CHQ Junior Scholars 2025-2026
Abdul-Hanan Saani Inusah
Abdul-Hanan Inusah is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, under the supervision of Dr. Shan Qiao and Dr. Xiaoming Li. He holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) from the University for Development Studies, Ghana. Before beginning his doctoral studies, he worked with national and international organizations to deliver SRHR interventions to underserved communities. His research focuses on sexual and reproductive health, including HIV and non-communicable diseases, among historically marginalized groups. He is particularly interested in how structural determinants of health influence disparities in access, outcomes, and equity, and in leveraging digital tools to design and deliver innovative interventions.
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.
Edith Utaka
Edith is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Laboratory Sciences and a master’s degree in public health. She is also a CHQ Junior Scholar for the 2025/2026 Academic session. Her research interests are infectious diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS and HPV infection, with a focus on how social determinants of health influence their acquisition and treatment outcomes. Through her research, she hopes to identify effective strategies to address health disparities related to social factors, promote HPV vaccination, screening practices, and the uptake of other preventive health services. Her works have been published in several Journals, and she has presented her research at both international and national conferences. As a CHQ Scholar, Edith is working with her CHQ mentors, Drs. Monique Brown and Jiajia Zhang to investigate disparities in cervical, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancer screening among people with comorbidities and factors that drive such disparities.
Hiluf Abraha
Hiluf Ebuy Abraha is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Epidemiology at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, and a Grace Jordan McFadden Professors Program Scholar and Arnold Fellow. He earned his B.Sc. in Midwifery and M.Sc. in Biostatistics and Health Informatics from Mekelle University, Ethiopia. His research focuses on maternal and child health, with particular interests in severe maternal morbidity, perinatal outcomes, and reproductive health. He applies advanced epidemiologic methods to study health disparities and has authored several peer-reviewed publications. Before beginning his doctoral studies, he worked as a midwife and later as a hospital quality improvement coordinator in Tigray, leading initiatives to strengthen maternal and child health services. As a CHQ Junior Scholar, Hiluf is mentored by Drs. Peiyin Hung and Jihong Liu.
Katherine Weaver
Katherine Weaver is a third-year doctoral student in the Psychology Department. She is a member of Dr. Sayward Harrison’s Healthy Futures Lab. Her research aims to increase health equity among youth living with chronic medical conditions, with a focus on access to integrated care. As a CHQ Scholar, she is mentored by Dr. Xueying Yang and Dr. Shan Qiao.
Maryam Goli
Maryam Goli is a second-year PhD student in Mass Communications. She is originally from Tehran and worked towards information freedom among marginalized societies while living in Ankara, Turkey. Most recently, she has graduated from her master’s program in Media Innovation in Journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno. Her CHQ mentors are Dr. Dezhi Wu and Dr. Banky Olatosi. Maryam’s research as a junior CHQ scholar is in the intersection of health and science communication focussing on the communication issues surrounding PFAS contamination in consumer goods.
Menglin Shang
Menglin Shang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior. She is working under the supervision of Dr. Shan Qiao and Dr. Xiaoming Li. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Preventive Medicine and Public Health from Shandong University and her master’s degree in Biostatistics from Sun Yat-sen University. Her research focuses on HIV prevention and care, stigma reduction, and mental health promotion among vulnerable populations, such as people living with HIV (PWH). She is also interested in applying advanced statistical methods to real-world data, including electronic health records. As a CHQ Junior Scholar, she is mentored by Dr. Sayward Harrison and Dr. Cheuk Chi (George) Tam.
Pamela Magande
Pamela Magande is a fourth-year PhD Candidate in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics with a concentration in infectious diseases as well as Maternal and Child Health. She has research interests in the intersection of infectious and non-infectious diseases, especially among people living with HIV in low- and middle-income settings. With significant clinical experience working as a physician in Zimbabwe, with an interest in infectious diseases, including HIV and tuberculosis, she has led several teams for patient management. As a CHQ Junior scholar, she is working under the mentorship of Dr. Qiao Shan and Dr. Xueying Yang.
Md Utba Bin Rashid
Utba is a third-year PhD candidate in Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of South Carolina. He is a trained medical doctor with a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Epidemiology. His research focuses on maternal and child health, with a particular emphasis on hypertensive disorders in pregnancy and severe maternal morbidity. Utba has been actively involved in multiple research projects, has published peer-reviewed articles, and has presented his work at academic conferences. As a CHQ Junior Scholar, he is working under the mentorship of Dr. Peiyin Hung and Dr. Xiaoming Li to advance research addressing maternal health disparities.
Zion Crichlow
Zion Crichlow is a third-year student in the Clinical-Community Psychology doctoral program here at USC mentored by Dr. Guillermo Wippold. A native of Newark, New Jersey, Zion received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from Rutgers University-Newark. Zion’s research interests center on the sociopolitical climate as an invalidating environment beyond the home for minoritized communities, with specific attention to outcomes linked to emotion dysregulation, substance use, and coping styles.