A glimpse into the Program in Human Biology at Stanford University

Director's Message

Dear Human Biology Alumni, Students, and Friends,

In June, we celebrated another incredible cohort of Human Biology students. Despite the many challenges the Class of 2024 had to face, they forged strong bonds and achieved remarkable milestones together. It was a wonderful weekend of celebrations, recognizing their accomplishments and wishing them well as they embark on the next stage of their journey.

In this edition of HumBio Highlights, we showcase some of the exceptional work that our senior synthesis and honors students completed over the last year. I hope you enjoy looking at their work.

Wishing you all a lovely summer.

Lianne Kurina

Bing Director of the Program in Human Biology

Congratulations to the Class of 2024

Synthesis

The Senior Synthesis pathway allows students to combine their personal and academic interests into an intellectually stimulating and creative project. For example, students have produced podcasts and documentaries, written short stories and novels, compiled multimedia anthologies, and developed curricular resources for community partners. This year, twelve students completed a synthesis project on a variety of topics they care deeply about. On May 17, nine of these students shared their projects with the HumBio and greater Stanford community at the annual Gelles Senior Symposium.

Air Quality & Community Health in South SF: A Community-Engaged Project in Partnership with Rise South City

by Ella Norman

An interactive map on air quality and health created in collaboration with Rise South City to provide information and resources to South

San Francisco residents

on how to protect against

air pollution.

Biological Narratives of Sex and Gender in Trans and Reproductive Justice Movements

by Brooke Seay

A zine that explores the historical, rhetorical, and political connections between racism, colonialism, and recent legislative trends restricting trans and reproductive rights.

Booster Heroes: A COVID-19 Booster Coloring Book

by Libby Rouffy

A children's coloring book about COVID-19 variants and booster shots that teaches kids about the importance of getting booster shots and helps them to destress before getting vaccinated. Available in English and Spanish.

Community Care at CAS: Uplifting African Mental Health at Stanford

by Temiloluwa Adeyemo

Four community care events aimed at addressing the mental healthcare needs of Stanford's African student community. Events provided

a space for students to come together over a meal and do a creative activity such as journaling, painting, or potting succulents. A guidebook was created for future leaders in this space to continue this very important work.

Engaging San Francisco Bay Area Students as Agents of Change

by Jasmine Nevarez

This project engages Bay Area students in civic engagement through an experiential curriculum that teaches them the value of data in informing meaningful community change. Students also learn hands on how to become agents of change.

Evaluating the Nutritional and Cultural Values of Filipino Cuisine

by Julianna Keipp

An evaluation of how Filipino culture and cultural foods can impact long term health, culminating in an event where guests could explore recipes and nutritional analyses of popular Filipino dishes.

Exploring Different Modes of Promoting Early Childhood Literacy as Supporting Structures for Children’s Well-Being Across Contexts

by Shriti Parajuli

A magazine that showcases the relationship between early childhood literacy (ECE) and well-being and provides resources to promote ECE. The magazine is made up of quotes from interviews with staff from three early childhood programs.

Intersection Between Education and Health: Creating a Children's Book about Autism Spectrum Disorder

by Paw Mar Gay

A children's book that teaches children about autism spectrum disorder and fosters better understanding and acceptance of neurodivergent children. In this book, join Juju as she learns how her sister, Teddy, sees the

world differently.

Kalusugan sa Hapag Kainan: A Collection of Stories, Recipes, and Resources for the Filipino Community in California

by Richzeska Ann Sy Fandino

An exploration of how cultural foods can be used as an avenue for promoting healthy lifestyles. This evolving toolkit for Filipinos and Filipino-Americans helps to explore and address their health, nutritional, and cultural needs in the face of food insecurity.

Renal-Friendly Thai Cuisine: A Food Guide

by Lenae Joe

A Thai food guide that offers tasty alternatives and ingredient substitutions that are not only kidney-friendly, but palatable and culturally inclusive for everyone.

Social Determinants of Health: Town Edition

by Glenda Serrano

An e-book that introduces students from East Oakland (California) to the social determinants of health, teaches them what this looks like in their own community, and provides resources on how they can get involved.

Sueños de Bienestar: Latinos within the Los Angeles County Healthcare System, A Documentary

by Xochilt Lorenzo

A documentary, conducted entirely in Spanish, that explores the experiences and opinions of Latinos navigating the Los Angeles County healthcare system.

Honors

This year, Human Biology awarded honors degrees to 38 students. These students entered the honors program as juniors and have worked closely with faculty on individual research projects that culminated more than a year later in an honors thesis. On May 17, students presented their research findings at the annual Gelles Senior Symposium.

Of the 38 students who completed honors, four were recognized with the Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, a university-wide award given to the top 10% of honors theses completed each year. One of those students was also the recipient of the Kennedy Thesis Prize, awarded annually to the single best thesis in each of the four areas of humanities and arts, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. Two students were recognized for their exceptional talent in the oral, written, and visual presentation skills. And two students were awarded the Barbara and Sandy Dornbusch Award for Excellence in Research in Human Biology Relating to Families and Children.

Spatial Profiling Reveals Marked Transcriptomic Changes and Epithelial Cell Remodeling in Pediatric Ileal Crohn's Disease (CD)

by Leila DeSchepper

🏅Recipient of the 2024 Firestone Medal and the 2024 Kennedy Thesis Prize

Using digital spatial profiling to examine transcriptomic changes in various ileal regions and cell types associated with pediatric CD.

Evaluating Age-Associated Changes: Unraveling the Role of TET1

by Ana Geller

🏅 Recipient of the 2024 Firestone Medal

Evaluating the role of epigenetics, specifically TET1-methylation, in biological, physiological, and psychological aging.

Developing a Novel CRISPR/Cas9-Based Gene Therapy for EGFR-Mutated (Exon 19) Lung Cancer

by Harrison Konsker

🏅 Recipient of the 2024 Firestone Medal

Assessing the efficacy of a CRISPR/Cas9-based gene therapy that targets and reduces the growth of non-small cell lung cancer with high specificity and minimal off-target effects.

Identification of Non-Coding Genetic Variants that Dysregulate Antigen Presentation in Cancer and Autoimmune Diseases

by Sophia Longo

🏅 Recipient of the 2024 Firestone Medal

Investigating how changes in non-coding regions of Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes can lead to diseases like cancer and autoimmune disorders by affecting gene expression.

Thalamic Blood Flow in Self-Limited Epilepsy with Centrotemporal Spikes

by Niki Iasinovschi

🏅 Recipient of the 2024 Barbara and Sandy Dornbusch Award

Investigating the role of the thalamus in a common type of childhood epilepsy using MRI to measure blood flow to the thalamus in children of various ages with and without epilepsy.

"Cruising Toward Disaster": Perspectives on Autism Spectrum Disorder and Emergency Medicine Across Ages

by Sawyer Lucas-Griffin

🏅 Recipient of the 2024 Barbara and Sandy Dornbusch Award

Exploring the unique barriers and experiences faced by children, adolescents, and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during emergency department visits.

Generating Protein-Protein Interactomes in Pancreatic Beta Cells for Key Proteins Involved in Type 2 Diabetes Risk

by Alina Pollner

🏅Recipient of the 2024 Oral Communication Program Excellence in Honors Thesis Presentation Award

Studying how proteins linked to type 2 diabetes risk interact with each other in pancreatic beta cells by generating protein-protein interaction networks.

Dead with a heartbeat: Investigating the medico-linguistic underpinnings of physician miscommunication during brain death (BD/DNC) conversations and developing optimal approaches for promoting family understanding

by Anoushka Rao

🏅 Recipient of the 2024 Oral Communication Program Excellence in Honors Thesis Presentation Award

Examining how doctors talk to families about brain death and why they choose particular approaches, as a basis for developing guidelines for clear and compassionate conversations.

You can view the full list of honors research presenters and read their abstracts from the 2024 Gelles Senior Symposium on our website.

"When we are done here today, you will leave on a journey that will challenge you to solve big and important problems. You will use what you have learned in the Program in Human Biology to choose what is right. And we will wait here, proud and hopeful, waiting to read and tell your stories."

Dr. Jennifer Wolf

Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Education

2024 Human Biology Faculty Farewell speaker

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