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Kristen's Final Presentation:
Ana's Final Presentation:
Thomas' Final Presentation:
Mardieh's Final Presentation:
Sunita's Final Presentation:
Jessica's Final Presentation:
Dara's Final Presentation:  Jeffrey Lawi
(University of Pennsylvania, College of Arts and Sciences, Class of 2008, Majors: Economics)
- After interning at the Hawaii Health Information Corporation and volunteering at a free health clinic, Jeff developed a passion for addressing health inequality. He became acutely aware of the diversity of people and the health needs of both individuals and populations. A student of economics, Jeff hopes to pursue a career in dental medicine while devoting time to analyze the rapidly changing landscape of health care, specifically in terms of its social component and increasing access. His SUMR projects included an investigation of the determinants of child safety seat usage in Mississippi under mentors LDI Senior Fellows Tanguy Brachet, Ph.D., and Guy David, Ph.D., as well as a comparison of the cost of obesity domestically and abroad under the guidance of LDI Senior Fellow Henry Glick, Ph.D.
Jeffrey's Final Presentation:
Derek's Final Presentation:  Victoria Perez
(University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2008, Major: Economics, Political Science) - Victoria began her research in the healthcare field as a research assistant to Julia Lynch, Ph.D. She began researching perceived inequalities in the Spanish healthcare system. Currently, she works with Professor Lynch and LDI Senior Fellow, Annice Kim, Ph.D., MPH., on a project relating to elite attention to healthcare disparities. As a SUMR scholar, Victoria worked with LDI Senior Fellow Guy David, Ph.D., on "The Effect of Ownership Mix on utilization and Scope of Service: Market Dynamics of Addiction treatment Centers in the U.S.” Victoria's future plans are to attend graduate school.Victoria's Final Presentation: IE | Firefox
Charles' Final Presentation:  Stephanie A. Tan-Torres
(Brown University, Class of 2008, Major: Anthropology and English)
- This summer, Stephanie worked with LDI Senior Fellow Therese Richmond, Ph.D., FAAN, CRNP on the "Living Healthy in Philadelphia" project through the Philadelphia Collaborative Violence Prevention Center. She helped create an organizational assessment to identify possible intervention sites in the West and Southwest Philadelphia communities for youth violence prevention programs. On that project Stephanie collaborated with fellow SUMR scholars Ana Chireno, Kim Franklin, Kristen Buxton and Shani Taylor. With LDI Senior Fellow Arnold Rosoff, J.D, Stephanie worked on his book on universal healthcare. Stephanie is interested in healthcare as it pertains to improving the quality of life within developing communities. As a student of anthropology, she has conducted ethnographic work in places such as New Orleans and Philadelphia, studying the social, economic, and political issues that characterize these dynamic areas.
Group project with Ana Chireno, Kristen Buxton, Kristen Buxton and Shani Taylor: IE | Firefox.  Shani C. Taylor
(Duke University, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Class of 2008, Major: Psychology, minor African & African American Studies) - Shani's interest in medicine is augmented by her interest in health care disparities and the social determinants, among other factors, that are at work in perpetuating such differences and inequalities. She recently wrote a research paper examining the longitudinal outcomes of low birth weight infants among black women. This summer, Shani worked on two projects. With LDI Senior Fellow Therese Richmond, Ph.D., FAAN, CRNP, Shani worked on a project entitled "Living Healthy in Philadelphia," a collaborative intervention project aimed at reducing injury in the youth population throughout West and Southwest Philadelphia. On that project Shani collaborated with fellow SUMR scholars Ana Chireno, Kristen Buxton, Stephanie Tan-Torres and Kristen Buxton. With RWJ Health & Society Scholar Annice Kim, Ph.D., Shani worked on "The Coverage and Framing of Health Disparities in the Public Discourse." Shani's career goals include going to medical school to obtain an MD/MPH, continuing research on health disparities and to eventually apply her knowledge and expertise to affect health policy and community outreach with the hopes of reducing and possibly eliminating health disparities. Shani's Final Presentation: About SUMR | Application | Past Scholars | SUMR Sponsors | PhD Program | Links | Contact Us | Home |
Kristen D. Buxton
(Xavier University of Louisiana, Class of 2008,
Majors: Biology/Pre-Med) - Kristen is passionate about preventative medicine, especially nutrition, and believes that if the healthcare system focused more on the prevention of diseases, then long-term quality of life would be much improved. This summer Kristen worked with LDI Senior Fellow 
Ana M. Chireno (State University of New York at Stony Brook, Class of 2008, Major: Sociology and Philosophy, Minor: International Studies). Ana is interested in the socioeconomic determinants of health and how disparaging health outcomes concentrated in segments of the population both propagate and sustain apparent inequality. While studying at St.
Anthony's at Oxford University, she became interested in the intersection of social policy and global health. The SUMR experience has given her the intellectual space to integrate both her passions.
Ana worked with LDI Senior Fellow 
Thomas Crowder (University of California at Berkeley, Class of 2008, Major: Sociology, Minor: City and Regional Planning) - Thomas’ career goal is to discover and implement cost effective initiatives and financial incentives that significantly reduce health disparities. His educational goals are to research the social, economic, and environmental determinants of major medical disorders in economically depressed communities. He ultimately plans to employ his research to influence efficacious health policy development and decisions at the municipal, state, and federal levels. California Children Services in San Francisco awarded Thomas an internship to conduct case management research. He participated in research investigating the medical conditions of chronically ill children from low income families statewide to determine the most effective treatment and services. Thomas assisted in researching and analyzing a wide array of treatments and services including hospital, doctor, and clinical services, as well as diagnostic tests, various therapies, and medical equipment. Thomas aspires to create greater national awareness of major health threats that affect all citizens and encourage a social triumvirate between citizens, researchers, and health care professionals to find practical solutions to ensure that the highest quality health care that can be enjoyed by everyone equally. This summer, Thomas worked with LDI Senior Fellow 
Mardieh Dennis (University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2009, College of Arts and Sciences,
Major: Health & Societies, Concentration in International Health) - Mardieh is very interested in the study of health disparities through examination of the social, environmental, and economic determinants of health. She hopes to embark on a career path that will allow her to help improve the quality of healthcare in impoverished nations. Mardieh worked on two projects this summer, providing her with experience in different types of health services research. She studied racial disparities in the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia with her mentor, RWJ Clinical Scholar 
Sunita M. Desai
(University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2009, Major:
Economics, Minor: Math) - Sunita is interested in the US health care system 
Kimberly L. Franklin (University of Pennsylvania, College of Arts and Sciences, Class of 2008, Major: Health & Societies, Concentration: Health Policy, Minor: Africana Studies) - Kim is interested in health care policy. Specifically, she wants to develop programs and devise methods to combat the expanding health disparities that affect the African American community. In the summer of 2006 she helped design a fitness program for adolescents to help battle the obesity epidemic, which heavily impacts the African American community. Focusing on creating programs targeted at today’s youths, Kim hopes to conduct interdisciplinary research to explore the stressors of violence among youths at the Philadelphia Collaborative Violence Prevention Center. After graduation Kim plans to pursue a master’s degree in public health. This summer, Kimberly worked with LDI Senior Fellow 
Jessica Y. Ho (University of Pennsylvania, Class
of 2009, Majors: Economics and Health & Societies)
- Jessica has had a longtime interest in infectious diseases and global health disparities. She currently hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in demography. This summer Jessica's mentor was LDI Senior Fellow 
Dara D. Holder (University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2008, Majors: Biochemistry, Health & Societies)
- Dara's mentor was LDI Senior Fellow 
Sudha Meghan (University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2010,
Major: Life Sciences & Management Program, Concentrations in Neuroscience and Health Care Management) - Sudha's research project for the summer was with her mentor, LDI Senior Fellow 
Derek A. Ornelas (University of Notre Dame, Class of 2008, Majors: Science Pre-professional and Spanish) - Derek first took an interest in health policy and health services research during his time volunteering at hospitals and homeless shelters near the University of Notre Dame. It gave him an opportunity to see the need to address the health issues of the underserved in the U.S. This summer, Derek worked with mentors LDI Senior Fellows 
Charles A. Robinson
(University of Pennsylvania, College of Arts and Sciences Class of 2008, Majors: English with Pre-Med intent) - This summer, Charles explored the fields of health care management and economics, focusing on the supply side of the health care system. He worked with LDI Senior Fellow