katherine Du 2024-2025
Katherine will work with the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children to implement Mindful Exchanges. Her project will bring mental wellness education to vision-impaired youth. The goal of the project is to design and deliver mental health sessions for youth with unique needs, especially those who may be able to access mainstream resources or learn Read More >>
Puja Dutta 2024-2025
Puja Dutta will be working with South Hills Interfaith Ministry on her project Working with Wellness. The goal of Puja’s project is to educate children of refugee and immigrant families on nutrition and mindful movement while empowering them to integrate what they learn into their daily lives. Through interactive workshops, children will learn more about Read More >>
Joesph Engelmeier 2024-2025
Joseph (Joey) will work to develop a sustainable project for distributing DIY air purifier kits while improving environmental health literacy in historically underserved communities. Based on designs suggested by the EPA, these DIY kits will be roughly 1/3 the cost of most indoor air purifiers, and they will be far less expensive to maintain. If Read More >>
Sierra Johnson & Tierney Lyons 2024-2025
Sierra and Tierney will continue to implement HEAR-UP (Hearing Education and Resources for Underserved Populations). This project, in its 7th year, will continue to provide free audiological services to patients who cannot afford it or access it elsewhere. Sierra and Tierney will continue to provide hearing services, including hearing tests and hearing aid fittings, to Read More >>
Sydney Lewis 2024-2025
Sydney will be implementing Dance It Out at the Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania. Her project will address health disparities among underserved children in Pittsburgh by providing them with access to a wellness program centered around various styles of dance. Through dance, Sydney will foster community inclusion through self-expression, goal-setting strategies, and developing Read More >>
Madhumita Manesh 2024-2025
Madhumita (Madhu) will be working with Pittsburgh Public Elementary Schools to positively impact the social-emotional learning (SEL) capacities of youth with marginalized identities including BIPOC and LGBTQIA+. The project will include small group sessions with students, and the sessions will focus on topics including increasing emotional regulation capabilities, coping development strategies, social problem-solving, and increasing Read More >>
Carla Medina Gil 2024-2025
Carla will be implementing Empowerment of Health Literacy at the Birmingham Free Clinic. The goal of her project is to increase health literacy for Spanish- and English-speaking children on the management and pathophysiology of childhood asthma and diabetes. Carla will reach the children’s pharmacy books as well as record and publish the readings for free Read More >>
Saania Mehrin 2024-2025
Saania will be continuing the project Managing Oral Health in Special Needs Populations at Achieva, which empowers and supports people with disabilities and their families throughout their lives. People with disabilities are at higher risk for developing oral diseases. With that in mind, Saania will continue to educate families and caregivers on the importance of Read More >>
Brittany Nelson 2024-2025
Brittany will be continuing Breaking Down Breast Cancer, now in its 4th year, at Primary Care Health Services. She will educate women on breast cancer screening guidelines, what to do if you find a lump, hereditary breast cancer resources, and survey screening tools. Brittany will also continue to provide cervical cancer education, including how to Read More >>
Mira Patel & Kristen Shen 2024-2025
Mira and Kristen will continue Operation Healthy Smiles, now in its 2nd year at HEARTH. The project will continue to serve underserved children across the Pittsburgh region by focusing on enhancing oral health care and understanding the impact of nutrition and diet on dental health. Their project will continue to tailor resources and personalized plans Read More >>
Gabriel Quinteros 2024-2025
Gabriel will work with the Latino population in Pittsburgh to provide mental health support through outdoor activities and physical activity. He plans to work in conjunction with Casa San Jose. His project will weave in a realistic framework of mental health practices that encourage participants to identify how their participation is helping their mental health. Read More >>
Anya Singh-Varma 2024-2025
Anya will work with the Jewish Family Community Services to continue WomEmpowerment, now in its 2nd year. The project will continue to serve Afghani refugee women. Anya will continue to hold classes that discuss various health topics ranging from nutrition to women’s health to exercise. She will also empower them to obtain access to healthcare Read More >>
Pooja Tallapaneni 2024-2025
Pooja is continuing Good Mood Foods. The project will focus on empowering underserved communities through increasing health literacy surrounding nutrition, providing access to healthy foods, and iterative feasibility testing of personalized behavioral health solutions to improve mental and physical health. Through interactive food demonstrations, nutrition information sessions, and one one-on-one SMART goal setting at a Read More >>
Aishwarrya Arivudainambi 2023-2024
Aishawarrya’s project, Science Fair Initiative (SciFI) will provide early introduction to scientific research to students from communities that are underrepresented in STEM through science fair projects. She will use project-based learning techniques to make research more accessible to students at a young age. The goal of SciFI is to increase the likelihood that the participating students Read More >>
Nia Buckner 2023-2024
Nia will be continuing Breaking Down Breast Cancer now in its 3rd year. Previously at Birmingham Free Clinic, Nia will work to expand and transition care to other clinics throughout the Pittsburgh area while providing follow-up to patients at Birmingham Free Clinic. The goal of her project will remain the same, which is to educate Read More >>
Ann Cheetham 2023-2024
Ann’s project, Looking Forward Legally, will help prepare chronically ill teens and teens with disabilities for their futures as adults. She will provide legal education on some of the decisions made in ordinary adult life. Through Ann’s project she hopes to educate the teens that informed legal decisions may improve financial stability, and that financial Read More >>
Molly Good 2023-2024
Molly Good will be continuing the Healthy Roots project at Life-Way Pregnancy Center. Her project supports moms through weekly classes that focus on life skills, including physical, emotional, relational, and mental health. Classes are semi-structured allowing for discussion and collaboration between Molly and the women that attend. The goal of the project is to help moms Read More >>
Sindhu Gopalaswamy 2023-2024
Sindhu’s project will focus on the dental management of participants with special needs and their caregivers. She will hold sessions to discuss the practice of preventive oral health care and the different ways to maintain good oral health for her participants. Sindhu plans to review and have her participants and caregivers practice brushing and flossing Read More >>
Peyton Groves 2023-2024
Peyton will be implementing the Caregiver Connect Project along with UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and HopeGrows. She will address the mental health needs of caregivers of medically complex children through implementation of a peer-to-peer support group, educational and wellness workshops, and in-patient social activities. The goal of Peyton’s project is to increase the support Read More >>
Shobena Jeevan Jeevan Sethu 2023-2024
Shobena’s project, Operation Healthy Smiles, is designed to serve underserved children throughout the Pittsburgh region. Her project will address oral health care needs and the influence of nutrition and diet on dental health. Shobena will provide resources and individualize plans that address the needs of each child. She will work to improve dental hygiene and Read More >>
Alyssa Khieu 2023-2024
Alyssa’s project is Improving Health Literacy and Access in Incarcerated Populations, which will focus on providing information to currently or recently incarcerated individuals about common health conditions and how to access healthcare resources after they are out of incarceration. This will be done through communicating with currently or recently incarcerated individuals about what they want to know, Read More >>
Tonianne Larson and Monica Moscoso 2023-2024
Tonianne and Monica continue to implement HEAR-UP (Hearing Education and Resources for Underserved Populations) – now in its 6th year. This project provides hearing services to patients at the Birmingham Free Clinic, Squirrel Hill Health Center (SHHC), and Catholic Charities. The health issue being addressed through their project is hearing loss. At these locations Tonianne Read More >>
Ektha Parchuri and Sohan Rao 2023-2024
Ektha and Sohan plan to work with incarcerated or recently incarcerated individuals to address chronic health conditions and the barriers that they face. Their project will incorporate focus groups, interviews, and interactive activities to help overcome environmental disparities, critical health barriers, and access to care. Through these sessions, Ektha and Sohan hope to develop interventions Read More >>