Current Scholars

Mary Roberts Davis, PhD, RN

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Assistant Professor

School of Nursing, Oregon Health & Science University

Primary mentor:  Quin Denfeld, PhD, RN

Mentors:  Jackie Shannon, PhD; Lissi Hansen, PhD, RN; Nabil Alkayed, MD, PhD; Nathan Dieckmann, PhD; Elise Erickson, PhD, CNM; Nandita Gupta, MD

Dr. Mary Roberts Davis is an Assistant Professor in the OHSU School of Nursing studying symptoms and healthcare utilization among individuals with heart failure. Dr. Roberts Davis’s BIRCWH project focuses on understanding the sex and gender differences in symptoms and antecedent healthcare among individuals newly diagnosed with heart failure. Dr. Roberts Davis’s long-term career goal is to become an independent investigator working to identify factors contributing to cardiovascular outcomes among females, specifically focusing on the role of gynecologic health.

Project title:  Gender Differences in Symptoms and Antecedent Healthcare Utilization in Stage C Heart Failure: A Mixed Methods Study

Cirila Estela Vasquez Guzman, PhD

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Assistant Professor

Family Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine

Primary Mentors:  Erika Cottrell, PhD, MPP; John Heintzman, MD

Mentors:  Cynthia Morris, PhD, MPH; Blair Darney, PhD, MPH; Jenny Leslie, MD

Dr. C. Estela Vasquez Guzman is analyzing the structural factors impacting cervical cancer screening and documenting diverse Latina women’s unique lived expertise with the Health Experiences Research Network (HERN) at OHSU. Dr. Vasquez Guzman also a current member of the OHSU's Equity and Social Justice School of Medicine Sub-Committee focused on improvements of the curricular elements related to the elimination of health inequities and the promotion of an anti-racist and anti-oppressive medical education. As a first-generation Latina immigrant indigenous scholar, she aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice from an equity and inclusion perspective because we all win when we have a compassionate, representative, inclusive, and humanistic healthcare system.

Project Title:  Examining the Lived Expertise of Middle to Older Age Latina Women with Cervical
Cancer to address the Social, Cultural, and Structural Barriers driving Inequities

Learn more about Dr. C. Estela Vasquez Guzman

Deanne Tibbitts, PhD, MCR

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Research Assistant Professor

Division of Oncological Sciences, Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine

Primary Mentor:  Kerri Winters-Stone, PhD, FACSM

Mentors:  Amy Moran, PhD; Quin Denfeld, PhD, RN; Eric Roeland, MD, FAAHPM; Nathan Dieckmann, PhD

Dr. Deanne Tibbitts is a Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Oncological Sciences studying how sex- and gender-based factors contribute to differences in cancer-related health outcomes during and after treatment. Dr. Tibbitts’s BIRCWH project is focused on characterizing and explaining sex- and gender-based differences in immune-related adverse events during cancer immunotherapy. Dr. Tibbitts is also interested in the use of passive measurement technology to explore the impact of cancer treatment on functioning during daily life. Her long-term career goal is to develop a program of research that improves quality of life for women with cancer by better understanding their unique symptom biology in response to cancer treatment.

Project Title:  Examining Sex and Gender Differences in Symptomatic Immune-Related Adverse Events during Cancer Immunotherapy

Bethany Samuelson Bannow, MD

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Assistant Professor

Department of Medicine, The Hemophilia Treatment Center at Oregon Health & Science University

Primary mentor:  Alison Edelman, MD, MPH

Mentor:  Leslie Myatt, PhD

Dr. Bethany Samuelson Bannow, MD, is a hematologist with a specific research and clinical focus on hemostasis and thrombosis in people who do, did or could menstruate or become pregnant. Dr. Samuelson Bannow is a clinical researcher working on expanding her skillset into translational research in the hopes of proving her firmly held belief that uterine hemostasis is unique compared to systemic hemostasis and/or hemostasis in other organs. Dr. Samuelson Bannow's BIRCWH project is focused on endometrial endothelial cells as the most probable driver of this unique process.

Project Title:  The role of PAI-1, tPA, TFPI and endometrial endothelial cells in uterine hemostasis in humans

Learn more about Dr. Bethany Samuelson Bannow

Elizabeth Wood, PhD

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Postdoctoral Trainee

Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University

Primary mentor:  Elinor Sullivan, PhD

Mentor:  Jamie Lo, MD

Dr. Elizabeth Wood (she/her) is a postdoctoral scholar in the Psychiatry Department of Oregon Health & Science University, specializing in early risk markers for developmental psychopathology. Dr. Wood’s research is dedicated to disentangling the intricate relationship between maternal metabolic health, dietary choices during pregnancy, and offspring neurodevelopmental health. Her BIRCWH project aims to elucidate the mechanistic role of placental inflammation in how maternal diet and metabolic health shape the intrauterine environment to program fetal neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Project Title:  Maternal-placental-fetal inflammatory state is associated with risk for perinatal depression and programs risk for future metabolic disease in offspring

Learn more about Dr. Elizabeth Wood