Past Grant Recipients

Melissa Shivers and Tracy Stuck packing food for the volunteer service project, Feed the Funnel

Past Grant Recipients

You may view the presentations below and view event photos.

Social Isolation and Loneliness in the Over 40 Lesbian Community

Presented by Joanne Patterson – College of Public Health, and Liv Gjestvang – Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Denison University

Photo of Dr. Joanne G. Patterson Dr. Joanne G. Patterson is a behavioral scientist whose research program aims to reduce cancer inequities, with a special focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) populations. Her research applies mixed methods to qualitatively explore how context and culture affect cancer-related health behaviors among LGBTQ+ populations and their engagement with behavioral interventions. She is an expert in qualitative data collection and analysis, including rapid data analytic methods, thematic analysis and content analysis. Dr. Patterson’s work has been funded by the National Cancer Institute, The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, and Ohio State's College of Public Health. Her community-engaged work aims to build organizational capacity to implement evidence-based interventions to reduce behavioral cancer risks among LGBTQ+ populations. She is currently co-leading an LGBTQ+ community health needs assessment in partnership with Columbus Public Health and The Ohio State University Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Evaluation Studies.

Photo of Liv Gjestvang Liv Gjestvang is Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Denison University, where she leads IT strategy and innovation. Liv served as Associate Vice President for Learning Technology at The Ohio State University and led Higher Education Strategy at AWS. She is a nationally recognized educator who has taught at the Sundance Film Festival, Taos Talking Pictures and art museums across the US. She was co-director for the Educause Leadership Institute and is currently one of two US faculty members on the CAUDIT Institute for Higher Education IT Leadership in Australia and the Pacific Islands. Liv has written and presented about transformational leadership for the Global Learning Council, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Ted.com. She was named Educause Rising Star, Apple Distinguished Educator, and President’s Council Women's Glass Breaker.

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Framework for Health Equity in Multi-Cancer Early Detection Testing

Presented by Norah Crossnohere – College of Medicine

Photo of Dr. Norah Crossnohere Norah L. Crossnohere, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Internal Medicine – General Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She is a patient-centered outcomes researcher who is passionate about measuring what matters most to patients and their loved ones. Dr. Crossnohere’s research areas include advancing methods for measuring patient and caregiver preferences and experiences and engaging patients to inform medical decision-making. Dr. Crossnohere has conducted this work in diverse clinical areas including primary care, cancer, pediatrics, and rare diseases. Her training and experience as a researcher at the intersection of social science and medicine have provided her with a robust methodological skillset, and she is experienced in the use of quantitative preference elicitation (e.g. discrete-choice experiments, best-worst scaling, health state utilities), patient-reported outcome measures (PROs), survey methods, and systematic reviews. Dr. Crossnohere has served as principal investigator and co-investigator on internal and external grants. She is an editorial board member of The Patient-Patient-Centered Outcomes Research journal, winner of the 2022 Outstanding Paper by a Young Investigator at the Society for Medical Decision Making, and, and a member of the Alpha Delta Omega Public Health Honors Society.

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The Neurobiology of Pre-Literacy Development

Presented by Zeynep Saygin – Department of Psychology

Dr. Zeynep Saygin black and white portrait Dr. Saygin is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University Psychology Department and director of the z-lab at Ohio State. She received her Sc.B. in Neuroscience from Brown University and her Ph.D. in Systems Neuroscience from MIT. She is interested in the origins of the human mind and investigates how mind and brain change with experience and maturation, and how individual variability arises. She uses noninvasive MRI to build equitable and inclusive models of brain and behavior, and to predict cognitive outcome in neonates, infants and older children longitudinally across their lifespan. Dr. Saygin is the recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in Neuroscience.

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Preventing Genocide

Presented by Hollie Nzitatira – Department of Sociology

Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira color portrait Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira is an Associate Professor of Sociology (Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Minnesota, 2014). She has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles on genocide and human rights, is the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook on Atrocity Crimes and is the recipient of highest early career award from the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the American Society of Criminology. Dr. Nyseth Nzitatira serves on a federal atrocity prevention task force and conducts atrocity forecasting for the U.S. government. She is a research associate with Rwanda’s Institute for Research and Dialogue for Peace and has interviewed over 500 Rwandans about their experiences during and after the genocide. Dr. Nyseth Nzitatira also leads a study abroad in Rwanda and has received Ohio State’s highest teaching honor. She is the founder and global editor-in-chief of the International Association of Genocide Scholars Policy Brief Initiative and consults for several museums and nonprofits dedicated to genocide prevention and awareness.

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Technology Needs for Early Breast Cancer Detection

Presented by Asimina Kiourti – Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Asimina Kiourti color photo portrait Asimina Kiourti is an Innovation Scholar Endowed Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The Ohio State University where she first joined as a faculty member in 2016. From 2013 to 2016, she was a Post-Doctoral Researcher and then a Senior Research Associate at Ohio State’s ElectroScience Laboratory. Prior to that, she received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece (2013) and the M.Sc. degree from University College London, UK (2009). Prof. Kiourti’s research interests lie in bio-electromagnetics, wearable and implantable antennas, sensors for body area applications and conductive textiles. Her publication record includes 1 book, 12 book chapters, 6 granted patents, 75 journal papers and over 130 conference papers and abstracts. Her work has been supported by NSF, NIH, NASA, DoD, and more, and has been recognized with over 40 scholarly recognitions, including The Ohio State University Early Career Distinguished Scholar Award (2022), NSF CAREER award (2021), selected participation in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium (2021), “40 Under 40” recognition by Columbus Business First (2021), and the Buckeye Engineering Women in Executive Leadership (BEWEL) Leadership in Innovation Award (2021). Her mentees have received another 44 scholarly awards at an international, national and local level. Her team’s research contributions have been featured by TechCrunch, the Times of India, and Australia Network News, among others. Prof. Kiourti is active in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the International Union of Radio Science (URSI), and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), where she serves in several elected and appointed roles.

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Past Grant Recipients

Past Grant Recipients

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