Meet Our Practicum Students

We’re excited to announce not just one, but five practicum students who we are happy to call part of our team: Kris Curtis, Chelsea Keenan, Abigail Lee, Sneha Phadke and Erin Taber.

Our newest interns have jumped right in, so you may have already met them during workgroup and committee meetings. But we felt more formal introductions were in order.

Kris Curtis

Kris Curtis is a second year Master of Public Health (MPH)-Epidemiology student at the University of Iowa and an aspiring medical student. He completed his undergraduate degree in Biology and Neuroscience, along with a minor in Chemistry, at Coe College in Cedar Rapids while being a collegiate soccer player for four years. Kris’s current research interests are in cancer prevention, as well as improving the quality of life for cancer patients and survivors. His practicum project with the Iowa Cancer Consortium and Iowa Department of Public Health is focused on addressing the barriers of using electronic health record data to facilitate appropriate cancer survivorship care from primary care providers, and improving the usefulness of current templates and practices for cancer survivorship care. Kris says he is ecstatic to be working with an organization like the Iowa Cancer Consortium who’s a statewide leader in cancer control that is focused on collaboration across traditional boundaries for a bigger impact in cancer prevention, early detection, treatment and quality of life.

Chelsea Keenan

Chelsea Keenan is a second year MPH-Policy student at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Before coming back to school, she worked as a reporter at the Cedar Rapids Gazette, where she covered health care policy, including the state’s transition to Medicaid Managed Care and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. For her practicum, she will be working with Consortium staff to plan the 2020 Spring Meeting series, which will focus on rural cancer rates and how policy can improve these disparities.

Abigail Lee

Abigail Lee is a second year MPH candidate in the Department of Community and Behavior Health at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. Prior to starting her MPH she worked as a diabetes researcher at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and spent time with United Action for Youth, during which she became a certified sexual health educator. For her practicum, Abigail will be working with Sloane Henry at the Consortium and Heidi Haines at the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (UI) to develop greater understanding of adolescent E-cigarette use and effectiveness of E-cigarette interventions by communicating with national interventionalists and implementers.

Sneha Phadke, DO

Sneha Phadke is a clinical assistant professor at the University of Iowa and a breast oncologist in the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center. Phadke did her fellowship at UIHC and prior to that, her Internal Medicine residency at the University of Kansas. She is originally from the Kansas City area. Phadke’s MPH practicum project with the Iowa Cancer Consortium focuses on evaluating cancer clinical trials throughout the state of Iowa, including access to trials in rural areas and any gaps or areas of need in our state clinical trial portfolio.

Erin Taber

Erin Taber is a second year MPH-Epidemiology student at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. In May 2019, she graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in Health Promotion, Political Science and Global Health Studies, also from the University of Iowa, where she was actively involved in fraternity/sorority life, Dance Marathon and the University Honors Program. Her main public health interests include health promotion/nutrition, global health, cancer and public health practice/workforce development. At the Consortium, Erin is completing her MPH Applied Practice Experience. Her project focuses on evaluating the 2018-2022 Iowa Cancer Plan by analyzing the consortium’s Implementation Grants and performing evaluations on the consortium’s work groups.