Resume

Research Support Analyst| July 2023 - Present

Research Support Specialist | Aug 2022 - July 2023

Center for Cognitive Neuroscience & Aging ― University of Miami

• Database management & engineering in REDCap & Ripple

  • Develops databases and provides long-term maintenance as well as ongoing development of the research databases for four multimillion dollar NIH and FLDOH projects

  • Develops and refines data collection instruments on electronic data capture systems

  • Ensures data completeness, correctness, and consistency via routine data review and quality checks

  • Creates and maintains up-to-date data and database documentations (e.g. data dictionaries and metadata)

  • Develops systems for efficient data collection and sharing across co-enrolled studies to reduce team and participant burden while maintaining data integrity

  • Develops systems and custom, self-updating dashboards for ongoing monitoring, visualizing, and reporting.

• Data management; cleaning/wrangling, visualization, & analysis in R

  • Utilizes statistical software to clean and merge datasets from multiple sources

  • Performs data queries and creates reports (summaries, tables, figures, etc.)

  • Creates tables and prepares data for statistical analysis

  • Assists the PI and co-PI in overseeing the data-related activities and work products of more junior research staff (e.g. research analysis, students, posters & papers)

  • All data-related tasks as requested by the principal investigator including RPPR NIH reporting, data visualizations for grant renewals, etc.

  • Regularly write programs for data wrangling and merging that help monitor study or data entry progress, data quality, and find solutions to enhance efficiency of daily operations

  • Preliminary analysis & visualization 

• Compliance & regulatory submitting & reporting

  • Assists with Data Management Plan development and submission to NIH

  • IND compliance & regulatory reporting to FDA

  • RPPR reporting

• Website design in WIX & google sites

  • • Community Resources: bit.ly/cnsacommunityresources

    • ORE Brain Donation Informational & Recruiting Website

• Outreach & Retention; constant contact, brochure & materials design

• Attended monthly didactic training, Jackson Memorial Hospital's neurology grand rounds, and neuropsychology/neuropathology-based seminars

• Participated in weekly didactics, article discussions, and regular case presentations for a multidisciplinary consensus team

Reading Intervention Specialist | Jan 2022 - Jul 2022

Austin Achieve Elementary - Americorps - Austin, Tx

• Work directly with elementary school students and community

• Provide tailored, data driven, literacy intervention

• Collect data on student literacy and use this data to guide interventions, as well as measure outcomes

Literacy is a key-stone determinant of health that will affect so many other social determinants and impact health across the life course. Reading Intervention specialists were responsible for improved literacy among students as evidenced by performance in the classroom, improved reading level and standardized tests scores.

Research Assistant & Data Analyst | Jun 2021 - Aug 2021

Spatial Models & Electoral Redistricting ― NSF funded REU, University of Washington

• Collaborative work environment with a interdisciplinary team

• Wrote R code for modeling & Logistic Regression 

• Created well-formatted R scripts to obtain, clean, derive, analyze, and visualize data

• Prepared tables and charts for presentations

• Individual and group problem solving to execute assigned tasks

• Developed, implemented, and maintained data management plans 

• Inductive research methods 

• Presented work at University of Puget Sound Science Seminar Series, and University of Washington's Math Enthusiast Seminar

I worked on a project that utilized an inductive approach to investigating gerrymandered voting districts in the US. My role was largely writing R scripts to clean, derive, analyze, & visualize our data. 

Community Health Improvement Plan Analyst | Mar 2021 - Jun 2021

Oregon Health Authority

• Problem solved data visualization & health information communication challenges

• Web App Development: shiny R 

• Created original solutions; Worked independently and taught myself how to write the code for the shiny app we needed

I developed this app to facilitate collaboration across public health organizations in Oregon. It works by allowing users to filter data from Community & State Health Improvement Plans about priority goals. This data would otherwise be buried in extensive documents which posed a time consuming feat when seeking collaborators.

View at: bit.ly/oregon-health-improvement

Research Assistant, Karstens Lab | Nov 2019 - Mar 2021

Oregon Health & Science University

• Microbiome research topics

• Learned about and problem solved Big Data visualization &  colorblind accessibility challenges; Strong attention to detail and persistence

• Learned to code in R 

• Conducted literature reviews

• Presented at NIH Build EXITO Symposium & OHSU Research Week

• Collaborative work environment

I developed a universally colorblind accessible palette in R extensive enough for microbiome data visualization. It is incorporated in the microshades R package which can be read about here. 

Research Assistant, Totten Lab | Jul - Nov 2019

Oregon Health & Science University

• Advance Care Planning Project

• International work environment: 5 US states & 2 Canadian provinces

• Maintained, monitored & visualized study recruitment data

• Used excel for data management and analysis

• Tracked study recruitment progress to ensure concordance with protocol goals and timeline

• Coordinated with multiple medical practices on data collection & meeting recruitment goals

• Data visualization

• Survey administration & response validation in REDCap

• Handled PHI 

• Sent out weekly updates with visualization of study progress and data to boost team morale

Research Assistant, Haeffner Lab | Mar - Jun 2019

Portland State University 

• Water Justice Project

• Interview transcription

My role was transcribing community interviews for a project aimed at understanding environmental impact of tide gates, working with community stakeholders to re-wild farmland, and natural hydrology restoration in Tillamook, OR.

Front Desk Receptionist | Sep 2018 - Sep 2019

Institute on Aging | Portland State University

• High level customer service

• Communicated with diverse community in person, by phone & email

• Solved problems & provided program information

• Referral to services & resources

• Created & assessed surveys: feedback/satisfaction

• Teamwork to complete assignments by a deadline

• Processed paperwork registration and program

• Record maintenance 

Front Desk Receptionist | Aug 2017 - Jun 2018

Student Learning Center | Portland Community College

• Established rapport with walk-in students

• Assessed student needs to connect them with campus resources

• Facilitated engagement by creating personable, welcoming atmosphere

• Appointment management for center

~ Volunteer Experience ~

Social Inclusion Workshop Facilitator | Sep - Nov 2021

Cruz Roja Española (Spanish Red Cross) - Vigo, Spain

• Developed curriculum around computer literacy & job seeking skills

• Student driven teaching approaches; class flow dynamically adapted to student needs & progress

• Created & compiled additional resources to augment the learning process throughout class & beyond

• Cultivated & encouraged student confidence in abilities

• Created powerpoint presentations for workshops

As part of the social inclusion program, I gave workshops about computer literacy & job skills to adults who had either recently immigrated or had spent significant time out of the workforce.

Interpreter & Legal Assistant | 2017-2019

SOAR Immigration Legal Services - Oregon, USA

• Spanish/English Interpretation

• Intake

• Legal documents: N400 & related immigration forms

While volunteering here I Interpreted & assisted in filling out citizenship applications. I also provided information about classes and community resources.

General Volunteer | Winter 2017 - Fall 2020

Cascade AIDS Project - Oregon, USA

• Tabling

• Health education & outreach

• Worked with HIV+ community

I tabled various health information outreach events to raise awareness of HIV prevention and available community services. During the pandemic I delivered food & supplies for immunocompromised community members with varied lived experiences.

Intake Specialist & Interpreter | Feb - Jun 2017

ACLU Oregon

• Intake and Interpretation

At the ACLU I used my bilingual intake, which was done via phone, email, and letter mail.

Publications

Curiel Cid, R., Kitaigorodsky, M., Zheng, D., Hincapie, D., Ortega, A., Beaulieu, A., Bosworth, B., Gallardo, L., Neer, E., Fichtel-Epstein, C., Ramirez, S., Crocco, E. A., Georgiou, M., Sfakinakic, E., Visserd, U., Loewenstein, D., The Computerized LASSI-BC Test Versus the Standard LASSI-L Paper-And-Pencil Version Community-Based Samples. PLoS ONE. (March 2024). DOI: 10.4236/aad.2024.131002 

Sosa, J., Bosworth, B., Ramirez, S., Crenshaw, K., Ortega, A., Hincapie, D., Zheng, D. D., Neer, E., Curiel, R. E., & Loewenstein, D. (2023). H - 13 Examining the Cultural Sensitivity of a Novel Neuropsychological Assessment in Distinguishing between Cognitively Unimpaired (CU) and Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) in Hispanic Older Adults. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 38(7), 1494. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acad067.331

De La Fuente Ramirez, S., Ortega, A., Hincapié, D., Haddock, Y. P., Bosworth, B., Sosa, J., Ortiz, J. M. R., Crenshaw, K. H., Neer, E., & Zheng, D. D. (2023). A - 32 impact of demographic factors in African American (AA) older adults in relation to confrontational naming deficits on an object naming task. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 38(7), 1193. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acad067.049

Ramirez, S., Ortega, A., Hincapie, D., Perez Haddock, Y., Bosworth, B., Sosa, J., Ortiz, J., Crenshaw, K., Neer, E., Zheng, D., Impact of demographic factors in African American (AA) older adults in relation to confrontational naming deficits on an object naming task. Abstract submitted to the National Academy of Neuropsychology 2023 Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Bosworth, B., Neer, E., Ramirez, S., Sosa, J., Hincapié, D., Ortega, A., Crenshaw, K., Curiel, R. E., & Loewenstein, D. (2023). A - 41 The Association between Education, Literacy, and Performance on the Loewenstein-Acevedo Scale for Semantic Interference and Learning (LASSI-L) in African American (AA) Older Adults. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 38(7), 1202. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acad067.058

Dahl EM, Neer E, Bowie KR, Leung ET, Karstens L. microshades: An R Package for Improving Color Accessibility and Organization of Microbiome Data. Microbiol Resour Announc. 2022 Nov 17;11(11):e0079522. doi: 10.1128/mra.00795-22. Epub 2022 Oct 31. PMID: 36314910; PMCID: PMC9670991. 

Posters & Abstracts

Zheng, D.D., Curiel, R.E., Ortega, A., Crenshaw, K., Bosworth, B., Neer, E., Crocco, E., Loewenstein, D.A. Visual Functions and Performance on Cognitive Challenge Test in Older Adults. Presented at the 2024 Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meeting.

Frydman, A., Bosworth, B., Neer, E., Ortega, A., Correa, R., Carballea, D., Crenshaw, K., Crocco, E., Loewenstein, D., Curiel, R. (2024). Comparing Framingham Risk Score and Cognitive Performance in a Black/African American Cohort. Presented at the 2024 National Academy of Neuropsychology Conference, November 2024, Austin, TX. 

Ortega, A., Hinton, D., Frydman, A., Abel, T., Neer, E., Bosworth, B., Curiel Cid, R., Loewenstein, D. (2024) A Brief Semantic Paired Associates Test (B-SPAT) Differentiates plasma P-tau217+ amnestic mild cognitive impairment from cognitively unimpaired plasma P-tau217- controls. Poster submitted to the 2024 Fall ADRC Meeting, October 2024, Boston, MA.

Ramirez, S., Perez-Haddock, Y., Neer, E., Abel Encarnacion, T., Ortega, A., Crenshaw, K., Carballea, D., Crocco, E., Ph.D., Curiel, R., Loewenstein, D. Case Report on Functional Resilience Amidst Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology and Global Neuropsychological Deficits. Accepted to the 2024 National Academy of Neuropsychology Annual Conference. 

Correa, R., Ortega, A., Crenshaw, K., Gallardo, L., Bosworth, B., Neer, E., Diaz Suzarte, L., Vaillancourt, D., Smith, G., Duara, R., Curiel, R., Loewenstein, L. (2024). The Association Between Plasma Biomarkers, Aß42/40 and p-tau217, and Performance on LASSI-L on a Community Based Sample of Older Adults. Presented at the Tau2024 Global Conference, Washington, D.C. 

Bosworth, B., Neer, E., Ramirez, S., Sosa, J., Hincapie, D., Ortega, A., Crenshaw, K., Curiel, R., Loewenstein, D., The Association Between Education, Literacy, and Performance on the Loewenstein-Acevedo Scale for Semantic Interference and Learning (LASSI-L) in African American (AA) Older Adults. Abstract submitted to the National Academy of Neuropsychology 2023 Conference, Philadelphia, PA. (Award winner).

Sosa, J., Crenshaw, K., Hincapie, D., Ramirez, S., Bosworth, B., Ortega, A., Neer, E., Zheng, D., Curiel, R., Loewenstein, D., Examining the Cultural Sensitivity of a Novel Neuropsychological Assessment in Distinguishing Between Cognitively Unimpaired (CU) and Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) in Hispanic Older Adults. Abstract submitted to the National Academy of Neuropsychology 2023 Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Ortega, A., Gallardo, L., Bosworth, B., Neer, E., Ramirez, S., Crenshaw, K., Loewenstein, D., Curiel, R. (2023, October). Different Manifestations of the Failure to Recover from Proactive Semantic Interference Predicts Rate of Progression from Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment to Dementia [Poster Presentation]. Southeastern Neurodegenerative Disorder Conference. Atlanta, GA.

Ortega, A., Gallardo, L., Bosworth, B., Neer, E., Ramirez, S., Crenshaw, K., Loewenstein, D., Curiel, R. (2023, October). Different Manifestations of the Failure to Recover from Proactive Semantic Interference Predicts Rate of Progression from Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment to Dementia. Presented at the SENDCon 2023 Annual Meeting.

Ramirez, S., Ortega, A., Hincapie, D., Perez Haddock, Y., Bosworth, B., Sosa, J., Ortiz, J., Crenshaw, K.,Neer, E., Zheng, D. (2023, October). Impact of demographic factors in African American (AA) older adults in relation to confrontational naming deficits on an object naming task. Presented at the 2023 Annual Convention of the National Academy of Neuropsychology. Philadelphia, PA.

Neer, E., What Makes a Gerrymander? An Inductive Approach to Understanding Judicial Action Using GIS-based Gerrymandering Indicators and Statistical Models. Invited Speaker at University of Washington Public Math Enthusiast Seminar. (2022) Tacoma, WA.

Neer, E., What Makes a Gerrymander? An Inductive Approach to Understanding Judicial Action Using GIS-based Gerrymandering Indicators and Statistical Models. University of Puget Sound Science Seminar Series. (2021) Tacoma, WA.

Neer, E., Dahl, E., Karstens, L., Do You See What I See? Improving Color Accessibility and Organization of Complex Data with the Microshades CVD Color Palette. NIH Build EXITO Symposium. (2021) Portland, OR.

Dahl, E., Neer, E., Karstens, L., Do You See What I See? Improving Color Accessibility and Organization of Complex Data with the Microshades CVD Color Palette. OHSU Research Week. (2021) Portland, OR.

Invited panelist for The Renaissance Foundation’s Career Panel. (2022 & 2023). Talked to undergraduates about career planning, preparing for graduation, and future steps.

Invited panelist for National Science Foundation’s Spatial and Electoral Re-Districting REU Information Session. (2022 & 2023). Talked to undergraduates interested in participating in research, encouraged application to REU’s and talked about benefits. 

MS Biostatistics | In Progress

University of Miami projected graduation 2025

BS Public Health Studies | Community Health Promotion 

Portland State University 2021

GPA 3.94

20 credit hours in GIS courses 

Associate of Science

Portland Community College 2018

CITI Program Certificates

April 2019

Human Subjects Research, Conflicts of Interest, Research Ethics & Society

Spanish  |  F l u e n t

ASL  |  C o n v e r s a t i o n a l

Shiny App | Filters Health Improvement Plan Data 2021 

bit.ly/oregon-health-improvement

Websites | 

Resources For Colorblind Accessibility

bit.ly/cvdresources

Resources for Anti-Racism in Academia

bit.ly/antiracismacademia

Miami Community Resources 

bit.ly/cnsacommunityresources