From UConn Today: August 30, 2023
Puppetry Student Says Multidisciplinary Talents are Key to Her Success
Joanie Papillon ’24 (SFA), poses with the current progress of her puppetry project, “Taurus” in her workspace in the Puppet Arts Complex at the UConn Depot Campus on July 27, 2023. (Sydney Herdle/UConn Photo)
From UConn Today: May 10, 2023
Romoye Sohan has been involved in multiple UConn Health Health Career Opportunities Program offerings and volunteers at Windham Hospital. She’s a biological sciences major on the pre-medical track. Romoye was born and raised in Jamaica and likes to collect snow globes from each country she visits. She currently lives in Windsor, CT and graduated from Windsor High School.
Yvette Oppong is a fan of ‘The Office’, but has also found time this summer to conduct research at UConn Health in the Center for Molecular Oncology, where she studied Paget’s Disease of Bone. She’s an environmental studies major on the pre-med track and says that if she had to choose, she’d rather be hot than cold. Yvette is originally from Ghana but lives in East Hartford, CT and attended Two Rivers Magnet High School.
Meghan Long has a unique middle name story. Her middle name is “Vannary”, which is the female version of her father’s name, “Sovanna”, and it means “princess” in Khmer, which is her family’s native language. Meghan is from Middletown, CT and graduated from Mercy High School. At UConn she’s a physiology and neurobiology major with a minor in psychological sciences. This summer she was an Inpatient Ambassador at Middlesex Hospital and worked at Middlesex Gastroenterology Associates. She has also shadowed in pediatric surgery, radiation oncology, dermatology, and anesthesiology, which is her favorite.
Lourdes Leguiza is an allied health sciences major of Argentinian descent from Greenwich, CT, where she graduated in 2017 from Greenwich High School. She has interned at a local hospital, shadowing nurses in the IVF department, where she also did research. She recently rescued a cat, which she says has become her baby!
Shaharia Ferdus is originally from Bangladesh but grew up in Meriden, CT where she graduated from Orville H. Platt High School. She loves to get to know different languages, cultures, and communities. She watches videos on Japanese history, follows Korean dramas, and updates her Italian music playlist on Spotify. As a future healthcare professional she feels it’s important to be able to understand many languages. This international flavor is apparent in her health care background. Her early volunteer work at Midstate Medical Center presented a stark contrast to the healthcare services she experienced in Bangladesh, and since that time her focus has been on underserved populations. This summer, she traveled with Huskies for Haiti, and volunteered at rural and local clinics, taking vital signs, supplying patients with medicine, and supporting the staff. She also volunteered at a Migrant Farm Worker clinic, providing care for Jamaican migrant workers in Connecticut. For the remainder of the summer, she worked in a nutritional sciences laboratory as part of the Bridging the Gap program, primarily investigating the effect of gut-derived bacterial lipids on liver health and the possible relationship to atherosclerosis. She will continue this research throughout the year as part of her Honors thesis.
Sandra Osei-Boasiako has played tennis since she was a freshman in high school, and enjoys reading and meeting new people. Originally from Columbus, OH, she has lived in East Hartford, CT since the age of five, and graduated from East Hartford High School. Her mother is a nurse and used to take Sandra to work with her. Sandra plans to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a nursing major with a minor in Spanish. Sandra has volunteered at Riverside Health Center for two summers.
Zaiba Khan is a molecular and cell biology major who plans to minor in political science and Spanish. She has worked in an UConn Health research lab on virtual cell modeling and analysis software. She has also volunteered at St. Francis Hospital’s maternity ward, and was a member of UConn Health’s Health Career Opportunities Program offerings. Zaiba is from East Windsor, CT and graduated from East Windsor High School. She’s also been cliff diving!
