FCHIP's 2021 Student Blog
During summer 2021, four Northwestern medical and undergraduate students worked with PI Craig Garfield, founder of the Family and Child Health Innovations Program (FCHIP), to further efforts within family health research. In this inaugural FCHIP student blog, students Angela Zedak, Liam Warner-Shifflett, Sarah Genelly, and Raj Mirut Dalal share their summer research experiences first-hand, including how their participation in research has influenced their academic and career goals and informed their views of family and child health.
Raj Mirut Dalal
Northwestern University
Medical Student
Project: PRAMS for DADS
What kind of research have you been involved in?
My research responsibilities include creating research questions, background reading, creating End Note libraries, and project write ups. I am currently working on analysis of data for the PRAMS for DADS project.
How has your summer research helped inform how you view families and their interaction with the health care system?
My research project has really illuminated how mutually beneficial familial relationships can be for all parties. As a future provider, I hope to view my patients in the context of the family and support system that surrounds them. Health does not exist in a vacuum and pediatricians have the special privilege to not only interface with children, but also the larger family.
What are your goals in terms of future professional involvement with children and families?
As a medical student, I hope to continue exploring the various specialties and opportunities within pediatrics to identify what role I could see myself potentially fulfilling as a future provider. Additionally, I hope to continue supporting the incredible work that Dr. Garfield and Dr. Simon have been achieving to promote child and family health.
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Sarah Genelly
Sarah GenellyNorthwestern University
Research Assistant
Project: Discharge for Dads
What kind of research have you been involved in?
I have been working on the Discharge for Dads project to help prepare educational materials and videos that will be used in recruitment at Prentice. With filming complete, I am focused on making sure the smaller details of the study are all in place for launch of the project in October! I am also a co-author on FCHIP's 2021 Grandparents Day Report and an Op-Ed released to Northwestern Now.
How has your summer research helped inform how you view families and their interaction with the health care system?
My research with the FCHIP team has made me more aware of the need for health care resources and providers that acknowledge the influences of others and society on an individual's health outcomes.Through learning about the numerous ways that a mother's and/or father's health and behaviors impact their child's health, I have become aware of the importance of the social component of health and healthcare.
What are your goals in terms of future professiona linvolvement with children and families?
I have enjoyed my clinical exposure to emergency medicine and pediatrics and am currently interested in pursuing a career in pediatric emergency medicine. Through this career path, I hope to be actively involved in improving child health outcomes on the interpersonal level, with patient interactions and, on a larger scale, through research and policy advocacy.
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Liam Warner-Shifflett
Liam Warner-ShifflettNorthwestern University
Research Assistant
Project: NICU2HOME
What kind of research have you been involved in?
With the research team, I have conducted literature reviews, payment processing, project write-ups, survey development in Red Cap, and data management. I am a co-author on FCHIP’s 2021 Grandparent’s Day Report, I am currently working on a COVID paper, and I was recently published in Pediatrics as a co-author with the research team.
How has your summer research helped inform how you view families and their interaction with the health care system?
Through my experience working with Dr. Garfield and other researchers at Northwestern/Lurie Children’s, I came to appreciate the logistical challenges in fully representing families in our findings. Because health care researchers are always trying to improve keystone social systems, we often find ourselves approaching families during stressful and/or transitionary times. Consequently, I have learned that working to make the data collection process seamless with that of typical health encounters is fundamental and a core tenant of FCHIP's work.
What are your goals in terms of future professional involvement with children and families?
As a student, I am happy to have the flexibility to implement bold changes to back-end research processes, including new innovations in software and streamlined workflows. Looking forward, I hope to improve family health encounters with this progressive mindset – whether as a healthcare analyst, practicing physician, or both! I believe this will require a lot of work at the hospital administrative level and public policy level.
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Angela Zedak
Angela ZedakNorthwestern University
Research Assistant
Project: NICU2HOME+
What kind of research have you been involved in?
My research responsibilities include editing study documents, project tracking, sending out surveys, and translating content to Spanish. I am currently working on consort diagrams and survey distribution for NICU2HOME+.
How has your summer research helped inform how you view families and their interaction with the health care system?
I want to use the knowledge I have gained about research and apply it to future research opportunities. As someone who wants to apply to medical school and conduct future research on different orthopedic injuries, it was very insightful to participate in this research opportunity. Understanding the interactions and connections between the medical staff and research team is key to conducting a successful experiment in a healthcare setting.
What are your goals in terms of future professional involvement with children and families?
In the future, I would like to be an orthopedic surgeon. I would specifically like to work with athletes and children, having daily interactions with children and their families. Even further, I would like to eventually conduct research on sports-related injuries to form better prevention & strength training protocols to avoid injuries with thorough training.
