Jessica Jacolbe is a writer from Brooklyn whose work has been featured in Catapult, Garage Magazine, JSTOR Daily, and others.

Alyssa A.L. James

Phd Student, Anthropology, Columbia University

Alyssa A.L. James is a PhD student and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow whose research examines the consequences of recasting colonial history for Caribbean subjectivities and futures. She interrogates the discourses and practices that transform commodities into heritage - and history into commodity - as it unfolds through Martinique’s nascent coffee revival project.

Courtni Jeffers

Doctoral Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University

Courtni Jeffers is currently a graduate student in the Narrative Medicine Program at Columbia University. Prior to her time at Columbia she earned a bachelor’s degree in Medical Humanities and a bachelor’s degree in Biology at IUPUI in Indianapolis, Indiana. After completing her M.S. in Narrative Medicine, Courtni hopes to pursue osteopathic medicine with a specialty in hospice care. She is passionate about writing and hopes to use the art of storytelling to facilitate honest and healing conversations about the end of life, with her hospice patients and their families.

Anna Jiang

Doctoral Student, Human Rights, Columbia University

Anna Jiang is a currently a Human Rights M.A. student here at Columbia. Her thesis concerns how traditions and cultural heritage informs reproductive/menstrual health and gender in the space of contemporary China.

Sunny Jones

Graduate Student, Systems Biology, Columbia University

Sunny Jones is a graduate student in the Systems Biology department working with Dr. Andrea Califano. Her research involves developing algorithms for analyzing cancer genomics data with the goal of better understanding their biology as well matching patients to highly specific treatments as based on their genetics. She has previous research experience in nutrient metabolism and is currently working in conjunction with a startup to build a platform for providing optimal meals and dietary suggestions to cancer patients and survivors. In her free time she enjoys rock climbing, biking and exploring New York City.

Nick Juravich

Doctoral Student, Education, Columbia University

Nick Juravich is a doctoral student in United States History, studying education, labor organizing, social policy, urban history, and social movements in the twentieth century. His dissertation, provisionally titled "An Education in Democracy: Paraprofessionals in Schools, Communities, and the Labor Movement, 1965-1980," examines the changing relationships between public schools, local communities, and public sector unions in this era.

Suzanne Kahn

PhD Student, History, Columbia University

Suzanne Kahn is a Ph.D. candidate in the U.S. History program. She works at the intersection of legal history, women’s history, and American Political Development. Her dissertation, “Divorce and the Politics of the Social Welfare Regime, 1969-2001,” examines how rising divorce rates shaped the politics and policies around women’s access to economic resources.

Guneet Kaur

Graduate Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University

Guneet Kaur is originally from the Bay Area, CA and graduated from Scripps College earlier this year with a degree in Biology and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with a concentration in race. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Narrative Medicine here at Columbia University, looking at the intersections of bioethics, social justice, and clinical practice, with an emphasis on the use of patient narrative as a means of healing. She is passionate about the intersections of social justice and medicine in caring for underserved communities- particularly conversations around chronic condition management, mental health, and reproductive health.

Robin J. Kemper

Doctoral Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University

Robin J. Kemper is currently studying for her M.S. in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. Hoping professionally to write and teach on disability-related matters, Robin has twice taught a Narrative Medicine seminar to Columbia University postbaccalaureate premedical students and undergraduate premedical students. She is also a Curriculum Committee Representative in the Narrative Medicine program. Robin earned her J.D. at Yale Law School and her B.A. in English at Yale University.

Corinne Kentor

Phd Candidate, Anthropology & Education, Teachers College, Columbia University

Corinne Kentor is a Ph.D student in Anthropology & Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on the intersection of immigration and higher education policy. Her dissertation explores the educational experiences of older and younger siblings in mixed status families, with a specific focus on the institutional policies that shape their respective trajectories after high school.

Dhaval Khamar

Doctoral Student, Bioethics, Columbia University

Dhaval Khamar is a graduate student in Columbia’s bioethics program and previously attended the University of Central Florida, earning a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Religion and Cultural Studies both with honors. His areas of interest in bioethics are end of life ethics, access to medical innovation, and health policy ethics. Dhaval has also contributed to health policy efforts in New York as an intern at the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law.

Shenila Khoja-Moolji

Doctoral Student, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, University of Pennsylvania

Shenila Khoji-Moolji received her doctorate in Education and additional certification in Feminist Theory from Columbia University in 2016. Her research interests include examining discourses on gender and education, and their entanglement with practices of power. Dr. Khoja-Moolji’s work problematizes the centering of girls’ education and empowerment as a solution to societal problems, especially in relation to Muslim-majority nations.

Sarah Kleinstein

Doctoral Student, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University

Sarah Kleinstein is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University, currently studying under Dr. David Goldstein in the Institute for Genomic Medicine at Columbia University. Her primary research focus is determining the genetic underpinnings behind differential responses to infectious diseases, such as HIV-1, HSV-2, HCV, and HBV. Kleinstein also holds a BS in Biochemistry and an MS in Genetic Epidemiology (both from the University of Washington, Seattle).

Julia Knox

Doctoral Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University

Julia Knox is a researcher at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and an M.S. Candidate in Narrative Medicine in the Columbia Department of Medical Humanities and Ethics. She is interested in the methods by which data takes narrative form in our society. The focus of her research includes exposure to environmental mixtures, maternal/paternal-child health, and transgenerational epigenetics.

Nancy Ko

Ph.D. student, History, Columbia University

Nancy Ko is a scholar of race, capital, and migration working at the intersection of Jewish and Middle East Studies. A Ph.D. student in the Department of History at Columbia University, her present research traces the consequences of the emergence of Sephardic identity politics in the global Middle East. Nancy holds an MPhil at the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar, and a B.A. from Harvard University, where she was a founding organizer of the Open Hillel movement.

Leah Kogen-Elimeliah

Doctoral Student, English, City College of New York

Leah Kogen-Elimeliah is a poet, essayist, short story and nonfiction writer from Moscow, currently living in New York City. She is an MFA candidate at City College of New York, is the Founder and Director of WordShedNYC Reading Series and an Editorial Associate for Fiction literary magazine.

Kathleen Kraus

Doctoral Student, Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Kathleen Kraus is a second year Master of Public Health student at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences. Her academic focus includes chronic disease prevention and health policy. Prior to attending Mailman, Kathleen worked as an Associate at Voz Advisors (formerly MK&A), a patient advocacy relations consultancy to the pharmaceutical industry.

Anna Krauthamer

Ph.D. Candidate, English & Comparative Literature, Columbia University

Anna Krauthamer is a Ph.D. candidate in Columbia's English & Comparative Literature department, where she studies and writes about contemporary novels, theories of literary character, and disability. She is currently beginning a dissertation project focused on character typologies in contemporary fiction.

Daniel Krizay

PhD Student, Genetics & Development, Columbia University

Daniel Krizay is a PhD student in the department of Genetics & Development, who is currently a researcher in the lab of Dr. David Goldstein in the Institute for Genomic Medicine. Daniel is originally from Centreville, Virginia and attended Northeastern University where he received his B.S. degree in Biochemistry. Before moving to New York City for graduate school, Daniel worked full-time for nearly two years in Boston as a researcher in fields ranging from antibiotic characterization to Spinal Muscular Atrophy research.

Irina Kulichenkova

Doctoral Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University

Hippocrates said, “Wherever the art of medicine is loved – there is also a love of humanity.” This quote explains her own reflections and values in life. She loves humanity, and she chose to devote her life to science and medicine because she wants to make a difference in patients’ lives, alleviate patients’ suffering, and positively influence the healthcare system of the United States and worldwide. Presently, she is a graduate student in the Program of Narrative Medicine at Columbia University.

Aya Labanieh

Ph.D. Candidate, English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

Aya Labanieh is a Ph.D. candidate in the English and Comparative Literature Department, where she works on imperial conspiracies and their conspiracy-theory afterlives in 20th and 21st century Middle Eastern literature and politics. Her broader interests include conspiratorial thinking within a global digital context, and how conspiracy theories function as alternate histories, heretical discourses, popular critiques, epistemic injuries, and modern enchantments.

Delilah Leibowitz

Doctoral Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University

Delilah Leibowitz is currently a graduate student studying Narrative Medicine at Columbia University. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California in 2019. She holds a B.A. in Health and the Human Sciences, with an emphasis in Internal Health. Delilah participated in several research labs throughout her undergraduate studies, ranging from studying fluoresced vasculature pathways of Zebrafish embryos to her work in understanding the relationship between blood proteins and cognitive function.

Moran Levy

PhD Student, Sociology, Columbia University

Moran Levy is a Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Sociology at Columbia University and a fellow with the working group on Precision Medicine: Ethics, Politics and Culture. Moran’s research focuses on classification of patients and diseases. She examines the role of social institutions in shaping biomedical classification as well the social consequences of diagnostic practices.

Aaron Limoges

PhD Student, Biological Sciences, Columbia University

Aaron Limoges is a PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences. His doctoral research is performed at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, where he studies cell- and circuit-level mechanisms through which stress affects cognition and mood. As a neuroscientist, Aaron wants to find new ways to merge biological and behavioral data.

Penelope Lusk

Doctoral Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University

Penelope Lusk is a graduate student in the Narrative Medicine program at Columbia University. She holds a BA in English Literature from Bowdoin College. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, she currently she works as a Project Associate for the Program for Medical Education Innovations and Research at New York University. In the future, she hopes to continue working at the crossroads of medical education and the health humanities.

Trisha Maharaj

Doctoral Student, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University

Trisha Maharaj is a MA candidate in the Human Rights Studies program at Columbia University. Her research focuses on cultural and religious practices related to menstruation and women’s experiences and attitudes in the Hindu diaspora of Trinidad.

Larry Madowo

Doctoral Student, Journalism, Columbia University

Larry Madowo is a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University. He is also a candidate for an M.A. in Business and Economics at Columbia Journalism School. Before taking up the fellowship in New York City, he was the BBC Africa Business Editor. Larry launched 6 syndicated BBC TV shows in English, Swahili and French and led the broadcaster’s coverage of business in Africa.

Amar Mandavia

Doctoral Student, Clinical Psychology, Columbia University

Amar Mandavia is currently a second-year doctoral student pursuing clinical psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University from where he also holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology. In his current involvement with ELSI, Amar is assisting in a systematic review to identify genetic markers and subsequent variations among different racial and ethnicity groups to inform PMI research efforts. His master’s thesis focused on analyzing longitudinal epidemiological data to identify prospective psychosocial factors that impact transition to and recovery from homelessness among adults in the US.

Lianna Marks

Doctoral Student, Global Health, Columbia University Medical Center

Lianna Marks is a Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Fellow at the Children's Hospital of New York and Columbia University Medical Center. She is a graduate of Columbia College and the Indiana University School of Medicine and completed her pediatric residency at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Her interest in Global Health has lead her to clinical work in Kenya, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. Her research investigates using natural killer cell immunotherapy in the treatment of cancer.

Bree Martin

Doctoral Student, Genetic Counseling, Columbia University

Bree Martin is from Los Angeles, CA, and received a bachelor’s degree in psychobiology with a minor in philosophy from UCLA. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Columbia University in Genetic Counseling. Bree has past research experience in genetic factors in schizophrenia, and was an active member of UCLA’s Bioethics Society. She hopes to be an advocate for equitable healthcare, specifically within genetic medicine.

J-M

Graduate Fellows