Computational epidemiology, health equity, bioethics, and public health policy — work at the intersection of data, systems, and social change.
An independent research program linking social determinants of health to cancer outcomes in North Carolina, culminating in an evidence-based state policy proposal.
This project began as a course data science project and grew into an independent public health research program. I analyzed county-level data across all 100 NC counties, modeling the relationship between social determinants of health (SDOH) and breast, lung, and colorectal cancer incidence and mortality using OLS, Ridge, and LASSO regression.
This finding takes on urgent significance given that 35% of North Carolinians live in rural counties where college graduation rates are 43% lower than urban areas (23.0% vs. 40.4%) — the populations with the highest cancer burden have the least access to the most powerful prevention factor identified in this analysis.
The research was presented as a poster at the Grand Challenges Scholars Program Annual Meeting (February 2026) and formed the foundation of a Truman Scholarship policy proposal for a last-dollar scholarship program targeting first-generation rural students, projected to prevent 9,331 cancer cases over 18 years and return $377M annually against $308M in program costs.
Policy analysis, bioethical argument, and engineering research across computational biology, health systems, and clinical technology.
Constructs a convergence argument across six ethical frameworks — relational, virtue, deontological, pluralist, liberal egalitarian, and utilitarian — to demonstrate that the American healthcare system is not merely imperfect but ethically indefensible. Grounded in empirical SDOH data including a 9.9-year life expectancy gap between the most and least advantaged Americans and a 58% cancer mortality disparity between high- and low-income counties. Engages primary sources in Gilligan, Noddings, Kant, Ross, Rawls, and Mill alongside secondary works by Mbembe, Roberts, Harding, and Daniels.
Comprehensive policy analysis evaluating three alternative approaches to sustaining telehealth access for Medicaid recipients following the expiration of federal COVID-era waivers. Synthesizes epidemiological evidence showing telehealth reduces mortality by up to 56% for patients with chronic conditions in rural populations. Integrates federalism analysis, stakeholder mapping, and economic impact assessment to develop a policy recommendation for state-level Medicaid provisions addressing rural healthcare access for 34% of North Carolinians.
Ongoing engineering research developing firmware and software for novel clinical electroporation devices. Resolved multithreading security vulnerabilities that could cause unexpected system behavior, implemented fail-safe emulator protocols, and redesigned separate clinician and researcher frontends — reducing clinician interaction from 12 clicks to 3 while adding safety bounds visualization and automated patient reporting.
Investigated the effects of estrogen and progesterone on anterior cruciate ligament fibroblast gene expression using a porcine in vitro model of pre-pubescent female development. Found that progesterone has a greater effect on proteoglycan expression in ACL fibroblasts than estrogen, and that TGF-β1 stimulation significantly upregulates ECM production. Motivated by the observed 3–8× higher ACL injury rate in skeletally immature adolescent female athletes compared to males. Supported by the Comparative Medicine Institute SIRI program.