The Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness is pleased to announce that two Harvard doctoral students have been awarded the inaugural Dissertation Research Award for the 2018-2019 academic year.
The Dissertation Research Award Program was established to assist full-time doctoral students of public health who are conducting dissertation research in the field of positive health science or another closely related field with research related costs. Through this program, the Center seeks to involve students in its work to build a rigorous science of positive health and well-being, and to translate science into practice and policy.
2018-2019 Dissertation Research Award Recipients
Alina Schnake-Mahl is a Doctor of Science candidate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her dissertation research will examine the effects of residential population movement and neighborhood on health. Specifically, she will draw on ecosocial theory and positive health science to explore the positive and protective factors that exist in low-income, racially segregated neighborhoods, and her research will contribute to the understanding of the positive assets that exist in economically deprived neighborhoods.
Scott Delaney is a Doctor of Science candidate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His dissertation research will focus on the connection between elements of a positive social environment and healthy neurodevelopment in children. Specifically, his research will assess the impact of positive family functioning on markers of favorable brain development, including measures of cortical gray matter thickness and global white matter integrity.