Presenters

Shaistah Din | Co-Author

shaistahdin@gmail.com;
Hi everyone! My name is Shaistah. I was born and raised in Utah. I graduated from the University of Utah with my honors Bachelor of Science in Health, Society, and Policy and a Bachelor of Science in Biology. I plan to pursue medical school and would like to work with the underserved as a future physician. In my free time, I love to play tennis and badminton. I am fluent in Hindi, and I love to travel. I contributed to the CMV research project during my time as an undergraduate at the University of Utah and it was an amazing experience. I am excited to see where the research goes and the positive impact it makes.

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Jessica Sharma | Co-Author

Jesse.Sharma1@gmail.com;
Jessica graduated from the University of Utah in December 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in Chemistry and Psychology. I have loved being a research assistant for the CMV research project because it taught her the prevalence of cCMV and has allowed her to raise awareness in communities highly impacted by it. In addition to research, she has also been involved with volunteering through Connect2Health, Student Alumni Board, and student government. In her free time, she enjoys cycling, hiking, and traveling. In the future, she plans to attend medical school.

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Abel Chavez | Co-Author

chavezabel47@gmail.com ;
I am from a small border town of Deming, New Mexico. I grew up with a small family and a great love of the outdoors, frequently hiking, hunting and fishing around the Gila National Forest. My dream of pursuing a career in medicine as a psychiatrist brought me to complete my undergraduate education at the University of Utah where I obtained a bachelor' degree of science in Psychology. It is also at the University of Utah where I will begin my career in medicine when I start medical school in Fall 2023.

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Taylor Redding | Co-Author

t.s.redding2014@gmail.com;
Taylor graduated from Utah State University with a BA in Liberal Arts and minors in Chemistry, Biology and Portuguese in 2018. He then attended the University of Utah School of Medicine where hegraduated with his MD in May 2023.He is starting residency in otolaryngology at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center this summer.

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Luke Hansen | Co-Presenter

Luke.Hansen@hsc.utah.edu;
Luke Hansen is a second-year medical student at the University of Utah. He previously worked as a lab technician in the Olivera lab at the same institution. His work includes testing mouse models of pain, tracking neurological changes over time using calcium imaging, and working on small-cell lung cancer lines. He is now working with Dr. Diener and Dr. Park to assess educational interventions in clinical settings.

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Marissa Diener | Primary Presenter, Co-Presenter

marissa.diener@fcs.utah.edu;
Marissa Diener, Ph.D., is a developmental psychologist and Professor at the University of Utah. Her research examines the impact of multiple factors, including child and parent factors and policies, on children's developmental outcomes. A study published in Pediatrics examined the impact of Utah's CMV law on CMV screening and children's diagnostic hearing evaluations. She is interested in the parenting experience and developmental outcomes of children with cCMV.

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Albert Park | Co-Presenter, Author, Co-Author

albert.park@hsc.utah.edu;
Dr. Park is the chief for Pediatric Otolaryngology at the University of Utah. He is the principal investigator for an NIH funded multi-institutional clinical trial to determine whether the antiviral drug, valganciclovir can improve hearing outcomes for children with cytomegalovirus (CMV), a very common and understudied cause of childhood hearing loss.He also established a CMV working group comprising of pediatric genetics, infectious disease, otolaryngology, audiology, neurology, department of health and ARUP laboratories to streamline clinical and research initiatives in this field.