CHQ Junior Scholars 2026-2027
Anirban Chatterjee
Anirban is a third year Ph.D. student in the Department of Health Services Policy and Management. He is an Arnold Fellow and a Presidential Fellow. He is an MD in community medicine from India. Prior to joining the Ph.D. program here, he worked with multiple national and international organizations on a host of issues relevant to maternal and child health – including childhood vaccination, childhood pneumonia, maternal anaemia, and childhood malnutrition. With Dr. Peiyin Hung as his mentor, he is working on understanding what state and federal policies drive healthcare access and uptake, especially in rural mothers in the United States. As a CHQ Scholar, Anirban is working Dr. Varun Goel from the Department of Geography and Dr. Jihong Liu from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics to explore how ambient temperatures affect pregnancy outcomes.
Cuihong Huang
Cuihong Huang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, working under the supervision of Dr. Xueying Yang and Dr. Xiaoming Li. Her research interests focus on applying epidemiological designs and methods to improve the psychological and physical health of vulnerable populations, particularly adolescents and people living with HIV. Her prior work includes leveraging digital health interventions to promote adolescents’ physical activity and healthy dietary behaviors, conducting national surveys on the non-medical use of prescription drugs among adolescents, and leading multiple systematic reviews and meta-analyses on factors influencing chronic diseases. Currently, Cuihong is examining how structural barriers (e.g., structural racism), family factors (e.g., caregiving burden, family relationships), and individual resources (e.g., resilience) affect the health outcomes of people living with HIV. Additionally, she is interested in exploring the opportunities and challenges of applying machine learning techniques in the HIV field.
Elaina McGovern
Elaina McGovern is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and her master’s degree in Mathematics with a statistics emphasis from Boise State University. Her research focuses on the application of statistical methods to public health, with interests in longitudinal and functional data analysis, high-dimensional data, and survival analysis. She is particularly interested in applying these methods to research on infectious diseases, health disparities, social determinants of health, and physical activity. As a CHQ Junior Scholar, Elaina works under the mentorship of Drs. Xueying Yang and Fanghui Shi to explore the impact of physical activity on sleep quality among people living with HIV.
Eliza Joy
Eliza is a Ph.D. student in Psychology with a concentration in School Psychology. She earned dual B.S. degrees in Psychology and Neuroscience from Arizona State University in 2024. During her undergraduate studies, she interned at a youth Native American substance use rehabilitation center and a child selective mutism clinic. Her broad interests center on integrated collaborations between schools, healthcare, and community systems to promote youth well-being. With Dr. Sayward Harrison as her mentor, Eliza’s current research focuses on recovery-oriented approaches for adolescents with substance use disorders, with an emphasis on recovery high schools as integrated models of behavioral health care within educational settings. As a CHQ Scholar, Eliza is working with Dr. Cheuk Chi (George) Tam and Dr. Pieter Baker from the Arnold School of Public Health to explore prescription opioid misuse in young adults.
Hao Zhang
Hao Zhang is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior at the University of South Carolina. His research employs quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches, with an emphasis on population-based and interdisciplinary research. His research interests include cognitive aging, obesity, HIV, social determinants of health, and health disparities, with a particular focus on vulnerable and underserved populations. He is interested in understanding how social, behavioral, and health-related factors interact to shape health outcomes across diverse populations. His work aims to generate evidence that can inform public health interventions and policies and ultimately promote healthy aging and health equity.
Olivia Hinds
Olivia Hinds is a third year Ph.D. student in the Health Services Policy and Management Department, under the supervision of Dr. Christina Andrews. Olivia is a Presidential Fellow and an Arnold Fellow. Olivia’s research interests are around the delivery and financing of substance use disorder treatment from a health policy and health services perspective, with a particular focus on Medicaid and perinatal populations. As a CHQ Junior Scholar, she is mentored by Dr. Jihong Liu and Dr. Peiyin Hung.
Qingyang Li
Qingyang Li is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior at the Arnold School of Public Health, under the supervision of Dr. Xueying Yang and Dr. Xiaoming Li. Her research interests include substance use and treatment, telehealth, HIV prevention, and health disparities among vulnerable populations. Her current research focuses on the measurement of trust in AI-assisted diagnosis and clinical decision support systems, as well as the role of telehealth in substance use disorder treatment initiation and how vulnerability may shape this relationship. She is also interested in HIV testing and prevention among underserved populations. As a CHQ Junior Scholar, she is mentored by Dr. Monique Brown and Dr. Sayward Harrison.
Skylar Gross
Skylar Gross is a third-year PhD candidate in the Department of Health Services Policy and Management at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Boston University and her MPH from Emory University before working as a data scientist in New York City. Her research broadly focuses on substance use disorder, health policy, and access to care. In particular, she studies the role of emergency departments in facilitating access to treatment for opioid use disorder, as well as outcomes such as ED readmissions and overdoses. Under the guidance of her advisor, Dr. Christina Andrews, she also contributes to the development and dissemination of estimates across the opioid use disorder cascade of care for the South Carolina Center of Excellence in Addiction. As a CHQ Scholar, Skylar is mentored by Dr. Zhang and Dr. Olatosi.
Sulochan GC
Sulochan GC is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior at the University of South Carolina, supervised by Drs. Xueying Yang and Xiaoming Li. He earned his Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm.) from the Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, and previously worked as a hospital pharmacist at Nepal’s largest public healthcare facility. His research focuses on HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and cardiovascular disease, with particular interest in disparities across the HIV treatment cascade. His interests include retention in care; physical and psychological health outcomes; and the clinical, behavioral, social, geographical, and structural determinants of suboptimal care and health outcomes among people with HIV.