Current Members
Amy joined the Kirchhoff team in 2021, after completing her BS in Psychology and minor in Chemistry, at Utah Valley University. She assists primarily with the HIAYA CHAT project including data entry, enrollment of participants, and sending lots of emails. She is interested in the medical field, at large, and enjoys working with pediatric and geriatric populations, as well as with people who suffer from mental or chronic illness and/or developmental or intellectual disabilities. She enjoys learning new things and is excited to learn new skills in this position.
Dr. Fair is an assistant professor of pediatric hematology/oncology at the University of Utah. He serves as the co-medical director of the HIAYA Cancer Care Program. Dr. Fair is a long-term collaborator on Dr. Kirchhoff’s studies of pediatric and AYA cancer.
Sarah recently joined the Kirchhoff team as a research analyst and is enjoying the challenge of learning a new field. She earned her BA in Ithaca, NY, and PhD in biology from the University of Utah while studying functional morphology of birds. She has since spent many semesters teaching physiology for the University of Utah, but is enjoying applied research opportunities in the Kirchhoff lab.
Heydon Kaddas joined the Kirchhoff group May of 2018 to assist with data management and analysis for several studies. Heydon received her Master in Public Health with an emphasis in epidemiology from the University of South Florida. Her research interests include adolescent and young-adult cancer and long-term health effects for cancer survivors.
Perla graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in health promotion and education, with a minor in pediatric clinical research. She has been with the Kirchhoff Research Team since October 2018. Perla’s research interests include adolescent and young adult, pediatric oncology, survivorship, and health disparities among communities of color.
Katie Rogers graduated from the University of Utah with a master's degree in biostatistics. Katie joined the Kirchhoff group in January of 2023 as a data manager. Her responsibilities include managing survey and electronic health data, and contributing to statistical analysis. Her research interests include personalized medicine and pediatric oncology.
Karely has been with the Kirchhoff research team since September 2016 and received her MS in special education from Utah State University in December 2021. Karely is a research manager for both Dr. Anne C. Kirchhoff and Dr. Michael A. Pulsipher. Karely is passionate about working with children, young adults and families, and plans to continue graduate work in education focusing on how cancer and other chronic illnesses impact educational goals.
Austin joined the Kirchhoff group in November of 2017 and has since completed an HBS in health, society, and policy and his Master of Science in Public Health. Austin is currently a research analyst for Dr. Kirchhoff and a PhD student at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. He is passionate about public health, specifically integrating social science into health services in order to create more equitable health care systems. Austin’s research interests include adolescent and young adult cancer patients and caregivers, health disparities, LGBTQIA+ patients and caregivers, financial hardship, health behavior, survivorship, and community-based health solutions.
Former Members
Akanksha joined Kirchhoff group in February 2017 to assist with data management and analysis for several studies, including one project analyzing statewide Utah Immunization Surveillance System Data. Akanksha completed her undergraduate degree in Nursing from India and graduate degree in epidemiology from Germany. Her research interests include long term health effects among cancer survivors and association between lifestyle habits and cancer risk. She enjoys travelling and spending time with her family.
Bree is an epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health. She worked as a graduate research assistant with Dr. Kirchhoff in 2014 while earning her Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research with Dr. Kirchhoff’s team focused on longitudinal hospitalization outcomes among childhood and adolescent cancer patients.
Sarah was a summer student with the Kirchhoff team through the HAPPIEST program.
Johanna got her Bachelors in Business Management from Southern Utah University. She has been with the Wu team since December 2019. She helps with all administrative needs for Dr. Wu and her team.
Brynn Fowler received her Master in Public Health degree from the University of Utah in December of 2014. In Brynn’s Master’s training she focused on global health, community engaged research, health behavior, and cancer prevention. She is excited to be joining the Kirchhoff group to be working on the Survivorship, Symptom Management and Quality of Life (SSMQOL) Initiative Plan as well as expanding her research skills and interests.
Claire joined the team in January 2014 as part of her MPH practicum project which focused on the use of survivor care plans as a survivorship tool for pediatric cancer survivors. As of August 2015, Claire began a Masters program for Genetic Counseling at the University of Arkansas. Claire is happy to have been a part of the Kirchhoff team and is looking forward to further expanding her skills and research opportunities.
Michelle Judd worked as an Administrative Assistant at HCI for many years. She enjoyed working with this new group and learning more in regards to the various childhood cancer focus’s that there are and the need for continued education.
Sapna is a health economist who joined our team in 2013. She completed her PhD in economics from Virginia Tech. Sapna’s research interests include healthcare cost analyses, cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses, meta-analysis and non-market valuation (e.g., contingent valuation and willingness to pay). Her work is heavily focused on econometric and statistical methods for handling complex health care data. Sapna also has expertise in environmental economics and is interested in exploring the associations between environment and health outcomes. As of fall 2015, Sapna moved on to become an Assistant Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, TX.
Diego was a summer student with the Kirchhoff team through the PathMaker program.
In May of 2023, I joined the Welm lab as an undergraduate at the University of Utah, majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry. Our primary focus is investigating the degradation of sfRON in breast cancer cell lines using various novel compounds. My role involves hands-on experience in cell culturing, western blots, and tissue staining. Beyond the lab, I like to play piano, participate in sports, spend time with my pets, and am an avid supporter of the Utah Jazz. I'm excited to contribute to the lab's work and learn all I can during my time here.
Adamaris was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is a junior at the University of Utah majoring in health, society, and policy and sociology. Her project in the McMahon Lab focuses on understanding the role of RAF kinases in KRAS-driven lung cancer. In her free time, Adamaris enjoys trying new boba places, studying squirrels, and spending time with her friends and family.
Roberto was born and raised in East Los Angeles, CA. Roberto attended Pitzer College, in Claremont, CA, where he majored in Psychobiology and Sociology and completed an honor’s thesis that examined inequalities in emergency room visits secondary to doctor-patient communication breakdown. Roberto completed a PhD in Sociology at UCLA, with an emphasis in Medical Sociology, Race/Ethnicity, and Multimethod research. As a medical student at the University of Utah School of Medicine, Roberto continued his research on pediatric cancer, pediatric palliative care, pediatric cancer survivorship and doctor-patient communication.
Roberto is currently an APA SAMHSA fellow and is working on a national mixed-methods study (survey, interviews, and epigenetics) looking at how microaggressions impact the professional and personal lives of sexual minority physician residents, with a focus on sexual minorities of color. He is also exploring the use of personalized music in inpatient psychiatric units to assess its potential to mitigate nursing shift-change associated agitation. Roberto is interested in child psychiatry, neuropsychiatry, language and cognition, and multicultural psychiatry.
Gina Nam received her B.S. in biological chemistry and B.A. in Japanese with a minor in pediatric clinical research from the University of Utah in 2013. She worked with Dr. Kirchhoff and her team as a research assistant, and enjoyed learning about the impact of clinical research on health care outcomes. Her recent projects focused primarily on survivorship among adolescent and young adult populations. Gina started her MPH at UCLA in the fall of 2015. Gina hopes to continue her studies in public health, and is interested in cancer epidemiology.
Alexandra is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree, with majors in biology, chemistry, and economics, and minors in pediatric clinical research and business. She began working with the Kirchhoff Research Group in October 2019, and is assisting with the HIAYA-CHAT and HOP projects. Her responsibilities range from participant recruitment and enrollment to data entry and literature review. Alexandra’s research interests include pediatric populations, adult and young adult cancer, and survivorship.
Sam joined the Kirchhoff group in July 2015 to assist on the Huntsman-Intermountain Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Study. After graduating from the University of Utah in Spring 2016 with an HBA in History and a minor in Pediatric Clinical Research she is now a full-time analyst with the team. She loves finding links between the humanities and the sciences and her public health interests include health disparities, models of care, and cancer survivorship. Her current projects focus on patient navigation and palliative care for adolescents and young adults. She really enjoys working with the adolescent and young adult population.
Jacob joined the team this year as a graduate research assistant and is earning his Masters degree in Biostatistics at the University of Utah. He comes from a diverse research background including the study of chili pepper micropropagation, invasive plant species distribution, and bat populations in the Heber Valley area. He is excited for this opportunity to expand his research experience and interests in the field of pediatric oncology with Dr. Fluchel and Dr. Kirchhoff.
Stephanie recently graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Health Promotion Management and minors in Business and Pediatric Clinical Research. She joined the team in summer 2015 after interning with the Utah Department of Health’s Division of Emergency Services developing the CHIRP Program. She has worked on various pediatric pilot studies at Primary Children’s Hospital and has focused primarily on improving the emergency medical care provided for children with complex healthcare needs. In addition to working with Dr. Fluchel, Stephanie also works with Dr. Kirchhoff.
Rochelle joined the team in the summer of 2014 after expanding her experience in project management with a local non-profit organization. Previously she graduated with a Master of Science in Experimental Psychology from Utah State University in 2012. Her prior research experience ranges from impulsivity research with rats to incentivizing fruit and vegetable consumption in elementary school students. Rochelle is currently managing several datasets and conducting analyses for pediatric cancer research projects utilizing demographic and healthcare utilization data from both the Utah Population Database and Intermountain medical records. Rochelle also provides support to Dr. Kirchhoff. In her free time, Rochelle enjoys rock climbing, and coaching youth hockey.