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Cynthia is a doctoral student in the Global Health Metrics and Implementation Science program at the UW Department of Global Health, and a 2024 -2025 Top Scholar awardee. She holds a medical degree from Maseno University, Kenya and a Masters of Public Health from the UW, where she was a Fogarty scholar. Prior to pursuing graduate studies, Cynthia served as a senior medical officer and later as a clinical research scientist and study coordinator at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Her work focused on improving health outcomes for women and children in HIV-endemic regions, combining clinical care with research on HIV and STI prevention. She contributed to several studies, including pharmacy-based PrEP studies and a clinical trial evaluating a once-monthly oral PrEP pill (Islatravir). Cynthia\u2019s research interests lie at the intersection of reproductive health and HIV prevention, with a particular focus on developing and scaling up biomedical and behavioral interventions for young African women. She is passionate about leveraging technology and Implementation Science to close the gap between evidence and practice, ensuring timely and equitable access to HIV prevention strategies. Through the Global WACh Certificate Program, Cynthia aims to deepen her expertise in Implementation Science and strengthen her ability to advance health equity for women, adolescents, and children. She is also eager to expand her professional network and collaborate with peers committed to improving global health.<\/p>\n
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Roslyn is a first-year Master of Public Health (MPH) student in the Department of Global Health. She graduated magna cum laude in 2022 from California Polytechnic State University with a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology and Geography, with a concentration in International Development and a minor in Psychology. Her undergraduate research examined the relationship between climate change and socio-economic inequality in the Western Cape, South Africa, with a focus on how structures of power shape vulnerability to climate impacts. Through volunteer work and her graduate coursework, Roslyn\u2019s interests have shifted toward understanding the barriers and facilitators that refugee and immigrant communities face when navigating health care systems. While being a part of the Global WACh Certificate, she aims to strengthen her ability to bridge the gap between evidence-based interventions and locally grounded, context-specific approaches through qualitative research methods. She is especially interested in advancing health equity for women, children, and adolescents in diverse global settings and is excited to learn from and collaborate with mentors and professionals from around the world.<\/p>\n
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Jade Minzlaff is a Ph.D. student in the Bioengineering program at UW, jointly at the School of Medicine and the College of Engineering. She holds an honors Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering with a Chemistry minor from Oregon State University. Her undergraduate research in the Fu lab at OSU was focused on the design of low-cost field-use electrochemical sensors for epileptic drugs from saliva, as a rapid and less invasive alternative to high volume blood testing. Her ongoing doctoral research is a mechanistic study on the molecular mechanisms that link phosphate transport to vascular calcification and osteogenesis. After graduate school, she hopes to pursue a career in public health toxicology or risk assessment to prevent environmental exposures to toxins and to help create safer and more accessible pharmaceuticals. She is interested in the WaCH certificate to learn more about how history and international systems of power perpetuate social inequalities and shape health outcomes.<\/p>\n
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Abby is a first-year Master of Public Health (MPH) student in the Department of Global Health. She earned her B.A. in Public Health and International Relations from Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont, graduating summa cum laude in 2022. Her research interests encompass sexual and reproductive health and maternal and child health. She has conducted qualitative research in Pokhara, Nepal, focusing on the access to and quality of sexual and reproductive healthcare in urban settings. Through the Global WACh Certificate, Abby aims to strengthen her research skills and deepen her understanding of implementing evidence-based, community-led interventions that benefit women, adolescents, and children.<\/p>\n
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Brooklyn is a first-year MPH student in the Department of Global Health.<\/p>\n
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Yvette is a PhD student in the UW School of Nursing. She is a Latina of Mexican American and Puerto Rican descent from San Antonio, TX. She has a B.S. in Biology from Texas A&M University-San Antonio and a B.S. in Nursing Science from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. As a graduate student at the University of Washington, she has had the opportunity to assist with global health research in-person in Peru and remotely in Kenya and Argentina. Her research interests include infectious diseases, health disparities, adolescent health and adolescent health advocacy, and innovative digital health technologies. Her dissertation will focus on utilizing patient-centered health technologies to support adolescents and their mental health needs during tuberculosis treatment in Argentina.<\/p>\n
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Bineta is a first-year MPH student in the Department of Global Health.<\/p>\n
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Aymee Steidl, MSN, MA, RN, is a PhD candidate in Nursing Science at the University of Washington with eight years of clinical pediatric experience. Her research centers on dyadic (parent-child) -centered approaches to chronic condition management, examining how family functioning, empowerment, and psychosocial factors shape children\u2019s health engagement across development. Aymee holds graduate degrees in Nursing and Anthropology which have influences her interest in pediatric primary care globally. She is a T32 pre-doctoral fellow in Research in Global Health Nursing, an ARCs scholar, and a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Student Traineeship Award recipient. Her current collaboration on stress and psychosocial health among pregnant women living with HIV in western Kenya has underscored how maternal well-being directly influences child outcomes and how research can illuminate shared determinants in child development. The Global WACh Certificate provides a unique opportunity to enhance her global health competencies and expand her dissertation concepts through interdisciplinary training that supports the health of women, adolescents, and children.<\/p>\n
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Akane is a student in the Doctor of Global Health Leadership and Practice (DrGH). She has an MSc in Maternal and Infant Health and a BA in International Studies. She has over ten years of experience in midwifery practice, clinical capacity building, midwifery education, and health systems strengthening with a focus on maternal and newborn health, sexual and reproductive health, community-based health services, and management and leadership. Prior to beginning her DrGH, she implemented USAID-funding programming in Afghanistan focused on strengthening quality of care across the Afghan health system, primarily in targeted rural areas. Her experience includes midwifery practice and clinical direction at a midwifery-led center in southern Mexico, clinical direction at a direct-entry midwifery program in the USA, and working with community-based organizations in Mexico, Central America, and the USA. Akane is passionate about scaling community-based, right-sized, person-centered models of care and strengthening the connections between the components of health systems. Through the Global WACH certificate, she hopes to strengthen skills for project and program leadership, build professional networks, and continue to develop strategies for enabling the health and wellbeing of women, adolescents, children, newborns, and families.<\/p>\n
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Kirstin West is a doctoral student in Global Health Metrics and Implementation Science at the University of Washington and a recipient of the 2024-2025 Top Scholar award. She earned her B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.S. in Global Health from Duke University. Her work primarily centers on the intersection of maternal and child health, gender differences in substance use, and health systems. With a research background that includes both quantitative and qualitative methods, Kirstin\u2019s work has focused on improving the health of women and children in resource-limited settings. Her broader research portfolio also includes projects on opioid misuse among patients with sickle cell disease in Nigeria, the impacts of household cooking fuel and indoor air pollution on stillbirth in Ghana, illicit substance use among critically ill patients in the United States, and climate change and its link to infectious disease preparedness in Ghana. As a doctoral student, Kirstin intends to apply implementation science methods to address critical gaps between health policy and practice. She aims to promote gender-responsive, system-level changes in care delivery to reduce the harmful use of prescription and illicit substances. She is especially interested in how digital health tools can support the integration and fidelity of mental health policies and services into existing maternal health platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cynthia Auma Aluoch Cynthia is a doctoral student in the Global Health Metrics and Implementation Science program at the UW Department of Global Health, and a 2024 -2025 Top Scholar awardee. She holds a medical degree from Maseno University, Kenya and a Masters of Public Health from the UW, where she was a Fogarty scholar….<\/p>\n