Saving Mothers Research Team (SMRT)

Project Leader: Amy Penn (advisor)

8. Aashika Damodar (President): is a senior studying Anthropology & Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests include global health, human rights and gender studies. In 2007 she was a fellow with the Polaris Project, a leading non-profit in the anti-human trafficking movement. As a fellow, she was responsible for designing a national public awareness campaign as well as field research on the issue. Currently, she is working on a thesis to explicate the issues of domestic sex trafficking (the trafficking of US citizens) and the lack of social and medical services available as an example structural violence. She plans to attend graduate school, but is in debate between Medical Anthropology or Public Health!

Other Team Member(s) Info:

Amy Penn (SMRT Advisor) is a UC Berkeley undergraduate double majoring in Microbial Biology and Chinese Language and will graduate May 2008. She is interested in health care systems of developing countries. In 2007, she completed a Spanish-immersion, medical service-learning internship in Ecuador and plans to participate in another internship in India. She plans to attend medical school in the future with an emphasis on social medicine (Dr. Paul Farmer is her idol) and international health care.

Nichole Young-Lin (Co-founder): is currently a student in the Premedical Post-baccalaureate Program at Columbia University. She graduated from UC Berkeley with honors in 2007 where she majored in Political Economy of Industrial Societies and Public Health. The idea for Saving Mothers Research Team came from her thesis titled, "Misoprostol and Traditional Birth Attendants: A Life-Saving Combination." Ever since then, maternal health is at the center of her research and volunteer work. She has worked with traditional birth attendants in Uganda on an obstetric fistula project and conducted research on their distribution of medical supplies. Nichole plans to go to medical school and study public health in the future.

Anastasiya Denisova (Co-Founder): is currently a graduate student at the Department of Economics in Georgetown University. She graduated with honors from Berkeley in May 2006 with a double major in Economics and Political Science. International Development has been her passion ever since she moved to United States. Over the course of her undergraduate studies, she was actively involved with the World Affairs Council of Northern California and organized programs to educate the citizens about International Affairs. Among the programs she worked on was a series on micro-finance involving Muhammad Yunus. Being involved as a research apprentice in various econ projects in UC Berkeley and writing her thesis on the spillover effects of Foreign Direct Investment in Eastern Europe, Anastasiya has become very concerned about the divide between the research being done and actual implementation. Co-founding Saving Mothers with Nichole Young-Lin has opened her an opportunity to actually work on the application of the research in life.

Rosemary Lam: is a third year UC Berkeley undergraduate majoring in Public Health with an emphasis on Environmental Health and International Health. She is interested in studying on how to improve the environment in developing nations in order to help stop the spread of infectious diseases (especially the preventable disease that affect young children) and stop the development of chronic diseases caused by pollution. For two years, she has volunteered at UCSF Medical hospital spending time with patients while making them as comfortable as possible, providing them with her listening ear, newspapers, books, movies, and arts and crafts. She plans on continuing her education with a graduate degree in Public Health.

Ashveer Pal Singh: is a sophomore studying social and cultural anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is interested in medical anthropology and has previously worked with the University of California Davis' Cancer Center to examine the cultural perceptions of cancer in a community of Punjabi Sikhs in California. Currently he is conducting research for his honors thesis which examines the politics of identification and belonging through the lens of folk dance in the Punjabi diaspora. His future plans include graduate school in anthropology and/or medical school.

Ying Zhang: is a second year Pre-med undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology. She is intrigued with exploring the various opportunities available for the disadvantaged, especially those pertaining to healthcare, and issues surrounding women’s health. Being a volunteer for the Suitcase Clinic, a non-profit providing resources to homeless and low-income individuals, has blessed her with the chance to better understand such issues. Through Suitcase, she has been given the opportunity to interact with a vast array of people from many different backgrounds. She also plans on attending medical school after college to pursue her dreams of becoming an OB/GYN who can combine the best of both western medicine and traditional herbal practices to treat patients. An intense fascination with herbal medicine and the curative properties of various plants, instilled by her mother, has dogged Ying for most of her life.

Bethany Slentz: is a senior at UC Berkeley studying Anthropology and Medicine. Currently, she is working on her honors thesis with her research interests including the uses of rhetorical smokescreens for building institutional memories, holistic medicine for cancer treatments, cross-cultural perspectives of agency in cases of pediatric cancer, and the effects of summer camp on social adjustment after cancer. After graduation, she intends to obtain a second degree in Microbiology from the University of Hawaii and to fulfill her dream of having the perfect tan.

Yu-Xuan Dang: is a 2nd year undergraduate majoring in Molecular & Cell Biology (MCB) at UC Berkeley. He is a premed student who is considering pediatrics when he enters medical school. He speaks fluent Chinese, although he was raised in the Bay Area. He loves Italian food and Garlic Ice Cream. His hobbies include swimming, hiking, and watching The Office.

Jennifer Huang: is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Berkeley majoring in Public Health. Although she is still in her first stages of studying Public Health, she has developed a keen interest in health policy in third world countries. Growing up in Thailand her entire life and being given the opportunity to volunteer in the Duang Prateep Foundation, a charity organization that services the residents of the largest slum in Thailand – Klong Toey, she aims to develop a better understanding of the different health and political issues surrounding developing countries. Jennifer plans to travel abroad after graduation and hopefully continue her studies in Public Health in graduate school.