Meet our Research Mentors!
Bridgette Garnache
As a self-proclaimed foodie and social justice advocate, I believe that access to and control over healthy and culturally relevant food is a right for all communities. I have a particular interest in the ways in which food, medicine, and public health intersect, and ultimately hope to see food-related needs addressed universally in clinical settings. I was first drawn to research and food justice after conducting cancer and social needs research at UChicago, where many patients opened up to me about their struggles to access food. Since then, I’ve done further research at Oxford and UChicago Medicine, working on data collection for an NIH-funded clinical trial intervention, conducting qualitative interviews related to food insecurity and Celiac’s disease, supporting an evidence-based hospital food pantry program, co-authoring publications, and more. I’ve disseminated this work at two scientific symposiums and on TV, and am also co-authoring posters being presented at two national conferences. In my free time, you’ll probably find me painting nature-inspired watercolors, stress cleaning my room, or dreaming up new oatmeal recipes. I’m already looking forward to the day I can meet all of you and share a meal in person, but for now I’d love to welcome you to join our Research Digest program!
Antara Palkar
As a childhood leukemia survivor I am interested in studying cancer from the neurobiological and psychological perspectives and hope to develop less debilitating therapies. I became interested in food justice after learning that food insecurity is prevalent amongst cancer patients due to the economic burden of therapy. I began researching at Duke University, one year studying biota alteration theory and the other critically examining peer reviewed literature focused on neuropsychiatric disorders and compiling my findings into a research paper. This summer I’ve been working with Dr. Gunnels at Oxford on identity and identity shifts within minority communities and I’m excited to begin working with Dr. Thompson in researching androgens and behavior. I am a co-author on the published paper— “Evolution of the hygiene hypothesis into biota alteration theory: what are the paradigms and where are the clinical applications?”— and am set to be a co-author on another paper with the computational work I did. I’ve known I have wanted to be a doctor for a while now and I intend to change the field regarding cancer and the brain as potentially a pediatric oncologist or a neurosurgeon. I absolutely love reading all kinds of books, and I’ve just been getting started with baking so please forward me all of your special recipes!
Grace Engel
For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt drawn to learning about the natural sciences, especially the environment. My studies in environmental science led me to begin understanding how we interact with the natural world, and I dove into topics like our food system. To learn about the food system is to learn about food justice, as the results of one require the action of the other, and soon I began noticing issues all around me: a food desert on the southeast side of my hometown, countless students who couldn’t afford the cafeteria lunches in high school, a local grocery store that sourced its produce from farms that employed only undocumented immigrants and paid them only pennies. I am looking forward to learning more about these topics throughout the semester, and hopefully learning some practical strategies for making long lasting change. In the meantime, I’ve pursued other passions in marine biology and ecology, and my first real research experience has come this summer through the SORS program at Oxford, where I’ve been working virtually with Dr. Martin to construct a literature review on how ornamentation (color, feathers, etc) and behaviors coevolve. I’ll be continuing to assist in this research throughout the next year, and I hope to work on some related biodiversity projects in Australia on an Emory program next summer. In my freetime, you can find me visiting aquariums, reading books across every genre, or embroidering something.
Arpita Gaggar
I'm a junior on the Atlanta campus but I was the president of Food Recovery Network last year at Oxford. I first became interested in food justice when I volunteered at Change the World Day with the Covington First UMC Food Pantry. On a rainy October day, I was tasked with asking hundreds of families whether they were below the poverty line threshold as outlined by the pantry. Every family was eligible, many even laughing at the prospect of an income that high. It was disheartening to realize the amount of food insecurity in our local community, and I was determined to help alleviate it. In the future, I hope to become a pediatrician and open my own clinic in an underserved area as well as serve in Doctors Without Borders for a while so that I can continue to fight inequities and health disparities, many of which are caused by inadequate access to healthy food. To this end, I'm on the pre-med track, majoring in business and NBB. My research experience as a freshman includes working with Dr. McGee to conduct literature reviews to help her develop her freshmen seminar and researching triple-negative breast cancer as part of the Bio340R research course. In the summer, I was a Canary CREST intern at Stanford’s Cancer Institute, researching a non-immunogenic cancer detection method, where I learned cell culturing and numerous relevant assays and imaging skills. Last year, I was an Oxford Research Scholar and studied the psychology of vaping (check it out here! https://oxford-emory.digication.com/arpita-gaggar/home). Outside of school, I love reading YA novels, Bollywood dance, baking, photography, making TikToks, watching bollywood movies, and exploring the outdoors.
Akash Shanmugam
My interest in food justice began in my anthropology courses where I realized that sparse access to healthy foods is a social determinant for declining health in low-income neighborhoods. I want to use these perspectives about social determinants of health to guide my decisions as a future hospital executive and empower communities with beneficial health policies. As a researcher, I conducted nanotechnology research for use in diagnostic prototypes at the Stanford Canary Center, investigated the financial impact of medical billing practices with Sutter Health, and conducted a retrospective evaluation of different treatments for pediatric sleep apnea at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. If I am not learning about different clinical practices, I am probably exploring new hiking trails in Georgia’s wilderness or planning an urban farm for my future home. I am excited to share my experiences with junior researchers at FRN!
Ayusha Shrestha
I first became interested in food justice when I witnessed the impacts that food insecurity had on the process of rehabilitation in the aftermath of the Nepal Earthquake in 2015. That summer a couple months after the first wave of earthquakes, I visited back to Nepal to see family and saw how many hurdles food insecurity provided for communities around me in their efforts to rebuild their lives. This made me more interested in how food justice plays a part on a socioeconomic and racial structure not just in Nepal, but in our everyday lives back in the US. The way that social issues are contextualized in "developing" countries compared to places like the US is filled with biases and I hope to tackle these topics in the future in the field of medical journalism. This past semester I began research with Dr. Thompson on the sex steroid hormones and it's impact on androgen receptors and social behavior in goldfish and I'm excited to continue my work on his lab this year! I also enjoy researching many diverse topics outside of stem, especially in the field of musicology! Some of my past musicology research has focused on the impacts of Orientalism in shaping Russian Nationalist classical music. Outside of research and school, I love listening to/playing music, cooking, thrifting with my friends and binging British telly shows!
Joyce Liu
My interest in food justice started at an early age. For most of my life, I have lived in a rural town in South Georgia, which is full of farmland and meat processing plants. It's also the 7th most food insecure region in the United States and has a poverty rate three times the national average, and I grew up volunteering for a local food bank that served almost 20% of the local population. Having grown up in this environment, I've become really passionate about food justice as it relates to agriculture, healthcare, economics, and policy. In the future, I hope to advocate for healthcare access and policies that benefit underserved communities like the one I’m from. I began research at Berry College in pharmacology and neuroscience, investigating the effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) and stimulants on neuron activity in discoid cockroaches. This summer, I have been working on an independent literature review of the effects of oxytocin and vasopressin on social behavior and its implications for autism spectrum disorders, and I'm excited to work with Dr. Smith on triple negative breast cancer research starting this fall. In my free time, you can find me watching old Vines on repeat, advertising the joys of using an air fryer, or online shopping for unnecessary but cute stationery.
Alex Zhong
Hi! My name is Alex Zhong and I’m a second-year planning to major in Quantitative Sciences. I’m really excited to get to know all of you and work with you! A little bit about me:
I was first exposed to food justice last year when I volunteered at the Covington FUMC Food Pantry. Getting to see and meet just how many people from around the area used the food pantry helped me start to understand how important and relevant food justice is to the communities even just outside the Oxford bubble. I was able to explore food justice a bit more this summer through my research at the University of Michigan (School for Environment and Sustainability), where I studied the impacts of soil quality and contaminants on urban farms and gardens. Through the project, I conducted a literature review and qualitative interviews with urban farmers and soil professionals. Having a wide range of interests–public health, environmental conservation, and medicine among others–it’s been amazing to get a glimpse of how they’re all connected through issues such as food inequity. Outside of being anywhere and everywhere on campus, you can find me in the forest removing invasive plants, stress-making yet another cup of matcha/tea/coffee, or making waffles.
Elise Withers
So many people in our country are food insecure, and it’s not due to insufficient food production (in fact much food goes to waste)— it’s the poor distribution of it. This is a fact that has really stuck with me. Since a young age, I’ve been passionate about food waste, and throughout my years in college, I’ve developed a deep interest in public health, recognizing how structural inequities have translated into issues such as food insecurity. As a pre-med student, I have research experience in plant genetics, triple negative breast cancer, and epigenetics, and am excited to delve into food justice as well!