2022 Summer Internship
About the DBMI Summer Internship Program
Since 2011, we have organized an annual 8 - 10 week summer biomedical informatics internship program that has been funded by research grants or cooperative agreements. The summer internship program includes:
- Structured orientation
- Weekly scientific presentations by faculty
- Organized social events
- Internship symposium (webcast)
We have hosted over 100 trainees from over 40 institutions as part of our summer internship, including trainees for the NIH Short Term Training Positions (STTP) program. The program has generated more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and dozens of scientific posters.
The internship uses a project-based curriculum where interns need to select a project and mentor during the application process. Trainees work on projects covering a wide range of topics relevant to biomedical informatics, including data integration, image processing, natural language processing (NLP) tools, data sharing and privacy technology, etc.
12th Annual UC San Diego Department of Biomedical Informatics Summer Internship Program Symposium Recap
Event held on Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Opening Presentation:
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Lyn Hardy’s work and expertise have focused on the use of health informatics to improve public health and healthcare decision-making. Dr. Hardy has held positions as researcher, academician including Associate Dean for Research, and her current position as a Program Officer for the National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine. She is active in national informatics organizations and has written and edited books in informatics and healthcare.
Presenters:
Nicole Ahadian is an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania where she is pursuing a major in Computational Biology and minor in Computer Science, and is a coxswain on the Mens’ Heavyweight Rowing team. After graduating, she plans to pursue a career in medicine. This summer, Nicole’s research focused on Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) genes and the interplay between autoimmune diseases and cancer.
Presentation Title: Identifying HLA Associations with Autoimmune Disease-Cancer Interplay
Advisor: Hannah Carter, Ph.D.
Funding: UCSD-STTP
Myleah Avant is an undergraduate senior at Howard University. She is a Pre-Medical Psychology major and Chemistry minor. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she is interested in pursuing a Ph.D. program and/or a Psy.D program where she plans to study Clinical Psychology.
Presentation Title: Depression and Anxiety in Relation to Persistent Opioid Use
Advisor: Rodney Gabriel, MD, MAS
Funding: UCSD STARS, UCSD HSI-DDI
Czarlyn Camba is a rising fifth year undergraduate, majoring in Biotechnology and minoring in Data Science at California State University Northridge. She is a first generation college student, a U-RISE Scholar at California State University Northridge, and alongside the DBMI Summer Internship she is a part of San Diego Summer Training Academy for Research Success (STARS) at UCSD this summer. Her plan after undergrad is pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Informatics or Biomedical Engineering. In her free time she enjoys embroidering, working out, and spending time with family and friends.
Presentation Title: Recording Biomedical Compliance Training Certificates using Blockchain Technology
Advisor: Tsung-Ting Kuo, Ph.D.
Funding: UCSD STARS, UCSD HSI-DDI
Alan Diaz is part of the STARS program. He is an incoming junior transfer student at UCSD, majoring in Computer Science. Additionally, he shares a great interest in robotics and cybersecurity. Currently, he is focused on helping with research methods that prevent health employees from falling for phishing attacks.
Presentation Title: Improving the detectability of phishing attacks
Advisor: Rodney Gabriel, M.D., M.A.S.
Funding: UCSD STARS, UCSD HSI-DDI
Emily Gorial is a rising second year at Miramar College majoring in Computer Science. She is interested in programming in all fields and enjoys learning about data science.
Presentation Title: Predictive Analytics on Asthma and Its Potential Social Determinants
Advisor: Lucila Ohno-Machado, M.D., Ph.D, M.B.A.
Funding: UCSD STARS, UCSD HSI-DDI
Sarah Harlan is a fourth year undergraduate student at UCSD. She is pursuing a major in Human Biology and a minor in Psychology. Her research this summer is looking at the independent association of hypertension, hospital length of stay, and hospital readmission with adverse postoperative outcomes for c-section patients. In the future she is looking to pursue a career in the medical field and is looking forward to giving back to underserved communities.
Presentation Title: The Association of Hypertension and Hospital Length of Stay and Hospital Readmission in Patients Undergoing Cesarean Delivery
Advisor: Rodney Gabriel, M.D., M.A.S.
Funding: UCSD HSI-DDI
Alissa Jae Lazo-Kim is an incoming graduate student at New York University obtaining her masters in Arts & Bioethics. Her interest lies in environmental health and the application of bioinformatics within that field. After graduation, she hopes to return to the world of biomedical research. Her goal in life is to become a doctor and help underserved communities. She is a Gemini who loves hiking, backpacking, and being outside.
Presentation Title: Evaluating the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's) on Future Health Outcomes
Advisor: Cynthia Kuelbs, M.D.
Funding: UCSD STTP
Carly Ann Magpantay is a second year at UC San Diego. She is currently studying Public Health with a Concentration in Medicine Sciences and is interested in pursuing a career in healthcare. Her research focuses on identifying modifiable social determinants of health to improve the clinical outcome of diabetes.
Presentation Title: Predictive Analytics of Diabetes Mellitus Using Social Determinants From All of Us Data
Advisor: Lucila Ohno-Machado, M.D., Ph.D, M.B.A.
Funding: UCSD HSI-DDI
Angela Ng is a college graduate from Baruch College with a degree in Biology. Her research this summer focused on possible applications of blockchain technology for nursing informatics, and to inform nursing colleagues to be accustomed to the ongoing changes in technology that help them do their jobs more efficiently. In her free time, she enjoys fried ice cream, K-pop bands (Big Bang, Super Junior, Vixx) and exploring the nature.
Presentation Title: Blockchain Technology in Nursing: A Systematic Review
Advisor: Tsung-Ting Kuo, Ph.D.
Funding: UCSD STARS, UCSD HSI-DDI
Karthik Ramesh is a rising second-year medical student at UCSD. He has a background in bioengineering and computational drug discovery. This summer, Karthik is working on using machine learning to better assess device safety and hopes to leverage bioinformatics in his future career as a physician.
Presentation Title: Assessing learning effects on device safety using recurrent neural networks
Advisor: Jejo David Koola, M.D., M.S.
Funding: UCSD Graduate Student Research
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Sami Ryan is an undergraduate at the University of California Los Angeles majoring in Human Biology and Society. Currently, she is excited to help Dr. Curtius and Caitlin in their research studying the links between cancer and the microbiome. In her free time, she enjoys running and baking.
Presentation Title: Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Microbial Precursors to Cancer
Advisor: Kathleen (Kit) Curtius, Ph.D.
Funding: UCSD STTP
Joy Ugwu is a rising third-year undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon University studying Psychology. Her research this summer focused on using single-cell RNA sequencing to identify specific differences in the microglia of Alzheimer's patients. She plans to pursue a career as a physician-scientist researching how to incorporate neuro-imaging into mental health treatment. Along with neuroscience and radiology, she is passionate about child development. Joy is a published author of the children’s book, Joy-Grace and the Dress Dilemma which discusses the immigrant experience from a little girl’s perspective. The story delves into the joys and struggles of coming from a multicultural background.
Presentation Title: Single-cell differences in microglial cells during early stages of Alzheimer's Disease vs. late stages of Alzheimer's Disease
Advisor: Hannah Carter, Ph.D.
Funding: UCSD MSTP-SURF
Closing Presentations:
Jejo Koola, MD, MS
Internship Director
Tsung-Ting Kuo, PhD
Internship Director