Staff

Benjamin Kim

Research Coordinator, Cornell University – Biology & Society ‘22

Throughout his time with HDIL, Ben has conducted literature reviews for the purpose of improving end-of-life care and palliative care, analyzed interviews for a research publication comparing health systems, and helped develop PRIME Sleep Education Modules that educate providers on practices that can improve patients' sleep habits and health. He is a co-author for the “Development and Palliative Care Staff Reactions to a Sleep Regulation Educational Intervention” manuscript and received acknowledgement for Supuck Prugsiganont’s published PhD thesis “Waiting space: Exploring public hospital non-clinical areas through a user-focused design approach”. Hoping to become more well-versed in the field of evidence-based design research, he aspires to help improve medication adherence and safety in older adults with cognitive decline that reside at home by contributing to the Home Opioid Prescription Education and Smart Storage (HOPES) program that HDIL is currently working on. Ben aspires to be a physician in the future and hopes that his participation in HDIL will help him achieve this goal.

Anne Cramer

Community Engagement Officer – Human Centered Design ‘23

Anne joined HDIL in July 2021 and serves both as a Graduate Research Fellow as well as the HDIL Community Engagement Officer. The research conducted in this lab aligns closely with Anne's interests in human centered design for aging in place.

Alicia Valencia

Human Centered Design ‘23

Student Research Fellows

Peyton Fort

Global and Public Health Sciences ‘22, Sloan Masters in Health Administration ‘23

Through her work on HDIL’s ARPA Tech to Market and HOPES teams, Peyton has completed qualitative and quantitative research, contributed to a literature review of medication mis-management, and aided in the development of a business plan. As the lab’s Communications Officer, she redesigned the website, created new social media platforms, and mentored new research fellows. She has come to understand how the patient experience is influenced by the environment and hopes to translate this knowledge to a career in holistic health facility design to improve health access and equity.

Emily Udagawa

Global and Public Health Sciences ‘24

Emily joined HDIL in the summer of 2021 as an undergraduate research fellow. Through her time at HDIL, she has assisted with focus groups, performed qualitative analyses and product evaluations within the HOPES project. Emily has not only developed these research skills, but also enhanced her communication and collaborative skills as she worked closely with her fellow lab members on challenging tasks. Emily hopes to further explore her interests in the intersection between healthcare, technology, and design.

Sabrina Tang

Human Development ‘23

During her time with HDIL, Sabrina has contributed to a literature review on medication misadherence and conducted a qualitative analysis to better understand issues, solutions, and barriers to scaling solutions for medication misadherence among community-dwelling older adults with cognitive impairment. As HDIL's Undergraduate Research Officer, she is responsible for facilitating communication among the research fellows. As an aspiring physician associate, Sabrina hopes to use the initiative, communicative skills, and interdisciplinary knowledge she has gained to work toward a future of better healthcare and quality of life for older adults.

Elizabeth Madimidola

Global and Public Health Sciences ‘23

Elizabeth's hope in participating in this lab is to understand the vast field of healthcare in a different and more design-centered way. Elizabeth wants to better understand the gaps in the health care system and use research to discover how health innovations can help solve these pressing issues.

Megan Cabaero

Human Development ‘23

As a new research fellow, Megan has contributed to understanding and applying Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) for the current HOPES project. Though she has come to learn that research also requires collaboration, patience, persistence, she hopes to better understand the research process as her time in the lab continues. Megan seeks to gain an interdisciplinary perspective on healthcare as an aspiring physician.

Gbedasso Pitang

Biology & Society ‘25

Throughout his time at Hdil, Gbedasso has contributed to a literature review for the purpose of assessing the magnitude of medication misadherence among community-dwelling elderly with cognitive decline, identifying current problems associated with medication adherence, and the potential role of technology in medication adherence and management. He has also coded focus group and interview data using REDcap and participated in the qualitative analysis for the purposes of understanding the issues, solutions, and barriers to medication adherence among elderly adults with cognitive impairment. Gbedasso aspires to obtain a Ph.D. and engage in research that will contribute to the eradication of barriers to access to medicine for under-served communities, specifically African communities.

Grace Moser

Psychology & Studio Art ‘23

Grace Moser joined HDIL in November 2021. During her time in the lab, she has contributed to a literature review that aims to address the prevalence of medication non-adherence in community-dwelling elderly patients with cognitive impairments. She hopes to apply what she learns about medication management in older adults with cognitive decline and the connections that exist between health and design toward future research that strives to aid those with neurodegenerative diseases.

Veronica Zellers

Global and Public Health Sciences ‘24

After joining HDIL in September of 2021, Veronica has contributed to various projects within the lab, all working to further her interest in non-pharmacological solutions to health outcomes. She has collaborated on the product evaluation team as part of the Home Opioid Prescription Education and Smart Storage (HOPES) project, developing evaluation criteria based on literature reviews and working towards a final product evaluation paper. Veronica has also partnered with the qualitative research team to analyzing findings from the HOPES project. Passionate about involving the community in research, she has taken on the role of regular point person for the lab's community partners. Veronica is excited to move forward with HDIL, contributing her public health perspective and interests in health equity, while also learning from the others around her.

Yuexing Hao

Computer Science ‘22

Yuexing Hao joined HDIL in November 2021 and served as a research fellow. She combined her interest in computer science and health intelligence and designed decision support systems for human-centered palliative care. During her time at HDIL, Yuexing expects to conduct research on patient-centered designs and data analysis to improve patients’ experience and make optimized health decisions.

Alexandra Yiachos

Healthcare Policy ‘24

Through HDIL, Alexandra has been able to work with an interdisciplinary group of researchers focusing on qualitative data analysis on the HOPES Program. She has learned extensively about current problems associated with medication management of elderly adults suffering from cognitive decline. With a background in policy analysis and goal of becoming a physician, she believes the skills she has acquired in HDIL will help her incite crucial change in healthcare for patients suffering from neurodegeneration.

Madeline Lei

Policy Analysis and ‘23

Madeline hopes to explore innovative healthcare methods through the intersections of health equity and design. She looks forward to contributing to the HOPES project through cost benefit analysis and also plans to work on the training team to translate HDIL research into real practice. With aspirations in health policy, she plans to apply these skills to the public health realm in the future.