2024-2025 Winners

Fall 2025 Winners

Zahra Abba Omar - Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Gender and Reproduction Encoded: FemTech Developers and Platform Design Post-Roe v. Wade: This project examines how FemTech companies and startups based in the United States engage with their own business practices in the context of the shifting legal and political context related to reproductive rights. Using qualitative research methods (namely semi-structured interviews and ethnographic fieldwork), this research aims 1) to study how people working in technical and non-technical roles at FemTech firms embed a social construction of gender and reproduction into platform design and 2) whether platform design and practices around the collection and sale of data are being changed by FemTech firms in response to the changing environment around their work. The support of the WFF will enable me to conduct ethnographic research at events dedicated to tech solutions for reproductive health, with this data collection laying the foundation for my dissertation. The proposed study aligns with the Women’s Faculty Forum goal of promoting research on women and gender and supporting young women in academia.

Alexandra Bergfort - Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry

mRNA splicing regulation in cervical cancer: Cervical cancer is among the most common cancers in women and causes hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. The disease is driven primarily by persistent infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), which induces changes in gene regulation, including RNA splicing, that promote cancer progression. In my postdoctoral research, I demonstrated that the RNA-binding protein EIF4A3 is a central regulator of splicing in human cells. Notably, EIF4A3 is highly abundant in cervical cancer, and approximately 20% of genes commonly altered in splicing in this disease are EIF4A3-regulated. To further elucidate how EIF4A3 contributes to cervical cancer, including its role in HPV genome splicing, I will deplete EIF4A3 in cervical cancer cells, perform RNA sequencing, and analyze resulting changes in gene expression and splicing patterns. These preliminary studies will provide the foundation for a future NIH Transition to Independence Award application and carry long-term potential to inform novel therapeutic strategies. The project directly aligns with the mission of the WFF by supporting the career development of a woman scientist, mentored by a woman, in a field historically dominated by men. Moreover, it promotes inclusivity by addressing a critical health problem that disproportionately affects women worldwide, particularly those in low- and middle-income countries.

Catherine Lima Chantre - Yale School of Public Health

Disseminating Data on Trauma, Mental Health, and HIV Risk Outcomes to Internally Displaced Youth in Northern Mozambique: Most research engaging with forcibly displaced populations is community-based but does not engage with the population itself. To improve the effectiveness of public health interventions catered to this population, it is critical to elicit the perspectives and input of people who are displaced throughout the research process, from the development of research questions to the dissemination of study results. In 2024, I conducted a population-based survey, investigating trauma, mental health, and HIV risk among 600 internally displaced youth, working with a team of Mozambican researchers, many of which were from Cabo Delgado province, a region of ongoing conflict, with these same team members personally or indirectly affected by the conflict and ensuing displacement. Given the wealth of results we have achieved from this previous study, I now seek to work with team members to a) include their perspectives in the interpretation of study results and translate findings into local understandings of mental and sexual health b) form a community-engaged dissemination plan for study results and b) develop a future strategy to engage with displaced youth in future interventions focused on their mental and sexual health. Such a project is an attempt to ensure real world applications and uptake of academic research results. 

Sofía Fernández González - Spanish and Portuguese

elas, as esquecidas (they (f.), the forgotten ones): elas, as esquecidas (“they, the forgotten ones”) is a project consisting on a book-length literary essay in Galician that reconsiders the canon of Galician migration literature by centering the voices of Galician women emigrés to Argentina during the mid-twentieth century, as well as a public presentation/ podcast series for the Yale community. Five such writers—Milgros Díaz, Mirta Pérez, Consuelo Bermúdez, María Rosa Iglesias, and Celia Otero—published their first novels late in life, recounting stories of transatlantic migration, adaptation, and belonging. Yet their work remains excluded from the canon, as it was written in Spanish and only appeared in the early 21st century. Drawing on two summers of fieldwork in Buenos Aires—including archival research, cultural center visits, interviews, and roundtables—the project examines their novels’ depictions of women’s gathering spaces, boat journeys as “anti-Odyssean” narratives, and the insertion of Galician expressions into Spanish texts. These works, I argue, reframe understandings of gender, class, and diaspora within Galician literature. Written in Galician (approx. 140,000 characters), the essay seeks to amplify women’s writing for both academic and broader audiences. Completion is planned for summer 2026, with submission to a Galician publisher or the Ramón Piñeiro Award. For Yale, I will present the project through a public event, an exhibition, or a bilingual podcast series.

Oksana Goroshchuk - Neurology

Psychological Aspects of Stress Influence on Ukrainian Women with Chronic Pain: Chronic pain in women remains widely underdiagnosed and undertreated, despite its profound impact on mental health, productivity, and quality of life. Psychological stress is both a consequence and a potential amplifier of chronic pain, yet little is known about how women regulate emotions and cope with pain in high-stress environments. To close the gap in this knowledge is especially critical for Ukrainian women, whose lives have been shaped by the prolonged strain of war and displacement. This collaborative project between Yale University (Oksana Goroshchuk) and the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (Lilia Smirnova) examines differences in perceived stress, emotional regulation, and coping strategies among Ukrainian women aged 30–45 with and without chronic pain conditions. Using validated instruments (PSS, DASS-21, and self-reported health assessments), the study integrates quantitative and qualitative analyses within established models of stress to identify patterns and predictive factors associated with chronic pain. By generating data-driven insights into the psychosomatic interplay of pain and stress, this research advances the mission of the Women Faculty Forum (WFF) to promote gender equity in scholarship and health. It fosters international collaboration and informs evidence-based interventions to improve the well-being of women facing chronic pain under extreme conditions.

Annabelle Hee - History

Spring Awakening: Spring Awakening follows a group of teenagers in 1891 as they come of age in a repressive German province. Veering between the worlds of rock, folk, and 19th-century tragedy, the teenagers seek out answers to their questions about sex, faith, gender, and friendship in the pursuit of freedom, feeling, and connection. While set in 1891, the musical grapples with issues of abortion, consent, and the expression of gender and sexuality – all topics that are just as relevant today. Our production is interested in exploring how silence and authority reinforce gender disparity and harm free expression. Spring Awakening is a widely loved musical, and we want to channel the love for the musical, its music, and its characters into meaningful discussions on campus. By centering questions of gender, sexuality, and education in our production, we hope to contribute to campus conversations about gender equity in ways that are intellectually rigorous, emotionally resonant, and accessible to diverse audiences. 

Gina Diagou Sissoko - School of Public Health

Skin Tone, Masculinity, and Intimate Partner Violence: A Qualitative Study with Black Adolescent Boys and Young Men: Black women and girls experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) and IPV-related homicide in the United States—over 90 percent of which occur intraracially. Yet prevention efforts rarely address how the socialization of Black boys contributes to this crisis. Within Black communities, colorism—skin-tone hierarchies that privilege lighter skin and penalize darker skin—shapes not only how girls are valued but also how boys learn to see themselves and others. Lighter-skinned boys are often feminized and pressured to prove toughness, while darker-skinned boys are hypermasculinized as inherently dominant or threatening. This study explores how these tone-coded expectations influence Black adolescent boys’ emotional development, identity formation, and masculinity ideologies—and how these internalized experiences shape behaviors in romantic relationships, including beliefs about protection, control, and aggression toward Black girls. Through community-based recruitment and in-depth interviews in New York City, the project will generate new insight into how colorism operates as a gendered social determinant of violence. In alignment with the Women Faculty Forum’s mission, this research advances gender-equity scholarship and community-engaged prevention efforts by illuminating how healing and safety for Black girls must also include transforming how Black boys are taught to understand masculinity, vulnerability, and care.

Spring 2025 Winners

Ta’ah Baxter - School of the Environment

Exploring the Role of African Diasporic Ecological Knowledge in Regenerative Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation: This study seeks to reframe the role of African-diasporic communities on the East Coast of U.S. in ecological knowledge and regenerative agriculture. WFF has mission is to foster gender equity and promote underrepresented scholarship at Yale and this project aligns with WFF’s mission by spotlighting the contributions of African Diasporic women, and African Diasporic LGBTQ farmers who are often left out of agricultural research. Past racist legacies still affect the lack of agency faced by African Diasporic growers, marginalizing them from benefits such as government subsidies, financial assistance, and innovative technologies.   Our research question, is how African Diasporic Ecological Knowledge (ADEK) in agrarian techniques does, improve soil health and nutrition of crops in comparison to farms who practice monocropping, culture-decentered, industrial agriculture. This study will have twenty-four participating farming sites in six different states, split between regenerative agriculture and intensive farming methods. This study uses Photovoice, face-to-face interviews, field interviews to understand what growing practices are salient to participants. Additionally, we will be sampling soils and plants at each site to evaluate nutrition and characteristics of the soil.  By investing in this study, WFF continues to support gender equity and cultural diversity in environmental scholarship, advancing inclusive academic narratives. 

Lynette Bowring - School of Music

Gabriel’s Odyssey: Gabriel’s Odyssey by the Kukutana Ensemble (founded by Janie Cole) is an innovative musical and visual narrative which brings to life the earliest surviving biography of a 16th-century Ethiopian slave in a sumptuous imaginary of the early modern sound- and visualscapes of Ethiopia, Arabia and India, combining music, poetry and visual artistic effects in a rich and moving performance. Reconstructed from surviving archival records from a 16th-century trial held by the Portuguese Inquisition, Gabriel’s Odyssey tells the true story of Gabriel, a Beta Israel Jew in Ethiopia, sold into slavery in the Arab world where he converted to Islam. It traces his woeful wanderings between faiths, love and persecution in Asia to his final encounters with the brutal Inquisition in Goa. Representing a universal story of faith, oppression, migration and refashioning like the experiences of countless other early modern Africans, the production explores artistic ways of experimenting with, and reworking, archival sources and decolonizing the stories of Africans that emerge out of colonial archives by reclaiming their resilience, agency, and shared humanity. It further explores gender issues and representations of women, especially regarding conditions of Indian Ocean World slavery for women.

Olivia Francis - School of Public Health

Global Health Experiential Fellowship (GHEF)- Family Planning Attitudes and Barriers in Uganda’s Buyende District: As I walk down the dirt driveway to the clinic where I completed my public health internship in Kenya, I notice mothers and infants with faces slightly different than my own—slim and coated in richer, darker melanin. Despite being in the homeland of my African roots, my lighter complexion and Westerner dialect distinguish me. Yet, it is these differences in experience that diversify us and enrich our cultural understanding of treatment. Mutual learning and growth are what make diversity crucial in public health. As a Pell Grant student, I never imagined such an opportunity would be possible. However, thanks to multiple, generous scholarships, I was able to embark on this transformative journey which inspired me to apply to Yale’s public health program. The Global Health Experiential Fellowship (GHEF) will allow me to further this dream. I am particularly eager to contribute to a project in Uganda’s Buyende District focusing on Family Planning Attitudes and Barriers. This project aligns with the Yale Women Faculty Forum (WFF) mission by advancing gender equity and collaborative research. By addressing male involvement in family planning, we aim to enable women, reduce maternal mortality, and improve economic stability, supporting WFF’s commitment to gender-focused scholarship and mentorship.

Nishah Jaferi - Senior Undergraduate

Nisa Project: Health Literacy for Newcomer Women: Refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented women face unique health challenges upon settling in the United States. These women, vulnerable to health issues due to barriers in education, exposure to gender-based violence, and displacement, encounter the difficulty of navigating the US healthcare system. Cultural differences and language barriers also present a significant obstacle, hindering effective communication with healthcare providers and contributing to a lack of health literacy.  In 2023, the Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS) welcomed over 2,000 refugees and parolees in New Haven County. This significant influx reflects a growing wave of refugees arriving in Connecticut in need of health services. However, recent federal cuts have drastically reduced funding for refugee and migrant health programs. This public crisis underlines an urgent need to support health literacy programming for newcomer women.  The Nisa Project is a women’s health literacy program designed to support refugee, asylum seeker, and undocumented women in their health and resettlement journeys. Our program, hosted in collaboration with the Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS), hosts classes on maternal health, reproductive cancers, family planning, and gynecologic health for Arabic, Pashto, and Dari-speaking newcomer women in New Haven, Connecticut. 

Samantha Linhares, Anne Mongiu, Nancy Ringel - Yale School of Medicine Surgery

Video-Based Pelvic Floor Therapy for Pelvic Floor Disorders: Pelvic floor disorders (PFD) affect up to 30% of women in their lifetime with nearly 50% experiencing a significant decline in their quality of life. The first line treatment for PFD is in-person pelvic floor rehabilitation (PFR), but prior studies have shown high rates of patient non-compliance. Our research identified two key barriers to PFR completion including travel time and scheduling limitations, with many patients expressing interest in a web-accessible, hybrid video-based alternative. Thus, the aim of this project is to design and pilot test the feasibility and acceptability of web-accessible 8-week video-based PFMT program. Ultimately, our long-term goal is to develop an accessible care delivery model for PFD treatment through a mobile-based application. By addressing the barriers to traditional PFR, this initiative could revolutionize treatment for women with PFD and eliminate treatment disparities due to time or cost. Furthermore, it could serve as a blueprint to adapt other women’s treatment strategies into digital health formats, thus expanding access to care for a variety of other conditions. This innovative approach has the potential to improve women’s health equity and help advance the delivery of women’s healthcare. 

Alika Osadolor Hernandez - Film & Media Studies

Mi Mejor Amiga: Sol (My Best Friend: Sol): Mi Mejor Amiga: Sol is a short film that follows Mar, an Afro-Mexican woman in her 20s living in Puebla, Mexico, as she battles grief. She turns to late-night partying and heavy drinking to cope with the violent and painful memories that haunt her at night. Through it all, her best friend, Sol, remains her constant companion, pushing her to reconnect with her faith—something Mar longs for but cannot face due to the trauma that overtakes her whenever she closes her eyes.  As fragmented glimpses of Mar’s past emerge, the full weight of her experience becomes clear: she and Sol were childhood friends, and Sol was kidnapped and killed in front of her. Mi Mejor Amiga: Sol is a deeply personal exploration of friendship, faith, and healing, while also confronting a larger crisis: the epidemic of violence against women in Mexico and its lasting psychological and cultural impact. By centering women’s lived experiences and the ways they navigate grief and resilience, this film contributes to broader conversations on gender-based violence, memory, and healing—issues that transcend borders and demand urgent attention.

Polina Peremitina - Slavic Languages & Literature

How Does it Hurt? Narrative Medicine and Slavic Literatures: Similarly to the study of literature, the field of Narrative Medicine employs close reading as one of its main methods, and programs in Medical Humanities and Ethics regularly assign texts by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Bulgakov, and Bakhtin to students of medicine. My project asks: How could we reciprocate this interest? As one of the potential answers, I suggest developing and sharing widely a set of syllabi that would be mutually beneficial for students of Slavic Literatures and those studying, researching, and/or practicing narrative medicine. A Seed grant would allow me to attend a two-day workshop on Narrative Medicine in Practice held at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. During and after this workshop, I aim to collect insights into the interests of students of Narrative Medicine and identify ways in which Slavic Literary Theories & Literatures could be of service beyond the same familiar names and titles. At the same time, I aim to identify medical resources that could be relevant to literature students. In line with the Women Faculty Forum’s mission, I hope this opportunity will allow for continuing and establishing new collaborations between our fields and universities.