RESIDENT LONGITUDINAL PROJECTS
CHAT residents are guided to conceive, develop and implement a longitudinal project through the course of their residency. Longitudinal projects are designed to give residents the opportunity to develop an ongoing relationship with community members, agencies and groups while achieving their personal goals in terms of community impact, research and practical experience. The CHAT faculty’s own interests have lead to established research and projects through the Department of Pediatrics, School of Public Health, Los Angeles county organizations and the Mar Vista neighborhood. Residents are encouraged to explore all opportunities, utilize faculty expertise, and develop their projects based on their interests and community needs.
CHAT residents will develop their projects during their PL-2 and PL-3 year. Additional opportunities to work on the project may come during elective time, particularly the CHAT month-long electives that are available during the year. Residents should plan on identifying a project by the start of the PL-2 year. With the help of their research advisor and program mentor, residents should set a timeline of activities that leads to:
- Development and implementation of the project during the PL-2 and Pl-3 year;
- Submission of a pediatric CATCH grant by July of the (end of the) PL-2 year;
- At least one presentation of the progress of the project in the quarterly project update seminars and/or Pediatric WIP;
- Submission of an abstract to a regional or national APA conference by the end of the PL-3 year;
- Presentation of project and findings/results in pediatric Grand Rounds in the Spring of the PL-3 year.
These activities can be modified for different projects, but this will depend on individual discussions between residents, their mentors, and CHAT faculty.
PROJECT EXAMPLES
Current Residents
Nicole Brown, ’07: Nicole is looking at the attitudes of African-American teen moms towards breastfeeding; she is planning to conduct a series of focus groups of black teens this fall and she will most likely present at CHAT Grand Rounds in 2007.
Alma Cortez, ’07: Alma is looking at media exposure of healthy and unhealthy foods; she works closely with Wendy Slusser in the schools and at Venice Family Clinic.
Ashna Kansal, ’07: Ashna is examining the Healthy Kids program; her project is policy-oriented.
Leslie Hamilton, ’07: Leslie is working on the creation of a behavioral pediatrics curriculum for residency training; this involves creating 6 modules covering simple behavioral problems that appear at continuity clinic.
Shoba Narayan, ’07: Shoba is conducting a needs assessment of childhood obesity/overweight at a high prevalence area in the San Fernando Valley.
Sanjeev Sriram, ’07: Sanjeev is working on the creation of a mandatory PL-3 advocacy rotation at UCLA; he gave a platform presentation at PAS 2006 and he will present at CHAT Grand Rounds in 2007.
Shivangi Bhatt, ’08: Shivangi is interested in learning about self-esteem in adolescents; this project will be based at Venice High School and Venice Family Clinic Teen Clinic; Shivangi will probably apply for an AAP CATCH grant.
Donna Curtis, ’08: Donna is currently undecided
Alex Blum, ’08: Alex is going to look at gang prevention in Mar Vista Gardens and surrounding areas; he will probably apply for AAP CATCH grant.
Diana Rickard, ’08: Diana is going to be involved with a Ghana international project; she may present at CHAT Grand Rounds in 2007.
Rebecca Dudovitz, ’08: Rebecca is going to be involved with a Ghana international project; she may present at CHAT Grand Rounds in 2007.
Nava Yeganeh, ’08: Nava is currently undecided.
Past Residents
Sara Nelson ’03: Sara examined developmental screening using a book in PCC. She conducted surveys of residents’ knowledge of developmental milestones in addition to giving a pre-clinic talk every day for one week to educate residents about how they could use a book to screen for different components of development; she received AAP CATCH grant for this project.
Kirsten Heidel Sampera, ’04: Kirsten organized the first set of advocacy code cards made by CHAT.
Margaret-Anne McGibbon Fernandez, ’04: Margaret-Anne conducted a health needs assessment at Mar Vista Gardens ; she held a series of four focus groups with the Mar Vista Gardens Residency Council to ascertain the health needs of the children. To her surprise, the results revealed that parents wanted information on effective disciplining techniques and asthma/allergies rather than obesity/nutrition; she received an AAP CATCH grant for this project.
Margaret Swaine, ’04: Margaret looked at breastfeeding policies in the NICU and the newborn nursery in preparation for helping UCLA become a World Health Organization-designated baby-friendly hospital. She interviewed nurses in both settings and reviewed the nursing policies regarding breastfeeding; she also gave talks to clinics at PCC to encourage residents to bring back new moms in 3-4 days after birth rather than waiting for two weeks.
Rebecca Whitney, ’04: Rebecca created a system to identify special needs children at Burke and looked at incorporating a Medical Home at Burke; she received AAP CATCH grant for this project.
Bryan McDonald, ’05: Bryon created a parks and recreation binder for the Venice/Santa Monica area around Burke; he presented this at the PAS national meeting in 2004.
Monica McGrann, ’05: Monica examined sports activities for Burke patients and identified scholarships with AYSO and other opportunities for kids at Burke.
Michael Ching, ’06: Mike conducted developmental screenings in family day care homes; he did a combination of focus groups and surveys of parents from Westside Children’s Center and asked about their experiences with the TLC project; Mike received both an AAP CATCH grant and AAP Resident Research Grant for his project; he presented his ideas at Grand Rounds in 2006.
Alma Guerrero, ’06: Alma examined perceptions of childhood overweight/obesity in Latina mothers; she conducted a series of focus groups with moms from Burke kids ages 2-5 years. She won a prize at the Southwestern Pediatric Society annual meeting in 2005 and presented her ideas at Grand Rounds in 2005.
Monica Stoffer, ’06: Monica created mobile medical homes for children in foster care; she created a combination scrapbook/medical record to be used for foster care kids. She also conducted key informant interviews with six experienced foster moms regarding what should be included in the scrapbook/medical record. and spoke with Department of Children and Family Service Director Charles Sophy about her ideas. Monica received an AAP CATCH grant for her project and presented platform presentation at PAS 2006 and also presented at Grand Rounds in 2006.
Rashmi Shetgiri, ’06: Rashmi examined the nutritional content of home and school meals in Los Angeles Unified School District, comparing it to 1998 data of calorie counts of home and school breakfasts and lunches. She found that school meals more healthy by RDA recommendations. She also worked to organize a parenting curriculum for MVG based on findings from Margaret-Anne McGibbon’s needs assessment from 2004 and presented findings in a poster at PAS 2006 and at Grand Rounds in 2005.
Rishi Manchanda, ’06: Rishi looked at racial/ethnic health disparities training in residency by surveying residents in medicine, pediatrics, and med-peds at UCLA, Olive View, Harbor, the VA, and Cedars. He presented at SGIM national meeting 2006 and also presented at Grand Rounds in 2006.
