YHN Research Symposium

"Through these presentations I was able to understand how barriers to accessible healthcare manifest in real life scenarios, whether it is needing psychiatric care or trying to prevent constant drug usage in communities. It is really important for us as a society to understand these barriers, which I found out can include a variety of things such as language, cultural, accessibility, and affordability barriers. Sheena Prasad’s presentation really enlightened me on how so many people are impacted daily due to these challenges and are often not able to get the care they need."

"The symposium was a great experience, and I especially loved how engaged Dr. Jessica Liu and Sheena Prasad were when answering our questions. It was interesting to learn about pressing public health challenges like the youth vaping issues Dr. Liu discussed, which I hadn't really thought of before but are extremely relevant in today's society. I also appreciated Sheena Prasad’s efforts to make healthcare more inclusive through better cultural competency and accessible translations. Her work was not only informative but truly resonated, especially regarding the challenges and needs of minority communities." 

"The symposium was so cool! I loved hearing from our amazing guest speakers — I really learned about more systemic issues within public health and public health research, and it helped me reflect more on my interests and passions. I thought Dr. Liu’s talk on adolescent substance use was very pertinent, and I thought the point she brought up about researching prevention vs treating addiction was interesting. Sheena’s talks about inclusivity within healthcare were so important, and I thought that the problem she brought up about translation was especially relatable to YHF and online communication for my research paper. I also loved the experience of presenting, and I learned a lot about effective ways to communicate through preparing and giving my talk. I also loved Alani’s talk, especially learning about her personal experiences working with Parkinson’s patients. Overall, I had fun and learned a lot!"

"The symposium was incredibly insightful! Hearing from fellow student presenters and our guest speakers Grace, Deedee, and Salma opened my eyes to how many diverse personal and societal factors contribute to health and wellbeing. We discussed solutions to healthcare barriers across diverse disciplines: mentoring young athletes in group settings, increasing women's autonomy over their reproductive health, deciphering fact from fiction in online fitness content, lowering cost of US healthcare, and reforming the organ donation system. It was very interesting to learn that many of these topics have similar solutions based in initiatives such as education, addressing of bias, and legislation change. I learned a lot from this symposium, and am looking forward to the next one!"