Student Success
Dr. Laing has mentored many students at University of Washington Tacoma, University of Washington Seattle and other academic institutions. During the mentorship process, the students have proceeded to present and publish research findings in the domain of technology and health promotion among disadvantaged communities.
2022 - 2023
Announcements
2021-2022 Student research assistant Bao Nguyen presents her findings from the UWT
Strategic Funded Initiative at the Washington State Public Health Association in Wenatchee, WA, and the American Public Health Association meeting in Boston, MA.
I am pleased to announce that Ms. Bao Nguyen presented her research titled “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health of the Vietnamese Community in the US” at the 29th annual meeting of the Washington State Public Health Association in Wenatchee on October 12, and the 150th annual American Public Health Association meeting in Boston, MA on November 9, 2022. This work is part of the support received addressing Supporting BIPOC Students Success in Research. Congrats on your very hard work, Bao; very well done!
Bao Nguyen delivering her poster presentation at the 29th annual meeting of the Washington State Public Health Association, in Wenatchee, WA on October 12, 2022.
Bao Nguyen presented her research at the 29th annual meeting of the Washington State Public Health Association in Wenatchee, WA, October 12, 2022.
Bao Nguyen presented her research at the 150th annual American Public Health Association meeting in Boston, MA on November 9, 2022.
2019 – 2020 Student Research Assistant, Lucas Bjorkheim (BS ’21) has begun a 2-year research initiative with the Department of Surgery at UW School of Medicine.
Lucas Bjorkheim joins the Mulligan Lab in the Department of Surgery at UW School of Medicine. He will assist the team on an NIH-funded medical research addressing lung transplant surgery with a focus on rejection and lung ischemia reperfusion injury in surgery. Lucas plans to pursue neurosurgery in medical school at the end of his tenure.
Lucas engaged in voluntary work at a regional medical facility in Washington.
2019-2020 New publications from 2019-2020 student research team.
I am pleased to announce that undergraduate research student assistants, Anna Howard (BAHCL ’20), Lucas Bjorkheim (BS ’21) and Jamie Root (BS ’21 [student research assistants in 2020] successfully published research findings from work done in my lab in the Journal of Young Investigators. As the lead author, Anna successfully negotiated the publication of the paper after two years of COVID interruptions while also navigating her graduate studies in Epidemiology at UW School of Public Health. Congrats Anna and team! The title of the paper is Assessing the Healthcare Needs of Transgender and Non-Transgender Communities Accessing Care in Safety-Net Clinics in Washington State and Washington, DC.
2021 - 2022
Announcements
Bao Nguyen is scheduled to present at the 150th Annual Meeting of the American Public
Health Association (Boston, MA) and the 29th Annual Meeting of the Washington
State Public Health Association (Wenatchee, WA) in November and October, 2022
Student Research Assistant, Bao Nguyen, will be presenting her research that evaluates COVID-19 recovery for BIPOC communities at two very prestigious venues this fall, the annual meetings of the American Public Health Association and Washington State Public Health Association.
Project Title: Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of the AAPI Community
Bao Nguyen (BAHCL ’22)
I am very pleased to announce that Ms. Bao Nguyen received notification that her abstracts were accepted to be presented at two conferences this fall, the American Public Health Association meeting in Boston, MA, and the Washington State Public Health Association meeting in Wenatchee, Washington. Bao worked with me and two additional student research assistants over the past 14 months on a funded project designed to understand the social, economic, and environmental impacts of COVID-19 on BIPOC communities. The title of Bao’s presentation is The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mental Health of the Vietnamese Community in the US. Bao plans to enroll in medical school post the baccalaureate degree, pursuing the specialization, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Congrats, Bao! I am very proud of you!
Student Research Assistant, Jackie Madhava, Healthcare Leadership Senior, Awarded a
Prestigious Mary Gates Research Scholarship
Jackie Madhava (Senior)
Major: Healthcare Leadership
Project Title: An Assessment of How the COVID-19 Pandemic Worsened Social Determinants of Health Factors for an African Community in King County, Washington
I am proud to announce that Ms. Jackie Madhava was recently named a 2021-2022 Mary Gates Research Scholar. The MGRS is a competitive award mechanism that provides undergraduate students with funding to focus on research initiatives under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Jackie is planning on pursuing a Master of Public Health degree with an emphasis on Global Health. Congrats, Jackie, very well done!
Jackie Madhava Delivers Presentation at the 2022 Institute for Innovation and Global Engagement Symposium
Jackie Madhava Presented Her Research at the 25th Annual UW Undergraduate Research Symposium in Seattle (online) on May 20 and at the 2022 Institute for Innovation and Global Engagement Symposium (in person) in Tacoma WA on May 25.
Jackie Madhava delivering her presentation as part of a panel session on “Health and Human Rights” at the 2022 Institute for Innovation and Global Engagement symposium in Tacoma, May 25, 2022.
2021 - 2022 Student Research Assistants
Bao Nguyen, Healthcare Leadership, "Achieving Mental Health Equity Among AAPIs"
Jackie Madhava, Healthcare Leadership, "An Assessment of How the COVID-19 Pandemic Worsened Social Determinants of Health Factors for the African Community in King County Washington"
Israel Davis, Healthcare Leadership, "Exploring Recovery for the African American Community Post COVID-19"
2020 – 2021
Announcements
“Dr. Laing received UWT Strategic Initiative Funding to engage four BIPOC students in community-level research that address COVID-19 recovery in communities of color. The four students, Israel Davis, Reet Jhajj, Jackie Madhava and Bao Nguyen are engaged in community-based research activities with their respective communities, Indian, Vietnamese, African and African American.
2020-2021 Student Research Assistants
Israel Davis, Healthcare Leadership, “Exploring Recovery for African American Communities Post the COVID-19 Pandemic”
Reet Jhajj, Biomedical Sciences, “Exploring Recovery for Indian Communities Post the COVID-19 Pandemic”
Jackie Madhava, Healthcare Leadership, “Exploring Recovery for African Communities Post the COVID-19 Pandemic”
Bao Nguyen, Healthcare Leadership, “Exploring Recovery for Vietnamese Communities Post the COVID-19 Pandemic”
2019 – 2020
Announcements
Congratulations, Dr. Felstad!
I would like to congratulate Dr. Veronica Felstad on obtaining her PsyD degree from Antioch University Seattle; she participated in the virtual hooding on Sunday, June 14, 2020. The title of Veronica’s dissertation was Cultural Differences, Social Support, and Therapy Outcomes: A Comparative Study Between Individualist and Collectivist Cultures. She plans to apply her clinical psychology degree in her work with youth.
Veronica was an undergraduate student researcher with me and presented project findings at the National Conference of Undergraduate Research meeting in Lexington, Kentucky in 2014 (see photos above). I am very proud of your achievements, Veronica! Congrats!!
UW Tacoma Junior and Senior Students Awarded the Population Health Initiative Recognition Award from the UW Undergraduate Research Program, May 2020
I am pleased to announce that Lucas Bjorkheim (Junior) and Yusra Iftakhar (Senior) were awarded the Population Health Initiative Recognition Award by the UW Undergraduate Research Program for their work addressing physical activity and healthy eating among residents of rural communities. In the award letter, it was noted that the panel of judges felt that each of their submitted applications “distinguished itself from the more than 75 submissions received.” Lucas and Yusra are two among 10 students from the UW to have received this honor in 2020. I am exceedingly proud of your accomplishments, guys! After graduation, Lucas wishes to pursue a medical science degree and Yusra wishes to pursue graduate studies in Public Health – congratulations on this great work guys!
Yusra Iftakhar (Senior)
Major: Healthcare Leadership
Project Title: Perceived Barriers to Healthy
Eating among Rural Communities
Lucas I. Bjorkheim (Junior)
Major: Biomedical Sciences
Project Title: What stands in the way of physical activity?
UW Tacoma School of Nursing and Healthcare Leadership Seniors Awarded Prestigious Mary Gates Research Scholarship
Myai Nguyen
Anna L. Howard
Myai Nguyen and Anna Howard are UWT seniors, they are majoring in Healthcare Leadership, and they were recently named 2019-2020 Mary Gates Research Scholars. Myai and Anna are among a select number of undergraduate students across all three UW campuses voted by a committee of faculty and students to receive up to $5,000 in scholarship support. The Mary Gates Research Scholarships were established to provide undergraduate students with funding to focus on research projects with oversight and guidance provided by a faculty mentor. Myai and Anna will use the scholarships to pursue a Master of Public Health degree with a focus in Global Health and Epidemiology respectively. I am very proud of the accomplishments of Anna and Myai!
UW Tacoma Healthcare Leadership Students are Featured in the 2020 American Congress of Healthcare Executives Meeting Program
I am very excited to post that my undergraduate research assistants from 2019, Peter Wangigi and Jason Muncy are featured in this year’s Congress on Healthcare Leadership - American Congress of Healthcare Executives meeting program, showing their presentation at the 2019 meeting! See photo below and see link to program page (page 35/37),
(ACHE-Congress-2020-Brochure)
This year’s meeting in Chicago is canceled due to our nation and global-level efforts to fight the covid-19. We are very proud of the work Peter and Jason did last year at the meeting.
2019 – 2020 Student Research Assistants
The following UWT undergraduate students are currently working on research projects:
Lucas Bjorkheim, Biomedical Sciences
Title: What Stands in the Way of Physical Activity?
Anna L. Howard, Healthcare Leadership
Title: Improving Healthcare Delivery for Marginalized Patients in Safety-Net Clinics
Yusra Iftakhar, Healthcare Leadership
Title: Perceived Barriers to Healthy Eating in Rural Communities
Myai Nguyen, Healthcare Leadership
Title: Exploring Access to Care for Low-Income Communities
Jamie Root, Healthcare Leadership
Title: Analysis of Healthcare Experiences of Safety-Net Patients in Washington DC
2018 – 2019
Announcements
Healthcare Leadership Students Present at the 62nd Congress of Healthcare Leadership Meeting in Chicago, March 2019
Peter Wangigi and Jason Muncy presented their research titled “Safety-Net Patients Use Mobile Devices for Healthcare Management and Clinicians See Value of Digital Technology to Improve Healthcare Outcomes: Patient Provider Findings” at the 62nd Congress on Healthcare Leadership in Chicago, Illinois, in March 2019
Jason Muncy, Sharon Laing, and Peter Wangigi at the 2019 American Congress of Healthcare Executives meeting in Chicago, March 2019.
Healthcare Leadership Students Present Research at the 22 nd Annual UW Undergraduate
Research Symposium in Seattle, WA, May 2019
Peter Wangigi and Jason Muncy presented their research at the 22nd Annual UW Undergraduate Research Symposium in Seattle, WA, May 2019
Peter Wangigi and Jason Muncy standing with their posters at the 22nd Annual UW Undergraduate Research Symposium in Seattle, WA, May 2019
2018 – 2019 Student Research Assistants
The following students worked on projects and presented research during the 2018 – 2019 academic year
Peter Wangigi, (BAHCL, ’19) Healthcare Leadership
Title: Digital Healthcare Technologies and Access to Care for Diverse Underserved Communities
Jason Muncy, (BAHCL, ’19) Healthcare Leadership
Title: Healthcare Providers’ Perceptions of Utility of Digital Healthcare Management Tools