8 Teaching Assistants
Almost all 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 Getting Help (Chapter 9) of this Syllabus for more details.
8.1 TA office hours
TA office hours are held via Zoom, will begin on Tuesday 2023-09-05 and continue through Monday 2023-12-11. The weekly schedule will appear on our Contact Us page as well as our Course Calendar.
- Our Shared Google Drive (431 Fall 2023 Dr Love and Students) will eventually contain 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 on 2023-10-23 and 2023-10-24 for Fall Break and from 2023-11-19 through 2023-11-25 for Thanksgiving break.
Professor Love will also hold “office hours” before and after each class to the extent possible.
8.2 Getting To Know The TAs
The Fall 2023 Teaching Assistants for 431 are:
| TA Name | For more, visit | Current Roles and CWRU Experiences |
|---|---|---|
| Ali Elsharkawi | Section 8.2.1 | third year MS student in Clinical Research |
| Chenyu Liu | Section 8.2.2 | first year PhD student in Epidemiology & Biostatistics |
| Alex Olejko | Section 8.2.3 | fifth year PhD candidate in the Developmental, Cognitive, and Affective Sciences program in the Department of Psychological Sciences |
| Lindsay Petrenchik | Section 8.2.4 | PGY1 Pharmacy Resident at University Hospital Samaritan Medical Center and Clinical Instructor of Pharmacy Practice at Northeast Ohio Medical University and MS graduate |
| Miza Salim Hammoud | Section 8.2.5 | MS student in Clinical Research and Postdoc Fellow at Cleveland Clinic |
| Monika Strah | Section 8.2.6 | PhD student in Clinical Translational Science and MS graduate |
| Ria Tilve | Section 8.2.7 | first year MD student and MPH graduate |
| Hongke Wu | Section 8.2.8 | first year MS student in Biostatistics |
8.2.1 Ali Elsharkawi
Ali Elsharkawi is in his third year in the M.S program in Clinical Research. He completed his bachelor’s in medicine, and fellowship in Electrophysiology at Metrohealth in Cleveland. For his research interest, he studied the outcome of atrial fibrillation ablation procedures. Ali took 431 and 432 two years ago 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.
8.2.2 Chenyu Liu
Chenyu Liu is a first-year Ph.D. student in Epidemiology and Biostatistics within the Department of Population & Quantitative Health Sciences. Chenyu completed her undergraduate studies in statistics at Wuhan University of Technology in China and her master’s program in statistics at Case. Her current research interest is Bayesian Statistics, multi-omics data integration, and proteomics analysis. Outside of her Ph.D. life, Chenyu spends her time traveling, cooking, and watching movies.
8.2.3 Alex Olejko
Alex is a 5th year PhD candidate in the Developmental, Cognitive, and Affective Sciences program in the Department of Psychological Sciences. He completed my undergraduate education at Ohio State, and earned my Master’s degree from CWRU in 2022. His research mainly resides in the field of behavior genetics, where he focuses on polygenic influences on behavioral outcomes. These outcomes mostly encompass educational and health phenotypes in the early to mid-twenties. Alex grew up outside of Cleveland and am a fervent Cleveland sports fan. He loves going to Guardians games and have already been to 20 this year (and counting). Some of his other favorite past-times include building Lego, mixology, exercise, and (mainly) single-player video games.
8.2.4 Lindsay Petrenchik
Lindsay Petrenchik is a PGY1 Pharmacy Resident at University Hospital Samaritan Medical Center and a Clinical Instructor of Pharmacy Practice at Northeast Ohio Medical University. Prior to residency, Lindsay worked at Novartis for two years where she evaluated Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) in oncology clinical trials. She is excited to share with you how she has used 431/432 super-power skills daily in both pharmaceutical industry and residency research projects. Come to her TA sessions and you will have a blast learning R and statistical methods!
8.2.5 Miza Salim Hammoud
Miza Salim Hammoud is a postdoctoral research fellow at Cleveland Clinic’s Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery Department and is in her second year of the Masters of Science in Clinical Research (CRSP) program at CWRU. Her research goal is to construct predictive models that illuminate the path ahead for little lives touched by congenital heart defects, predicting both clinical outcomes and the quality of life perceived by patients and their families. Miza took 431 and 432 last year and is applying the amazing research skills gained from these two classes in her research projects. Beyond the realm of academia and research, Miza enjoys playing the piano’s melody, painting colors on canvas, and embarks on adventures that span the globe embracing the wonders of new countries and cultures.
8.2.6 Monika Strah
Monika Strah is a Ph.D. student in Clinical Translational Science at CWRU and recently completed the Biostatistics M.S. program. She is looking forward to returning as a TA for PQHS 431/432 and also enjoyed TAing for PQHS 453 this summer. Monika’s past research includes mathematical approaches to questions in population genetics and human evolution and is presently studying dietary factors associated with lung cancer risk and multiple sclerosis related fatigue management strategies. Monika enjoys reading, hiking and is a member of the National Ski Patrol.
8.2.7 Ria Tilve
Ria Tilve is a first year medical student at CWRU. After completing her bachelor’s in Biochemistry, she obtained her MPH in Population Health Research at CWRU last spring. Her current research focuses on musculoskeletal health and biomedical imaging. Ria took 431 and 432 during the 2021-2022 school 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.
8.2.8 Hongke Wu
Hongke Wu is currently in her first year of the MS program in Biostatistics at CWRU. She holds an MD degree from China and has completed her MPH in Epidemiology at Tulane University. With a background in producing research outcomes and analyzing both population-based and clinical research data, she is particularly interested in exploring the relationship between nutrition and cancer. Her goal is to contribute to the field of nutrition epidemiology and cancer research while also advocating for public health. Outside of her studies, Hongke enjoys playing tennis, hiking, and playing the piano.