Ahlam K. Abuawad, Ph.D. Candidate

Externship with Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine Department of Epidemiology and SRP Project 4 (October 1, 2020 to November 30, 2021)

During her Externship, Ahlam is working under the mentorship of Dr. Margaret Karagas, Ph.D., Dartmouth SRP Project 4 Leader and Chair of Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine Department of Epidemiology. Ahlam’s research project examines the association between arsenic and gestational diabetes mediated by one-carbon metabolites from participants in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Ahlam is a doctoral candidate with the Columbia University SRP under the mentorship of Drs. Ana Navas-Acien, Professor Environmental Health Sciences in Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health and Director, Columbia University Superfund Research Program and Mary V. Gamble, Associate Professor Environmental Health Sciences. in the Mailman School of Public Health. Ahlam’s dissertation work focuses on arsenic, one-carbon metabolism, and diabetes in American Indians from the US Strong Heart Family Study.

Andres Cardenas, Ph.D., MPH

Externship with Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and SRP Project 4 (Former)

At the time of his Externship, Dr. Andreas Cardenas was a PhD student at Oregon State University’s College of Public Health and Health Sciences, where he was mentored by Dr. Molly Kile, Assistant Professor at OSU. At Dartmouth he was mentored by Drs. Margaret Karagas, Ph.D., SRP Project 4 Leader and Chair of Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine Department of Epidemiology and Dr. Carmen Marsit, Ph.D., Rollins Distinguished Professor of Research and Associate Dean for Research at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. Dr. Cardenas’ Externship research involved examining DNA methylation changes in cord blood in relation to in utero arsenic and mercury exposure. Dr. Cardenas went on to a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard, working with Project VIVA (“a longitudinal research study of women and children”), and is now an Assistant Professor in Residence of Environmental Health Sciences at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

Subham Dasguta, Ph.D., PostDoc

Externship with Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC)  (October 2021-January 2022)

During his Externship, Dr. Dasguta is working primarily in the Leach Lab with Drs. Steven Leach, MD, Director, NCCC; Bruce Stanton, Ph.D., Professor, Dartmouth Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Dartmouth SRP Project 3 and Training Core Leader; and Britton Goodale, Ph.D., Research Scientist, Leach Lab and former Dartmouth SRP Project 3 Trainee. He is being mentored by Dr. Goodale.

Subham’s project uses an AHR null zebrafish line to understand the role of AHR in immune responses through training in single cell sequencing of kidney marrow cells. He will be learning single cell RNA sequencing methods that were developed in the SRP Project 3 Stanton Lab/Enelow Lab to investigate cell-type specific effects of arsenic on immune cell response to influenza infection. (publication of that work: Single cell RNA-seq analysis reveals that prenatal arsenic exposure results in long-term, adverse effects on immune gene expression in response to Influenza A infection)

Dr. Dasguta is a postdoctoral scholar and Oregon State University Superfund Trainee in the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at OSU. His broader area of research is employing multi-omic approaches to understand how environmental stressors affect developmental health. He has a Ph.D. in Marine and Atmospheric Sciences from Stony Brook University, NY.

Skarlet G. Velasquez, Ph.D. Student

Externship with Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Dartmouth SRP Project 4 (October 1, 2021-November 30, 2021)

During her Externship, Skarlet is working under the mentorship of Dr. Margaret Karagas, Ph.D., SRP Project 4 Leader and Chair of Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine Department of Epidemiology and Dr. Megan Romano, Ph.D., MPH, Assistant Professor, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine Department of Epidemiology. Skarlet’s project examines the relationship between flame retardant and phthalate biomarkers measured by silicone wristbands and their associations to gestational length and birthweight. She also is conducting an exploratory analysis of the potential mediation of oxidative stress on this relationship using the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Skarlet is a graduate student with the Northeastern University SRP under the mentorship of Jose Cordero, MD, MPH, at the University of Georgia. Her doctoral work focuses on the relationship between exposure to flame retardants and adverse pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women from Northern Puerto Rico.