Section 7 Teaching Assistants

Most of this year’s stellar group of teaching assistants have been in your shoes - they’ve taken the course in the past, and they enjoyed it enough to come back for more. They are volunteering their precious time and energy to help make the course happen, and we couldn’t be more delighted to welcome you to the course. All office hours and all teaching assistant work will be done remotely.

There is a lot to learn in this class. Don’t suffer in silence - talk to us! As mentioned earlier, you shouldn’t spend more than 15 minutes struggling with anything in this class without asking for help.

Visit the Getting Help with 431 section of this Syllabus for more details.

The Fall 2022 Teaching Assistants for 431 are:

7.1 TA office hours

TA office hours are held via Zoom, will begin on 2022-09-06 and end on 2022-12-12. The weekly schedule appears on our Contact Us page as well as in our Course Calendar.

  • Our Shared Google Drive (431 Fall 2022 Dr Love and Students) now contains Zoom links for each of these sessions in a document called TA office hours schedule and Zoom links.
    • No appointment is necessary. Please just drop in.
    • Be sure to log into Google via CWRU to access the shared Drive.
  • TA office hours are cancelled from 2022-11-19 through 2022-11-25 for Thanksgiving break.

Professor Love will also hold “office hours” before and after each class to the extent possible.

7.2 Getting To Know The TAs

Stephanie Merlino Barr

Stephanie Merlino Barr is a Ph.D. candidate in the Clinical Translational Science program and a full-time dietitian in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at MetroHealth Medical Center; she is excited to be back TAing 431/432! Stephanie’s research focuses on the relationship of early life nutrition interventions and long-term growth and developmental outcomes in very low birthweight infants. Outside of work & PhD life, Stephanie spends her time running, gardening, and hanging out with her dog.

Shiying Liu

Shiying Liu is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Epidemiology and Biostatistics within the Department of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences. Shiying completed her undergraduate study focusing on biological sciences at Fudan University back in China and then received her master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. She took 431/432 in 2019/2020, which was of great help for her research projects and the preparations for the comprehensive exam. Currently, her research focus broadly addresses the critical gaps in knowledge of how information is encoded into DNA and how the story, when changed, leads to human disease using emerging statistical and bioinformatic approaches. Outside of research, she is a foodie and a superfan of detective fiction. Always passionate to solve the puzzle, “the truth is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it.”

Ali Elsharkawi

Ali Elsharkawi is in his third year in the M.S program in Clinical Research. He completed his bachelor’s in Medicine, residency and fellowship in Electrophysiology. For his research interest, he studied the outcome of atrial fibrillation ablation procedures. Ali took 431 and 432 this past year and he is applying the skills he learned in his research projects. Ali enjoys spending time with his family, playing music, watching soccer, and traveling.

Monika Strah

Monika Strah is presently completing her last semester of the M.S. program in Biostatistics. She is looking forward to a second year as a TA for 431/432 and also working as a research assistant in the PQHS department. Monika’s undergraduate degree is in Mathematics and she taught Mathematics at Kent State before coming to Case. Monika’s research includes mathematical approaches to questions in population genetics and human evolution. Monika enjoys reading, hiking and is a member of the National Ski Patrol.

Ria Tilve

Ria Tilve is in her second year of the MPH program in Population Health Research. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry last spring at CWRU. Her current research focuses on musculoskeletal health and biomedical imaging. Ria took 431 and 432 this past year, and she is applying those skills in her research projects. Outside of studying, Ria enjoys spending time with her family, running, watching sports, and exploring new places.

Kyaw Hla

Kyaw Hla is in his final semester in the M.S. program (capstone) in Clinical Research. He completed his bachelor’s in Medicine and Surgery in Burma. Currently, his research addresses the genetic mechanisms of critical illness in TB and COVID-19. He took 431/432 this past year, and he is applying the skills of statistics in his research projects. He enjoys reading, writing and solving puzzles.

Zhengxi Chen

Zhengxi Chen is a first-year Ph.D. student in Epidemiology and Biostatistics within the Department of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences. Zhengxi obtained his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018 and Master’s degree in Biostatistics at Duke University in 2020. After working at Duke University Health System and VA Medical Center for two years, he decided to pursue a Ph.D. His current research interest is the joint modelling of time-to-event and longitudinal data. Outside of work & PhD life, Zhengxi enjoys playing Texas Hold’em, video games and badminton. He’s looking forward to making connections with students in and out of class.

Lindsay Petrenchik

Lindsay Petrenchik is a Patient Centered Outcomes Fellow at Novartis. At Novartis, Lindsay is involved in the Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) of the Statistical Analysis Plans, supports PRO post-hoc analyses and R Shiny visualizations, and has dabbled in some psychometric validation studies. After pursuing her PharmD at Touro College of Pharmacy, Lindsay completed her masters in Biostatistics (Healthcare Analytics Track) at Case in 2021, during which she greatly valued the 431/432 tutoring sessions. Lindsay is excited to help other students learn R, conceptualize statistical methods, and share how she uses 431/432 skills daily!