The Karakochuk lab welcomes Jessica Yu (left) and Lulu Pei (right), two UBC undergraduate students who will be spending their summer abroad with our research teams in Malaysia and Cambodia this year. Jessica and Lulu were students in Dr. Karakochuk’s Applied International Nutrition course at UBC (FNH 455) and received Go Global Self-Directed Research Awards to for their upcoming research semesters abroad.
Jessica recently graduated with a B.A. in International Relations from the University of British Columbia, with a focus on environmental and health policy. Under the supervision of Dr. Karakochuk, she will be assisting HUNU graduate student Kaitlyn Samson with her thesis research on folic acid supplementation for the prevention of neural tube defects. From this research experience, Jessica hopes to gain a better understanding of how to disseminate research into effective and sustainable health policy. Jessica is interested in pursuing a M.Sc. degree in Global Health Policy in the near future. Specifically, she is interested in the effects of climate change on nutritional and health outcomes in developing countries. Email: jessicayu@alumni.ubc.ca
Lulu recently completed her B.Sc. degree in Integrated Science at the University of British Columbia investigating the crossroads between human nutrition and immunology. She will be working towards a MSc in Biostatistics, joint with the School of Population and Public Health, starting in Fall 2019. An interest in international nutrition, especially surrounding iron, drew Lulu to the research being conducted by Dr. Karakochuk and her human nutrition team. This summer, she will be assisting HUNU graduate student Jordie Fischer in a 12-week RCT in Cambodia assessing the potential harm of iron supplementation among populations where iron deficiency is not the cause of anemia – with a focus on non-pregnant Cambodian women of reproductive age. Email: lulu.pei@alumni.ubc.ca