Jenny Gumer
Doctoral Student, Bioethics, Columbia University
Jenny Gumer is an attorney practicing in the litigation department of Gibson Dunn and Crutcher, Los Angeles. As a member of the firm's FDA, Healthcare and Life Sciences practices groups, she advises pharmaceutical and medical device companies on regulatory compliance as well as represents them in large scale litigations. Jenny is also a student in Columbia University's Masters in Bioethics program which she will complete in Spring 2017.
Jenny Gumer
Graduate Student, Bioethics, Columbia University
Jenny Gumer is an attorney practicing in the litigation department of Gibson Dunn and Crutcher, Los Angeles. As a member of the firm's FDA, Healthcare and Life Sciences practices groups, she advises pharmaceutical and medical device companies on regulatory compliance as well as represents them in large scale litigations. Jenny is also a student in Columbia University's Masters in Bioethics program which she will complete in Spring 2017. Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Jenny received her Juris Doctorate from New York University, School of Law and her Bachelors in Science in Biology/Genetics from the University of California, San Diego where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Working Group Affiliation
Anna Danziger Halperin
PhD Student, History, Columbia University
Anna Danziger Halperin studies twentieth century American and British social policy and its effects on women and children, with a particular interest in child care. She graduated from Barnard College in 2006 with a degree in History and Human Rights. Before returning to Columbia in 2010, Anna conducted research and coauthored several reports on U.S. child care policies and other related issues affecting low-wage working families during her employment with the Urban Institute and the Institute for Women's Policy Research.
Anna Danziger Halperin
PhD Student, History
Anna Danziger Halperin studies twentieth century American and British social policy and its effects on women and children, with a particular interest in child care. She graduated from Barnard College in 2006 with a degree in History and Human Rights. Before returning to Columbia in 2010, Anna conducted research and coauthored several reports on U.S. child care policies and other related issues affecting low-wage working families during her employment with the Urban Institute and the Institute for Women's Policy Research.
Working Group Affiliation
Kristin Hankins
Ph.D. candidate, American Studies, Yale University
Kristin Hankins is a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at Yale University. She holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and previously worked as a program, project, and exhibition coordinator at a non-profit public art organization.
Kristin Hankins
Ph.D. candidate, American Studies, Yale University
Kristin Hankins is a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at Yale University. She holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and previously worked as a program, project, and exhibition coordinator at a non-profit public art organization. Her research and teaching interests include urban history and geography, ethnography, public humanities, and visual culture.
Working Group Affiliations
Zip Code Memory Project: Practices of Justice and Repair, Social Engagement Project
Sarah Harvin
Graduate Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University
Sarah Harvin hails from the state of Michigan, where she completed her bachelor's degree in psychology at Hope College. Sarah moved to NYC in the summer of 2018 to pursue a Master of Science in Narrative Medicine. She was attracted to the Narrative Medicine program because she recognized a unique opportunity to combine her interest in having difficult conversations surrounding racial inequalities in health care with her pursuit of a career in medicine.
Sarah Harvin
Graduate Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University
Sarah Harvin hails from the state of Michigan, where she completed her bachelor's degree in psychology at Hope College. Sarah moved to NYC in the summer of 2018 to pursue a Master of Science in Narrative Medicine. She was attracted to the Narrative Medicine program because she recognized a unique opportunity to combine her interest in having difficult conversations surrounding racial inequalities in health care with her pursuit of a career in medicine. When she isn't reading or sailing, Sarah loves to explore NYC in search of the best cup of coffee.
Working Group Affiliation
Tomi Haxhi
PhD Candidate, Department of Slavic Languages, Columbia University
Tomi Haxhi is a PhD student in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures specializing in Russian literature. Originally from Albania, Tomi completed his BA at McGill University and his MA at the University of Toronto. His dissertation focuses on Soviet and post-Soviet speculative fiction from the Revolution to the Putin era, and the discourse of posthumanism as a way of working through national trauma and reckoning with historical breaks.
Tomi Haxhi
PhD Candidate, Department of Slavic Languages, Columbia University
Tomi Haxhi is a PhD student in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures specializing in Russian literature. Originally from Albania, Tomi completed his BA at McGill University and his MA at the University of Toronto. His dissertation focuses on Soviet and post-Soviet speculative fiction from the Revolution to the Putin era, and the discourse of posthumanism as a way of working through national trauma and reckoning with historical breaks.
Emma Horan
Biomedical Informatics Research Coordinator, Columbia University
Attended Lafayette College, majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Bioengineering. Research coordinator at Columbia Medical Center Department of Biomedical Informatics. Team member of Citizen Endo, a research project that is aimed to better understand endometriosis.
Emma Horan
Biomedical Informatics Research Coordinator, Columbia University
Attended Lafayette College, majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Bioengineering. Research coordinator at Columbia Medical Center Department of Biomedical Informatics. Team member of Citizen Endo, a research project that is aimed to better understand endometriosis.
Working Group Affiliation
Kurt Holuba
Premedical Post Baccalaureate Student, General Studies, Columbia University
Kurt Holuba is currently a premed postbac student in the School of General Studies. Previously, he attended Princeton University, earning a B.A. in Psychology. After graduation, Kurt immediately enrolled in the postbac program. He is interested in the intersection between psychology and physiology as it relates to response to stress.
Kurt Holuba
Premedical Post Baccalaureate Student, General Studies, Columbia University
Kurt Holuba is currently a premed postbac student in the School of General Studies. Previously, he attended Princeton University, earning a B.A. in Psychology. After graduation, Kurt immediately enrolled in the postbac program. He is interested in the intersection between psychology and physiology as it relates to response to stress. As part of his involvement with On the Frontlines, Kurt joined the group as a volunteer in September 2019 and took over as co-coordinator in July 2020. Kurt enjoys traveling and learning about other cultures.
Working Group Affiliation
On the Frontlines: Nursing Leadership in Pandemics, Coordinator
Levi C. R. Hord
PhD Candidate, English & Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Levi C. R. Hord is a writer, scholar, and public speaker based in Lenapehoking (New York City). They are currently a Ph.D. student in the department of English & Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where they hold a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Levi C. R. Hord
PhD Student, Department of English & Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Levi C. R. Hord is a writer, scholar, and public speaker based in Lenapehoking (New York City). They are currently a Ph.D. student in the department of English & Comparative Literature at Columbia University, where they hold a Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Under the supervision of Professor Jack Halberstam, Levi’s research focuses on post-2010 shifts in gender identity claims, especially the flourishing uptake of “nonbinary”. Through their academic work, Levi aims to demystify cultural and legal anxieties surrounding this significant shift in mainstream gender politics, and turn this site of theorization into an opportunity for more effective political conversations.
Outside of the university, Levi devotes their time to community-facing research roles and public speaking. Between 2019 and 2021, they designed and ran nation-wide community consultations on transgender healthcare and criminal justice through Stonewall UK. Levi has been an invited speaker at venues including the Professional Institute of the Public Service Canada, TEDx, the Fierté Canada Pride National Conference, the Women of the World Festival, and the University of Oxford.
At Columbia, Levi is also affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender, and runs the Trans & Queer Theory Graduate Colloquium through the English department. They are the 2022-2023 Graduate Assistant for Queer Theory: Here, Now, and Everywhere.
Kristina Hosi
Graduate Student, Columbia University
Kristina Hosi is second year MS in Bioethics student at Columbia University, where she serves on the SPS Student Government. She has a B.A. from the University of Virginia in Biology. Her current academic interests lie in reproductive ethics, specifically the intersection of medical and scientific reproductive technology advancements and their social implications for women. She hopes to expand the conversation of health, healthcare, and ethics into the present news and global dialogue. Outside of academia, she is a co-founder and copy-writer for FEME, a female-centric information site on women, womanhood, and sex. She also enjoys cooking with friends and exploring to find the city's hidden gems.
Kristina Hosi
Graduate Student, Columbia University
Kristina Hosi is second year MS in Bioethics student at Columbia University, where she serves on the SPS Student Government. She has a B.A. from the University of Virginia in Biology. Her current academic interests lie in reproductive ethics, specifically the intersection of medical and scientific reproductive technology advancements and their social implications for women. She hopes to expand the conversation of health, healthcare, and ethics into the present news and global dialogue. Outside of academia, she is a co-founder and copy-writer for FEME, a female-centric information site on women, womanhood, and sex. She also enjoys cooking with friends and exploring to find the city's hidden gems.
Working Group Affiliation
Enajite Igho
Graduate Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University
Enajite Igho is an Nigerian American from across the river in New Jersey. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a Cognitive Science degree with a Neuroscience concentration and a Bioethics minor. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Narrative Medicine here at Columbia, and capturing storytelling as a form of healing as well as how this “teller and listener” relationship can impact the clinical encounter. She is passionate about creating space for marginalized voices to share their stories.
Enajite Igho
Graduate Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University
Enajite Igho is an Nigerian American from across the river in New Jersey. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a Cognitive Science degree with a Neuroscience concentration and a Bioethics minor. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Narrative Medicine here at Columbia, and capturing storytelling as a form of healing as well as how this “teller and listener” relationship can impact the clinical encounter. She is passionate about creating space for marginalized voices to share their stories. Aside from academics she is a poet that loves to travel and spend time with friends and family.
Working Group Affiliation
Rishav Kumar Thakur
PhD Student, Sociocultural Anthropology, Columbia University
Rishav is currently a third year PhD student in sociocultural anthropology at Columbia University. He studies articulations of, and claims around, identity and belonging in Assam, India.
Rishav Kumar Thakur
Ph.D. Student, Sociocultural Anthropology, Columbia University
Rishav is currently a third year PhD student in sociocultural anthropology at Columbia University. He studies articulations of, and claims around, identity and belonging in Assam, India. In doing so, his work aims to understand patterns of violence, dissent and queer imaginations of sociality in the region which is marked by fractures between communities identified as immigrant and autochthonous; and between "mainland" India and its Northeast frontier. Rishav has a MA in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute (Geneva) and a BA in Economics from University of Delhi.
Rishav is currently grappling with how political rhetoric and mobilisation seeps into intimate and domestic relations; and how intimate relations or new forms of the "family" work their way back to inform interactions at the scale of the political. He is interested in these flows given a long history of extraction and underdevelopment in Assam and given India's digital surge post the US/IMF/World Bank induced Liberalisation and New Economic Reforms.
Working Group Affiliation
Salma Ismaiel
Salma Ismaiel is a second year American Studies MA student. Her research interests intesect at Islamic feminism and Muslim American cultural studies. Some of her research has taken a look at how faith based legal models may serve young Muslim American women as they consult contemporary feminist issues in the United States.
Salma Ismaiel
Salma Ismaiel is a second year American Studies MA student. Her research interests intesect at Islamic feminism and Muslim American cultural studies. Some of her research has taken a look at how faith based legal models may serve young Muslim American women as they consult contemporary feminist issues in the United States.
Working Group:
Yoshiko Iwai
Graduate Student, Creative Nonfiction & Narrative Medicine, Columbia University
Yoshiko Iwai is a second-year master’s student working towards her MFA in Creative Nonfiction and MS in Narrative Medicine. She is from Kobe, Japan, and graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Dance and BS in honors Neuroscience where she conducted research on Parkinson’s Disease. Currently, she is writing her MFA thesis — an essay collection exploring the vernacular around pain and mortality, drawing on memoir, research, and phenomenology. Yoshiko is also a Chair’s Fellow for the Graduate Writing Program and teaches creative writing at a correctional center in New York. In the future, she hopes to integrate narrative medicine and creative writing into medical education.
Yoshiko Iwai
Graduate Student, Creative Nonfiction & Narrative Medicine, Columbia University
Yoshiko Iwai is a second-year master’s student working towards her MFA in Creative Nonfiction and MS in Narrative Medicine. She is from Kobe, Japan, and graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Dance and BS in honors Neuroscience where she conducted research on Parkinson’s Disease. Currently, she is writing her MFA thesis — an essay collection exploring the vernacular around pain and mortality, drawing on memoir, research, and phenomenology. Yoshiko is also a Chair’s Fellow for the Graduate Writing Program and teaches creative writing at a correctional center in New York. In the future, she hopes to integrate narrative medicine and creative writing into medical education.
Working Group Affiliation
Jessica Jacolbe
Jessica Jacolbe is a writer from Brooklyn whose work has been featured in Catapult, Garage Magazine, JSTOR Daily, and others.
Jessica Jacolbe
Jessica Jacolbe is a writer from Brooklyn whose work has been featured in Catapult, Garage Magazine, JSTOR Daily, and others. She is currently pursuing an MA degree at Columbia Journalism School concentrating on Arts & Culture writing.
Working Group Affiliation
Geographies of Injustice: Gender and the City, Media Fellow (2020)
Alyssa A.L. James
Phd Student, Anthropology, Columbia University
Alyssa A.L. James is a PhD student and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow whose research examines the consequences of recasting colonial history for Caribbean subjectivities and futures. She interrogates the discourses and practices that transform commodities into heritage - and history into commodity - as it unfolds through Martinique’s nascent coffee revival project.
Alyssa A.L. James
Phd Student, Anthropology, Columbia University
Alyssa A.L. James is a PhD student and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow whose research examines the consequences of recasting colonial history for Caribbean subjectivities and futures. She interrogates the discourses and practices that transform commodities into heritage - and history into commodity - as it unfolds through Martinique’s nascent coffee revival project. She is an editorial assistant for the Small Axe journal.
Working Group Affiliation
Black Atlantic Ecologies, Graduate Coordinator
Courtni Jeffers
Doctoral Student, Narrative Medicine, Columbia University
Courtni Jeffers is currently a graduate student in the Narrative Medicine Program at Columbia University. Prior to her time at Columbia she earned a bachelor’s degree in Medical Humanities and a bachelor’s degree in Biology at IUPUI in Indianapolis, Indiana. After completing her M.S. in Narrative Medicine, Courtni hopes to pursue osteopathic medicine with a specialty in hospice care. She is passionate about writing and hopes to use the art of storytelling to facilitate honest and healing conversations about the end of life, with her hospice patients and their families.
Courtni Jeffers
Graduate Student, Columbia University
Courtni Jeffers is currently a graduate student in the Narrative Medicine Program at Columbia University. Prior to her time at Columbia she earned a bachelor’s degree in Medical Humanities and a bachelor’s degree in Biology at IUPUI in Indianapolis, Indiana. After completing her M.S. in Narrative Medicine, Courtni hopes to pursue osteopathic medicine with a specialty in hospice care. She is passionate about writing and hopes to use the art of storytelling to facilitate honest and healing conversations about the end of life, with her hospice patients and their families.
Working Group Affiliation
Anna Jiang
Doctoral Student, Human Rights, Columbia University
Anna Jiang is a currently a Human Rights M.A. student here at Columbia. Her thesis concerns how traditions and cultural heritage informs reproductive/menstrual health and gender in the space of contemporary China.
Anna Jiang
Graduate Student, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University
Anna Jiang is a currently a Human Rights M.A. student here at Columbia. Her thesis concerns how traditions and cultural heritage informs reproductive/menstrual health and gender in the space of contemporary China. Broadly, her research interests include post-colonial theory, public health, medical anthropology, and the politicization of gender and sex in modern China, as well as East Asia.
Working Group Affiliation
Sunny Jones
Graduate Student, Systems Biology, Columbia University
Sunny Jones is a graduate student in the Systems Biology department working with Dr. Andrea Califano. Her research involves developing algorithms for analyzing cancer genomics data with the goal of better understanding their biology as well matching patients to highly specific treatments as based on their genetics. She has previous research experience in nutrient metabolism and is currently working in conjunction with a startup to build a platform for providing optimal meals and dietary suggestions to cancer patients and survivors. In her free time she enjoys rock climbing, biking and exploring New York City.
Sunny Jones
Graduate Student, Systems Biology, Columbia University
Sunny Jones is a graduate student in the Systems Biology department working with Dr. Andrea Califano. Her research involves developing algorithms for analyzing cancer genomics data with the goal of better understanding their biology as well matching patients to highly specific treatments as based on their genetics. She has previous research experience in nutrient metabolism and is currently working in conjunction with a startup to build a platform for providing optimal meals and dietary suggestions to cancer patients and survivors. In her free time she enjoys rock climbing, biking and exploring New York City.
Working Group Affiliation
Nick Juravich
Doctoral Student, Education, Columbia University
Nick Juravich is a doctoral student in United States History, studying education, labor organizing, social policy, urban history, and social movements in the twentieth century. His dissertation, provisionally titled "An Education in Democracy: Paraprofessionals in Schools, Communities, and the Labor Movement, 1965-1980," examines the changing relationships between public schools, local communities, and public sector unions in this era.
Nick Juravich
Nick Juravich is a doctoral student in United States History, studying education, labor organizing, social policy, urban history, and social movements in the twentieth century. His dissertation, provisionally titled "An Education in Democracy: Paraprofessionals in Schools, Communities, and the Labor Movement, 1965-1980," examines the changing relationships between public schools, local communities, and public sector unions in this era.
Nick received his BA in History with honors from the University of Chicago in 2006, where he wrote his senior thesis on the Rainbow Beach Wade-Ins, a series of civil rights protests in Chicago that Nick helped to commemorate for their 50th Anniversary in 2011. From 2006 to 2008, Nick attended the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, earning an M.Phil. in Economic and Social History with distinction for his master's thesis on the transnational origins of black British equality movements. His research at Columbia is funded by Javits Fellowship.
Nick lives in Crown Heights, where he ran around schoolyards with kids as a health and fitness educator for New York Road Runners for two years before coming to Columbia, and where he still blogs about neighborhood change and local issues at http://ilovefranklinave.blogspot.com . His essays and reviews have appeared online for the New York Observer, the New York Moon, the Huffington Post, Tropics of Meta, and Dissent.
Working Group Affiliation
Suzanne Kahn
PhD Student, History, Columbia University
Suzanne Kahn is a Ph.D. candidate in the U.S. History program. She works at the intersection of legal history, women’s history, and American Political Development. Her dissertation, “Divorce and the Politics of the Social Welfare Regime, 1969-2001,” examines how rising divorce rates shaped the politics and policies around women’s access to economic resources.
Suzanne Kahn
PhD Student, History
Suzanne Kahn is a Ph.D. candidate in the U.S. History program. She works at the intersection of legal history, women’s history, and American Political Development. Her dissertation, “Divorce and the Politics of the Social Welfare Regime, 1969-2001,” examines how rising divorce rates shaped the politics and policies around women’s access to economic resources.
Suzanne’s research has been supported by fellowships from the William Nelson Cromwell Foundation and the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. In 2013, she was fellow at the J. Willard Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
Suzanne received her B.A. with honors in history from Yale University in 2007. Before returning to graduate school she worked on the Service Employees International Union’s campaign for health care reform.
Working Group Affiliation