Brianna Mireku ‘22 engages in Psychology Research, DEI Work, and Healthcare Ethics
Brianna Mireku (Psychology major and Public Health and Spanish minor) has been a research assistant in Dr. Read’s Language Learning Lab since her sophomore year. She writes:
“This summer marked the beginning of the second research project I am working on called Screen Mediated Shared Reading (SMSR), which is about measuring children’s engagement and learning from shared reading experiences over Zoom. In this project, I have taken on the role as one of the team leads and I am currently running trials to collect data from our child participants. I am looking forward to the results from this study where we will learn more about the most effective ways to conduct shared reading online with kids, which has become more popular throughout the course of the pandemic.
Over the course of this summer, I also interned at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, CA. I worked under the Vice President of Enterprise, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Huntington Hospital is very early in its DEI mission, so much of the work that I was involved in centered around creating a structured plan for how the hospital could improve its services to promote higher organizational equity. I also had an amazing opportunity to work in the hospital’s Mother-Baby Unit because of my passion for birth equity and Black maternal health. In this area, I helped the hospital through their Baby-Friendly re-designation by conducting interviews with staff and physicians on their breastfeeding knowledge. I also worked closely with one of the perinatal safety nurses on how to implement birth equity training.
Another exciting opportunity that I have just begun is through the Markkula Center. I was selected to be a part of the 2021-2022 Health Care Ethics Intern Class. Through this internship, we navigate the field of bioethics and hold discussions as well as reflect on developing issues. So far this experience has been incredible getting the chance to work with other students who are also highly interested in ethical dilemmas seen in healthcare. This experience will help me reach a stronger understanding of bioethics, as I intend to go into healthcare and become a physician in the future."