Introducing: Your Hosts for Season 3 - Maria Ayoub, BS, & Dr. Jenna Zajac, PT, DPT

10/30/20 • 23 min

In this episode, Maria Ayoub and Jenna Zajac, two PhD students in Rehabilitation Sciences at BU's Sargent College, introduce themselves, describe their journey from undergrad to graduate school, and touch on their current work. They also express their motivations in hosting VitaminPhD Season 3 and highlight the themes and topics of the upcoming episodes.

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Roundtable Discussion with BU PhD Students

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In the season finale of Vitamin PhD, Sasha Goldman engages in a discussion with three current BU PhD students: Diane Lebo (Biology), Ricky Magner (Mathematics), and Kiloni Quiles-Franco (Molecular and Translational Medicine). During the conversation they discuss how to balance doctoral program requirements, extracurricular activities, and personal needs. They share reflections on valuable experiences they’ve gained through involvement with on campus organizations and activities and talk about some commonalities between their doctoral experiences at BU.

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Navigating Mental Health and Mental Wealth with Michelle Baum, MSW

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In this episode, Maria and Jenna chat with Michelle Baum, MSW and current MPH student at Boston University, about mental health. They discuss the culture surrounding mental health in academia, how to support someone struggling with mental health, how to support yourself, and the importance of social support.
Michelle Baum, MSW is a public health social worker in her last year of graduate school at Boston University finishing up her master in public health. After completing her undergraduate degree in psychology and Spanish at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), she moved to Boston to further her education in pursuit of a career at the intersection of public health and social work, focusing on mental health, health equity, and the social determinants of health. While at the Boston University School of Social work, she was involved in a research project investigating the effects of a cell phone app on promoting recovery from substance use disorders in a Latinx Spanish-speaking community in Boston. During the pandemic, she began working as a Care Resource Coordinator and is now working as a University and College Liaison for the Community Tracing Collaborative, the state’s COVID-19 contact tracing program. In her free time she loves to spend time in nature, run, do yoga, cook, watch videos of dogs, and spend time with friends, family, and loved ones.