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Clinicians’ Perceived Access Barriers to Mental Healthcare for LGBTQIA+ Youth and Young Adults of Color
No full textLGBTQIA+ youth and young adults of color are at greater risk for mental health issues, and due to discrimination face greater access barriers to mental healthcare. In this research, I conducted semi-structured interviews with sixteen clinicians from around the United States and Canada (who largely identify as LGBTQIA+ and people of color) to learn more about their perception of access barriers for this demographic and their suggestions for change. My findings show that the main barriers include the lack of LGBTQIA+ clinicians of color, lack of culturally competent clinicians, clinicians’ preconceived beliefs, exclusive structures, money, and transportation. Major suggestions for change include increasing the number of LGBTQIA+ clinicians of color, requiring cultural competency trainings, changing education programs, and organizational change. This study is necessary to better understand the barriers in place that prevent LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults of color from receiving the care they need and deserve.Psychology & Educatio
The Morphology of Dolphin Retractor Penis Muscle
No full textThe retractor penis muscle (RPM) is a common feature among some mammalian species. It holds the penis inside the penile silt during resting phase, relaxes as the penis extends outside the male’s body to form an erection, and contracts again after copulation to bring the penis back in. We are particularly interested in dolphin penile morphology and adaptations because they mate underwater, where the penis is subject to additional drag forces not present on terrestrial animals.
Through this research, we want to 1) investigate whether dolphin RPM is smooth or skeletal muscle; 2) examine the correlation between the volume of dolphin RPM (potential for force production) and the volume of the penis it connects with; 3) examine changes in thickness and density of RPM muscle fibers.
We determined that dolphin RPM is smooth muscle. The volume of dolphin RPM has tighter positive linear relationship with the volume of the penis base than with the penis tip. RPM fiber thickness shows significant difference across species and dolphin RPM contains more connective tissue. We propose that morphological variation is due to phylogenic factors and different forces the penis receives. A larger study including more species would be needed to test these hypotheses.Biological Science
Boomerang Adoptees: Making Moves in South Korea
No full textThis thesis explores the return of South Korean Adult adoptees in significant numbers began in the late 1980s, slowly picking up in the mid-1990s, and maintaining a steady flow today. Within this movement of return adoptees, there is a population that decides move to South Korea for extended to indefinite periods of time. These individuals have jobs, form communities, and redefine social expectations of the trajectory of international adoptees remaining in their countries of birth.
Four dominant categories emerged among the fourteen adoptees that I had the opportunity to interview: The Cultural Negotiator, The Expat, The Global Citizen, and The Deportee. The cultural negotiator adoptee travels and lives in South Korea to get a stronger sense of their ethnic and cultural identity by learning the language and experiencing the culture. They reside in different circles of adoptees, expats, and native Koreans and take on multiple cultural scripts to perform effectively in belonging in different social settings. The Expat adoptee returns to South Korea for reasons that are similar to non-Korean Americans travel to work in South Korea. They are exercising their ability to travel and live across the world and spend a few years abroad because of personal growth beyond ethnic identity, economic means, and convenience all while maintaining a relatively strong American identity. The Global Citizen adoptee internalizes a cosmopolitan sense of the world. They can imagine themselves living anywhere abroad, but they just happen to live in South Korea because it is easy logistically and legally. Lastly, the Deportee is a Korean American adoptee who was adopted to the United States but did not acquire citizenship. As a result, for one reason or another, they have been deported back to South Korea and are unable to navigate the country with the same ease as their counterparts with American citizenship.Sociology & Anthropolog
Crash Course: Student to Biochemical Research Scientist
No full textThis summer I worked at the Strittmatter lab at the Yale School of Medicine exploring a biochemical pathway involved in Alzheimer’s disease. I worked closely with my mentor to characterize the expression of the Pyk2 protein in a downstream cascade resulting in the phosphorylation of Tau protein. The phosphorylated Tau threads form tangles, which cause disruptions in the neuron’s internal transport system resulting in neuronal decline and death. Tau tangles are speculated to be one of the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease. The Pyk2 protein has been previously associated with learning and cancer research however, little is known about its role in the regulation of Tau. The data for the study was primarily collected through behavioral tests conducted on mice and analysis of their brain tissue post-testing. My work focused on testing and developing immunostaining protocols for the study. I was also responsible for slicing harvested mice brains and imaging cells after staining them for specific proteins. Since I had little experience in the field of biochemistry I developed a variety of technical skills while working at the lab. One of the most important skills that I honed at my time there was combining critical thinking and creativity to overcome challenges. The lab environment was conducive for both collaboration and discussion with other graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Their encouragement led me to improvise a specific method of slicing the brain, which not only saved time but also brain tissue. I was also able to gain insight on graduate school, pursuing research, and the daily challenges faced by researchers. Additionally weekly presentations with the principal investigator taught me how to better present my findings in an unbiased and confident manner. Overall the Strittmatter lab gave me an unforgettable and invaluable insight into the workings of a lab and ongoing research.Members of our panel explored various fields of Biochemical research outside the realm of Mount Holyoke College over the course of the summer. As undergraduate students of different backgrounds, we collaborated with PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows on projects ranging from legume symbiosis and yeast epigenetics to Alzheimer’s disease and aging in hematopoietic stem cells. Our members were associated with graduate school labs at the University of Massachusetts, Yale School of Medicine and the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), as well as labs such as The Jackson Laboratory in Maine. Though the environments and the sizes of the labs varied, we all learned many essential lessons on conducting ethical research and succeeding as scientists. Some of these included habits such as maintaining a detailed lab notebook with appropriate procedures and modifications, reading a plethora of papers linked to our fields, and asking our mentors questions whenever necessary. Since the nature of our research projects was unique, we cultivated different lab techniques and skills that we will share through individual presentations. We will also share the processes involved in securing the internships, using the Lynk funding, and adjusting to new lab environments
Ortega/Native Spirit 10
No full textAll building footprints were obtained from Facilities Management and are updated annually as necessary.201
Bridging the Gap: Millenials Researching the Lies of Older Adults
No full textThe physical and mental challenges faced by older adults are unique. Accompanying this is the equally important issue of caregiving. What role does caregiving and social support play in addressing health challenges among elderly, married couples when faced with life’s obstacles? How can the health of caregivers and their partners be improved? Amiti Varma spent her summer as a lab assistant at the Social Gerontology and Health research lab at Yale School of Public Health. Using her summer experience, Amiti will briefly describe her interest in the interaction between psychology and public health. In addition, she will describe the steps she took towards finding an internship, the range of challenges she faced over the summer and what she would do differently when faced with similar situations in the future.The elderly population is a minority group often underrepresented in research. Despite limited research associated with this population, the population of older adults aged 65+ in the United States is expected to double in size to over 80 million people by 2050.(1) During the summer of 2015, four Mount Holyoke students with majors in africana studies, biology, neuroscience, and psychology engaged in research pertaining to the elderly. Their varied internships included a community health-based research setting, a hospital, a psychology lab, and a pharmaceutical company. In this presentation, these individuals come together to discuss their distinct internship experiences. They offer their unique academic backgrounds and career interests while providing insights to the range of issues that affect the health of older adult populations
Summers in Medicine: Animals, Inmates, and HPV
No full textTobacco use is three times more common among inmates than the general population. Given the prevalence of smoking in incarcerated populations, focus on smoking cessation becomes highly relevant and a worthwhile pursuit in this high risk and underserved population. With the increasing bans on tobacco use in correctional facilities, the prison becomes an ideal setting for intervention because inmates have already gone through nicotine withdrawal, although not by choice, and most express interest in staying smoke-free once they are released. Our approach relied on positive behavior modification and focused on skills to avoid trigger situations, alter former routines and find alternative ways to cope. My presentation will focus on my experience at the correctional facility both in the context of my research project as well as observing the dynamics of the prison environment.Finding your way in a new environment can be intimidating, especially when that environment is a correctional facility, oral cancer research laboratory, regenerative medicine research facility, or one of the largest veterinary hospitals in the United States. Relying on our biology backgrounds, our Mount Holyoke experiences, and our enthusiasm for science, we had the opportunity to quickly find our niche in pre-existing structures where we were the least experienced members of our teams. Although challenging at first, our summers culminated into rewarding experiences involving new faces, new places, and new aspirations. Starting from similar backgrounds, come hear us talk about how our interests and experiences diverge us down different paths: from dentistry to medicine to biomedical engineering
Legal Services to Stop Injustice
No full textThis summer I worked at the Law Offices of Cliff Gardner, a private law firm assisting mostly death penalty inmates with direct appeals and habeas corpus petitions. As part of my internship, I was able to assist attorneys with legal research, record review, and sit in on meetings to discuss issues with case records and strategies for upcoming cases. I was also able to visit San Francisco’s San Quentin Penitentiary and go to death row to visit with a client. Through this internship I was able to network with interns and attorneys at events with several other organizations such as the California Appellate Project, the Habeas Corpus Resource Center, and the Office of the State Public Defender. The law office I worked in, as well as these other organizations, are dedicated to helping people in prison and on death row to make sure they were tried fairly in California. Many of these people were tried unfairly the first time and have been marginalized and ignored by the state of California. In addition, many of the clients these organizations help have little to no funds to pay their legal fees which means some cases are taken pro bono or are not taken and these clients are left on death row until these organizations have the funds to take their case. While working at this law firm, I had the incredible opportunity of meeting many of the people fighting injustice in the criminal justice system in California and was able to really understand the importance of what it means to have a fair trial in this country. I have always known that I want to go into law in the future but this internship helped me to form a goal of going into criminal justice reform.The law is a vast, complex entity; it is difficult to navigate, and—unfortunately—often easy to abuse. This summer, each panelist worked with an organization that provides access to justice to marginalized groups. These internships allowed us to learn about and fight injustice within the legal system, and provided us with opportunities to work with the law in this capacity first-hand. We gained valuable experience supporting those denied access to the justice system in their fight to safeguard their legal rights, and observed how our colleagues and organizations fought back against legal abuses, navigated challenging legal and office dynamics, and continued tirelessly to work towards improving access to the law for everyone
A Matter of Medical Faith: The Anti-Vaccination Debate from 1880 to 1910
No full textThe History Department thesis “A Matter of Medical Faith: The Anti-Vaccination Debate from 1880 to 1910,” explores the first anti-vaccination movement in the United States, and its eventual culmination in the 1905 Supreme Court case Jacobson v Massachusetts. Beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century, the anti-vaccination movement was a diverse group of activists, ranging from alternative medical practitioners, to concerned parents who feared for their children’s safety. These grassroots anti-vaccination groups contended with a rising public health movement over issues of vaccine safety, scientific beliefs, and the boundaries of state authority.
Through “scientific evidence,” public challenges, and court battles, both sides of the anti-vaccination debate fought to convince a hesitant and suspicious public of their own medical beliefs. As both sides grappled for power and legitimacy in a changing medical world, the argument over vaccination helped to redefine the place of government in health, and the balance between the needs of society and individual rights.Histor
Creighton Hall 10
No full textAll building footprints were obtained from Facilities Management and are updated annually as necessary.201