2022Doctoral Graduate, Sitara Weerakoon, PhD named a 2022 College on Problems of Drug Dependence Primm-Singleton Minority Travel Award recipient

最近在Uthealth公共卫生学院的博士毕业生Sitara Weerakoon博士被任命为2022年全国性的毒品依赖问题学院（CPDD）PRIMM-SINGLETON少数民族旅行奖获得者。CPDD是美国最长的群体，解决了毒品依赖和滥用的问题。

Weerakoon is a 2022 graduating doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, with a minor in biostatistics and a concentration in maternal and child health. Her dissertation research has focused on the effect of perinatal substance use on child and adolescent anthropometric growth and cardiovascular outcomes. Her first dissertation paper was accepted for publication inChild Health Care, her second paper was accepted inProgress in Pediatric Cardiology,她的第三篇论文目前正在同行评审中。她的发现已经确定了证据表明，青少年出生的正常和低出生体重，并暴露于子宫内的各种物质组合的收缩压ATT升高16岁，并且可能会增加患心血管疾病的风险。

在Uthealth公共卫生学院期间，Weerakoon一直是活跃的学生领导者。她是达拉斯校园学生协会的'20-’21主席，并领导了2022年的组织beplay苹果手机能用吗超越边界的研究学生研究论坛。beplay苹果手机能用吗她还曾在生物统计学和小儿流行病学和流行病学III上担任活跃的助教（TA），花了很多时间为课堂上的学生提供帮助。

Her strong character shines through as described by Jenil Patel, PhD, assistant professor with the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, "Sitara has been an amazing TA to work with. Seeing her learning and applying advanced epidemiological concepts, along with her skills of sharing knowledge with other students at the same time, makes her an exceptional graduate student. Wishing her the best in her next career steps.”

Weerakoon will be starting her postdoctoral program at Yale University with the National Institute on Drug Abuse funded T32 Postdoctoral Research Training Program in Substance Abuse Prevention led by Jacob Tebes, PhD, professor of Epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, and a leader in the field of substance use.

“I could not be prouder of Sitara. She has worked so hard throughout her PhD program and her dissertation papers are significant contributions to the field, especially as substance use remains a public health challenge” said Weerakoon’s advisor and dissertation chair, Sarah Messia, PhD, professor of the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, and director of the Center for Pediatric Population Health.