The CREATE Dissemination Core introduces the Social Media Intern Program (SMIP), which engages student members of CREATE to support dissemination activities. This position was first piloted with students at the Illinois site, with students from Cornell University joining the program this year. We would like to introduce our interns: Olivia Rojas, Kalyani Nair, Litzy Puma, and Prarthana Rawal. 

Olivia is a graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign earning her master’s degree in health administration. She was the first intern in SMIP in 2022, mostly working on drafting news items and assisting with website updates. Her extensive work on the CREATE website formulated the backbone of the current design of the website, setting up the structure of the design we have now. She has played a transformative role in updating the “People” section of the website. Her research interests reside in making healthcare more accessible to individuals and easier to navigate. She has been involved with CREATE research since her sophomore year of her undergraduate studies, and it has been a meaningful part of her academic journey.

Kalyani is a sophomore undergraduate from Buffalo, NY, majoring in Human Development in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. Her journey as an intern began through joining Dr. Boot’s lab at Weill Cornell Medicine. Her tasks involve identifying videos for the CREATE YouTube channel and assisting in user guide development for CREATE measures. Her research role focuses on developing engineering techniques to enhance the output quality of large language models for older adults with and without cognitive impairments. Kalyani is interested in the manifestation of neurodegenerative diseases and the measures taken for preventing and slowing them down. Some fun facts about Kalyani are that she likes to dance and sing, and she loves the outdoors.  

Litzy is an undergraduate student at Cornell University in the department of Human Ecology. She joined SMIP as being part of the team would allow her advocate for research through various platforms. She resonates with this position because communicating research can aid in educating individuals about their health, resources available to them, and much more. As an intern, Litzy works on collecting past videos of CREATE researchers and designing for CREATE dissemination platforms. Her research interests focus on language barriers individuals experience in healthcare with science, technology, and more. A fun-fact about Litzy is that she is bilingual, as she speaks English and Spanish. 

Prarthana is an undergraduate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign majoring in Molecular and Cellular Biology. She is the most recent intern in SMIP who started her journey through Dr. Rogers’ lab. She works on drafting news items, updating personnel sections, designing new sections, and making other edits for the CREATE website. Prarthana’s research interests lie in understanding the process of aging, technology older adults could use to promote their independence and make healthcare decisions, and their mental health. Some fun-facts about Prarthana include that she loves rock climbing, sewing, playing with all kinds of animals, and she is minoring in Anthropology.