3 College of Medicine students selected for fellowship focused on health disparity research
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 11, 2025) — Three University of Kentucky College of Medicine students have been chosen for the Health Disparities Research Training (HDRT) Fellowship.
The Department of Behavioral Science created the fellowship, which is supported by its Council on Community, Engagement, Research and Training (CONCERT).
The fellowship was developed to enhance medical students’ understanding of health and healthcare disparities experienced by disadvantaged and underserved populations.
The hope is that the experience will augment medical school training, increase the understanding of how behavioral science research can help address health disparities, and enable students to be better prepared to care for disadvantaged and underserved populations.
The fellowships went to Gabriela Drucker, Veronica Rojas and Naiya Sims.
Over the course of 18 months, each fellow will work with a behavioral science faculty mentor on a research or community-engaged project that addresses these patient populations.
Drucker, of Lexington, Kentucky, will be co-mentored by Carolyn Lauckner, Ph.D., an associate professor of behavioral science, and Alison Gustafson, Ph.D., professor of dietetics and human nutrition.
Through her project, Drucker will examine effective food security interventions at the family/household level and their impact on child health outcomes. The goal of this research is to address health disparities by intervening on food insecurity as a social determinant of health, exploring the efficacy of Food is Medicine (FIM) programs to improve child health.
Rojas, of Lexington, Kentucky, will be co-mentored by Pamela Hull, Ph.D., a professor of behavioral science, and Juan Canedo, D.H.S., an assistant professor of internal medicine.
The overall goal of Rojas’ study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational video to increase Hispanic women’s colposcopy (cervical diagnostic exam) knowledge and adherence to follow-up after their initial colposcopy. Her research project will focus on understanding Hispanic women’s perceptions of the impact of the video and provider and staff perceptions of including the educational video in colposcopy appointments, in an effort to reduce cervical cancer disparities.
Sims, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, will be mentored by Erica Littlejohn, Ph.D., an assistant professor of behavioral science.
Sims’ study will explore whether racially and ethnically marginalized populations have common distinct experience with the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) screening as adults, and whether their personal exposure or experience with ACEs modifies their perception of the ACEs questionnaire, facilitates questionnaire completion and ACE resilience strategies.
Fellows receive a stipend and will present their projects to the campus community in the spring of 2026.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.