Scholarships & Funding

Candidate in Visual and Cultural Studies

Conference Presentation – The Middle of Nowhere: Cohabitational Aesthetics in the Work of Sky Hopinka

Presented in February 2019 at the “Filmic Forms and Practices of Autochthonous Struggles” Symposium in Paris, France

The Middle of Nowhere: Cohabitational Aesthetics in the work of Sky Hopinka as part of the colloquium “Autochthonous Cinema against Occupations” within the symposium titled “Filmic Forms and Practices of Autochthonous Struggles.”

Assisting such a specialized colloquium in Paris was a great experience at a professional and a personal level. I met international scholars working on First Nation film and media who are using a wide range of methodologies; visual anthropologists, film, and media scholars, activists, filmmakers, and archivists. It was a great opportunity to not only present my research for the first time but also to receive valuable feedback from a multidisciplinary approach. It was particularly great to meet the co-organizers of the symposium because they are working on a book project and they invited me to submit a chapter proposal for their book. In addition, they expressed interest in sharing resources and co-organizing academic events together in the future.

It was also incredibly important for me to present and discuss my research directly with Sky Hopinka, one of the main subjects of my dissertation. I am in regular conversations with Hopinka, I attended many of his film screenings and I moderated postscreening discussions with him. However, I have never been able to share with him a context that is both curatorial and academic, and this colloquium gave me the opportunity to do so. It was incredibly valuable to hear his thoughts about my research and engage in a public discussion with him. I was also able to spend time with him in Paris outside the colloquium. He spoke with me about his current feature-length project, as well as his upcoming exhibition that will take place at the Pompidou Center next Fall. The information that we shared will be crucial for the development of my research. Overall, the opportunity that the Susan B. Anthony Center gave me was extremely valuable for my present and future research as well as my professional curatorial practice.

Candidate Class of 2021

Research Study – Fatherhood Experiences in Ghana

Conducted research in Ghana, West Africa in collaboration with the Women and Children Health Advocacy Group Ghana and Principal Investigators Dr. Martina Anto-Ocrah, Dr. Yu-Fu Michael Chen, Ruth Sally Kodam, and Julius Odoi Amesimeku

With the support of the Susan B. Anthony Center, Susan B. Anthony Institute, Office of Global Engagement, Office of Medical Education, and Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester, I was able to complete an international medicine research fellowship investigating the experiences of fathers in Ghana.

Though fathers play a crucial role in the human development paradigm, they are frequently overlooked by the Maternal Child Health (MCH) field. While the experiences and challenges of fathers are poorly understood globally, fathers in low-resource settings such as sub-Saharan Africa may face even greater stress than their Western counterparts and are dramatically underrepresented in the MCH literature. Through this fellowship, I was able to immerse myself in Ghana and collaborate with the Women and Children Health Advocacy Group Ghana (WaCHAG; https://wachagghana.org/) to conduct a mixed-methods research study quantitatively assessing the impact of parenting stress on fathers’ overall wellbeing and qualitatively delving into the lived experiences of fathers in Ghana. The results of this study will inform future activities of WaCHAG, a non-governmental agency whose main focus is reducing maternal mortality and advocating for better health conditions for Ghanaian families. We are also consolidating the results for publication, with the hope that the challenges identified by Ghanaian fathers could guide future interventions to bolster the wellbeing of not only fathers, but their partners and families overall.

During my time in Ghana, I was honored to work closely with Ruth Sally Kodam and WaCHAG to conduct midwife-led home visits for pregnant women, hold reproductive health education workshops in public schools, and contribute to educational content on a social media-based reproductive health forum. This opportunity not only expanded my perspective beyond the traditional medical school curriculum, but also strengthened the relationship between Dr. Martina Anto-Ocrah’s laboratory and WaCHAG. As a future Family Medicine physician, this research fellowship allowed me to hone my research skills in a global health setting alongside inspiring mentors.

Conference Presentation – Take Flight: Paving the way for Deaf Women Pioneers in Chile

Presented in January 2019 at the Nellie Zabel Foundation Leadership School for Deaf Women in Antofagasta and Calama, Chile

With the support of the Susan B. Anthony Center and the OB/GYN research department at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC), I was honored to go to Chile to attend the first ever Leadership School for Deaf Women in Antofagasta and Calama in northern Chile. Honoring the legacy of their namesake, Nellie Zabel Wilhite, the Nellie Zabel Foundation or Fundación Nellie Zabel (FNZ) for Deaf Women is an organization that was founded in 2017 by and for Deaf women that works to promote the full and equal participation of Deaf women in Chile through social development. The Leadership School, founded in 2019, chose the motto, “Flight Lessons: Pioneers of the Deaf Community.” Fifteen Deaf Chilean women attended the school, hailing from geographically diverse areas in Chile, from the rainy south to the dry northern desert. I gave not one but three full presentations about their Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Access to Health Equity, and How to Educate Deaf Women about Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. Teaching Amnesty International’s slogan of “My body, my rights,” I saw transformation as these Deaf women slowly embraced the realization that no one has power over their bodies. I taught them the difference between Equality and Equity as no one has ever explained it to them before, expressing the concept that what people need to experience true equity varies from person to person. They also had group activities on how to obtain equitable resources themselves as many times Deaf women have to be their own best advocates.

The Chilean Deaf women came from all over Chile, from rural areas where they may be only Deaf person to bigger cities where they may have a Deaf community but nowhere to go for support. Throughout the week, the participants shared their deep desire to go back to their communities to advocate for other Deaf women, to remove barriers, and to feel positive in their ability to influence change. The Leadership School inspired many of the Deaf women to start their own projects, such as making HIV/AIDS informational videos in Chilean Sign Language, educating hospitals and clinics to provide sign language access for Deaf women, connecting with other Deaf Indigenous women, advocating for recognition of Chilean Sign Language as an official language, and making flyers for parents of Deaf children about language access.

Conference Presentation- “Don’t touch me, you #@*#!”: Using Methods and Materials from the Humanities and Performing Arts to Teach Bioethics

Presented in July 2019 at the Cambridge Consortium for Bioethics Education in Paris, France

Taking care of patients is a moral endeavor made more difficult in an increasingly contentious society. Health care providers across the United States report experiencing harassment and hatred based on gender, race, county of origin, and religion. These instances of intolerance and hate negatively impact our community, hurting individual’s targeted and the health care team. The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry is committed to the creation and maintenance of a welcome, inclusive, and diverse environment. The Office of Inclusion and Diversity partners with the Division of Medical Humanities and Bioethics to use methods from the humanities and performing arts to integrate bioethics into educational activities designed to teach knowledge and skills necessary to appropriately respond to bias, harassment, and discrimination in the health care setting. Clinical teams and URMC community members participating in these educational interventions rate them as highly effective.

Funding from the Susan B. Anthony Center at the University of Rochester allowed three faculty members to present this work at the 9th annual Cambridge Consortium for Bioethics Education. This international bioethics community shares methods of teaching bioethics in order to facilitate implementation of best practices across countries. Our presentation, “Don’t touch me, you #@*#!”: Using Methods and Materials from the Humanities and Performing Arts to Teach Bioethics”, demonstrated, on an international platform, the University of Rochester’s support of women, people of color, individuals who are underrepresented in medicine, and all disenfranchised members of our community.