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Scholarship and Research Award Recipients Recognized
by COPH Staff | May 15, 2013
2013 Student Award Winners
Student Highlights – College of Public Health (COPH) students were recognized at the Annual Awards Dinner for receiving competitive scholarships funded by generous donors to the college.
The Carruth J. Wagner, MD, Scholarships in Public Health recognize regularly enrolled, degree-seeking COPH students in good academic standing who clearly identify their career goals, their potential for contributions to the field of public health, and their views of public health challenges, and how their leadership in public health may meet those challenges. This year's recipients are shown below.
Soumitra Bhuyan, MPH
Doctoral student in Health Services Research, Administration, and Policy
Soumitra Bhuyan received his MPH degree from Western Kentucky University with an emphasis in health education. His primary research interests include health care workforce, primary care, and patient outcome research. Mr. Bhuyan is currently serving as a student liaison for the Health Administration (HA) Section of the American Public Health Association. He also serves as PhD student representative to the COPH Student Admission and Recruitment Committee and as vice president of the Student Association.
Guangming Han, MD, PhD
Doctoral student in Epidemiology
Dr. Han has both an MD and a PhD in clinical rheumatology and has spent the past several years working in China as a physician in the field of rheumatology. In 2011, he received his master's degree in biostatistics. Dr. Han became interested in epidemiology because many chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease, are preventable by eating a healthy diet, doing sufficient physical activity, and avoiding tobacco. His solid background and research achievements in the biomedical and medical fields, his academic experiences, and his practical skills in biostatistics and epidemiology will help him to achieve his career goal of becoming an epidemiologist specializing in chronic disease.
Janelle Jacobson, MPH, CHES
Janelle Jacobson previously worked with both state and local public health departments, which has informed her interest in the implementation of evidence-based public health programming and public health systems and services research. As part of her graduate research assistantship, she is currently working with the Nebraska Public Health Practice-Based Research Network. Her research experience has included the areas of public health workforce, public health accreditation, and implementation of quality improvement in local health departments. Her long-term plans are to gain a position in academia and continue working in translational and implementation research.
Xiaqing Jiang, MD
Master of Public Health student in Biostatistics
Xiaqing Jiang finished medical school in Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine in 2012. She has been actively involved in volunteer services since she started medical school. Highlights of her volunteer work include providing social support for children with autoimmune diseases, and using surveys and interviews to report on the quality of health service in Shanghai while she was a medical intern. She enrolled in the UNMC COPH in 2012. As an MPH student in biostatistics, she has continued her volunteer work at UNMC. Examples of Dr. Jiang's volunteer work include the data analysis project in the 2013 Annual Report on Patient Safety for the Nebraska Coalition for Patient Safety, and the statistical analysis in the BRFSS Analysis Report for the Mexican Latino Population for the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services. She hopes to combine Biostatistics with her medical background to further her research in experimental studies related to minority populations with rare diseases.
Veenu Minhas, PhD
Master of Public Health student in Epidemiology
Dr. Minhas has a PhD in virology and has been working in the field of viral epidemiology for the past eight years. She has been involved in an epidemiological study to investigate the incidence and transmission of Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpes virus in Zambia, Africa. This virus causes Kaposi's sarcoma and lymphomas in immunosuppressed people, especially in HIV+ patients. Her two trips to Zambia sparked her interest in public health, and upon graduation Dr. Minhas wants to remain engaged in infectious disease epidemiology research.
Muna Sapkota, MPharm
Doctoral student in Environmental Health, Occupational Health, and Toxicology
Muna Sapkota is from Nepal and she received her elementary and high school education from St Mary's High School. She attended the School of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences at Pokhara University from 2002 to 2006, majoring in pharmacy. She attended the School of Pharmacy at the Catholic University of Daegu, South Korea, from 2008-2010, where she obtained a master of pharmacy degree. In April 2010, she came to the United States as a research scholar at Creighton University. In the fall of 2012, she enrolled as a PhD student in the Environmental Health, Occupational Health, and Toxicology Program. Presently her research is focused on the identification and quantification of malondialdehyde, a component of the oxidative stress caused by cigarette smoke inhalation and ethanol consumption. After completing her PhD degree, she plans to work as a postdoctoral fellow.
Raees Shaikh, MPH
Doctoral student in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research
Raees Shaikh is a third-year PhD student in the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Program in the UNMC COPH. He is native of Aurangabad City, about 200 miles east of Mumbai, in the Maharashtra State of India. He is a registered medical practitioner in India and worked as a physician before coming to the United States for his graduate education. He earned an MPH degree from Missouri State University. He has been living in Omaha for three years with his wife Sumaira and two daughters, Zoya (3) and Zara (1). He is fluent in three additional languages besides English, and next to spending time with his family, his favorite thing to do in his leisure time is to watch sitcoms.
The Chancellor Robert D. Sparks, MD, Pre-professional/Undergraduate Student Scholarship in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention recognizes regularly enrolled University of Nebraska undergraduate students in good academic standing who are majoring in a field related to health promotion and disease prevention. Scholarship awardees have expressed an interest in a career addressing health promotion and disease prevention. These students also have insight into and understanding of careers related to health promotion and disease prevention, with particular attention to the needs of Nebraska and its citizens.
Dylan Zaner
University of Nebraska Omaha College of Education
Dylan Zaner is a native of Omaha, Nebraska, and a graduate of Burke High School. Currently, he attends the University of Nebraska at Omaha where he is working towards a bachelor of science degree in public health. He is the director of the Gender and Sexual Orientation Agency on campus and serves as an undergraduate research assistant for the Midlands Sexual Health Research Collaborative. In his free time, he likes to write, play sports, and volunteer in the community. After graduation, Dylan plans to pursue a master of public health degree, with a focus on social marketing.
The Chancellor Robert D. Sparks, MD, Public Health Student Research Award recognizes full-time COPH students in good academic standing who are enrolled in a master's or doctorate program and have defined a public health research project that demonstrates disease prevention and health promotion through public health education, research, and/or practice, with particular attention to the needs of Nebraska and its citizens.
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