Elon alumni publish their undergraduate research with Cynthia Fair, outside collaborators

Elon alumni Sophie Rupp, Michelle Reissig and Junie Burke publish their research in health-related journals.

Several Elon alumni have published their undergraduate scholar research with Elon Watts/Thompson Professor of public health studies and department chair of public health studies, Cynthia Fair.

Sophie Rupp ‘16, Elon College Fellow and Lumen Scholar, published research on how young adults with end-stage renal disease navigate in education or employment settings. The research, “It’s what I have, it’s not who I am: A qualitative study of social support in education/employment settings and transition readiness of young adults with end-stage renal disease,” is published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

In addition to Fair, co-authors include Hannah Korycinski ‘21 and Dr. Maria Ferris, Professor, director of The UNC Self-management and Transition (STARx) Program at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The research of Honors Fellow and Lumen Scholar Michelle Reissig ‘17 was published in the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health, along with co-authors Bethany Houpt ’15, a certified nurse-midwife, Vicki Latham and Fair. Findings underscore the important role that birth stories can play in shaping birth expectations. Their research is titled “An exploratory study of the role of birth stories in shaping expectations for childbirth among nulliparous Black women: Everybody is different (but I’m scared).”

Junie Burke ‘19, Honors Fellow and Odyssey Scholar, sought to identify the psychosocial interventions and services provided to children with cancer and their family members, to ascertain whether there are differences in interventions provided by age of the patient and stage of treatment, and to learn about barriers to psychosocial service provision. The article, “Utilization of psychotherapeutic interventions by pediatric psychosocial providers,” was co-authored by Dr. Lori Wiener (National Institutes of Health), Dr. Marie Barnett (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), Dr. Stacy Flowers (Wright State University), Dr. Amanda Thompson (Inova Schar Cancer Institute) and Fair.