Intern Spotlight: Jordyn Begay, Ryon Das, Ingrid Fortes, and Gabriella Pollack

Jordyn Begay is a rising junior at Arizona State University. This summer, he was accepted into the Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) Biostatistics Internship in the Department of Population Health Sciences. Together with Adanya Bailey, a fellow WCM biostatistics intern, they analyzed economic evaluation data collected within a trial led by CHERISH Co-director Sean M. Murphy that sought to improve HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) engagement among sexual and gender minority populations with substance use disorder.

What responsibilities or projects did you take on this summer?

This summer, I participated in a real-world health research project through the Weill Cornell Medicine Biostatistics Summer Internship Program. I worked in a small group to develop a statistical analysis plan, clean and organize data, conduct analyses, interpret results, and prepare findings for a final poster presentation. I also attended a variety of methods lectures and learned how biostatistics is applied in public health research.

How has this experience shaped your academic, professional, or personal goals?

This experience strengthened my interest in biostatistics, public health, and research that can improve health outcomes. Learning R, statistical analysis, and research communication helped me see how data can answer important health questions. Professionally, it encouraged me to consider graduate school and careers in biostatistics, epidemiology, or public health research. Personally, it gave me more confidence working in collaborative research settings.

Looking back on this summer, what is one skill, advice, or memory you appreciate gaining the most?

The skill I appreciate gaining most is learning how to approach a statistical analysis from start to finish. I learned how to move a research question to an analysis plan, then to data cleaning, modeling, interpretation, and presentation. I also valued the mentorship and advice about networking, graduate school, and different career paths.

The poster presentation was one of my favorite parts of the internship. Communicating my results and the findings left a lasting impression on me. This culminating presentation was a pivotal moment when I saw the importance of research within the fields of biostatistics and data modeling. Presenting and sharing my findings showed me how data can be used to approach meaningful questions and contribute to impactful research.

Ryon Das is a rising sophomore at Georgia Institute of Technology majoring in computer science. As a software engineering intern, he worked alongside Dimitri Baptiste, a CHERISH staff member and research software engineer, and Matthew Carroll from the Syndemics Lab at the Boston Medical Center to update the Researching Effective Strategies to Prevent Opioid Death (RESPOND) model. Available as an online tool, RESPOND is used by researchers and healthcare providers to evaluate the impact of different treatment strategies that offer medications for opioid use disorder.

What responsibilities or projects did you take on this summer?

I worked on two projects related to the RESPOND model, a tool for simulating opioid use disorder treatment interventions. Using JavaScript and CSS, I enhanced the end-user experience of the RESPOND tool by building an interactive table of contents for easier navigation, implementing slider constraints so users can't enter invalid values, resolving bugs, and making the tool more accessible. I also studied and reorganized RESPOND’s software system to represent a wider range of treatment options, conducted extensive testing and validation, and checked results case by case so the tool is easier to adjust and fine-tune for the end-user.

How has this experience shaped your academic, professional, or personal goals?

This internship bridged my academic studies to the real-world and cemented my passion for modeling and simulation. Working on the RESPOND projects showed me how software engineering can inform public health. Academically, I refined my coursework selections to focus on simulation, algorithms, and systems. Professionally, navigating a large, complex set of code, submitting pull requests or proposed changes for review, and collaborating closely with engineers boosted my confidence in building software from start to finish and working within a fast-paced, collaborative development process. Personally, seeing my code contribute to an existing tool that informs public health reinforced my goal to build software that solves meaningful, high-stakes problems.

Looking back on this summer, what is one skill, advice, or memory you appreciate gaining the most?

The most valuable skill I gained this summer was learning how to navigate and contribute to a large, unfamiliar codebase while collaborating within an active engineering team. The team has a lot of different projects using many different coding languages, and one of the biggest takeaways I learned was the importance of asking questions to get familiarized quickly.

Ingrid Soares Henke Fortes is a rising senior at Tulane University pursuing a dual degree in neuroscience and public health. As a SUMR scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, she worked with CHERISH Dissemination & Policy Core Co-director Maggie Lowenstein on Hospital to Housing, a five-year NIH-funded study that aims to understand the impact of transitional housing on individuals with OUD and the medical complications that arise when they are experiencing homelessness.

What responsibilities or projects did you take on this summer?

I worked as a part-time SUMR scholar with Dr. Maggie Lowenstein on the qualitative aspect of the Hospital to Housing (H2H) Implementation and Evaluation research project. Some of my responsibilities included conducting interviews with H2H staff members, de-identifying and proofreading interview transcripts, and participating in the rapid qualitative coding process alongside my co-SUMR scholar, Gabby Pollack. I also attended research meetings hosted by CHERISH and the Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy (CAMP) and participated in CAMP’s community outreach programming.

How has this experience shaped your academic, professional, or personal goals?

While studying abroad in Copenhagen in the fall of 2025, I participated in a research project examining how street nurses support youth experiencing homelessness and substance use disorders. Through interviews with street nurses, I learned about unique barriers this population faces in accessing traditional healthcare and how street-based care can help address them.

During the summer, I encountered similar questions while evaluating the Hospital to Housing program. Comparing these experiences showed me how different programs can address similar challenges in healthcare access and continuity of care. While street nurses bring care directly to individuals who may not engage in traditional healthcare settings, H2H uses housing and social support to improve health after hospitalization. This experience strengthened my interest in studying and working with programs that address health needs beyond traditional clinical care and evaluate success through outcomes beyond conventional measures. I also enjoyed analyzing qualitative data, particularly using interviews to understand how programs are implemented, and hope to continue developing these skills in future endeavors.

Looking back on this summer, what is one skill, advice, or memory you appreciate gaining the most?

One of the most important skills I learned was communicating qualitative research findings to the general public. At the end of the summer, Gabby and I participated in a symposium where we presented our findings to our internship cohort and members of the community. As we developed our presentation and practiced with Dr. Lowenstein and members of CAMP, we realized the importance of focusing on the key takeaways rather than small details, even when those details were the most interesting to us. Considering our audience didn’t necessarily have prior knowledge on this topic, highlighting the most important findings made our work more accessible and ensured that the broader implications of our research weren’t lost in the details.