Since 2009, the National Postdoctoral Association has sponsored National Postdoc Appreciation Day/Week to recognize the significant contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to U.S. research and discovery. The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing is proud to recognize our postdoctoral students and all of the important work they are doing here.
Meet Some JHSON Postdoctoral Students
Samuel Byiringiro
Faculty Mentors: Cheryl Himmelfarb and Hailey Miller
Dr. Samuel Byiringiro is a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing from Johns Hopkins University, Master of Science in Global Health Delivery from the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Rwanda.
His research interests are cardiovascular health outcomes, health systems strengthening, global health equity, and community engagement in research. For his pre-doctoral dissertation, he explored the multi-level health system factors of hypertension care and outcomes in Ghana. In his American Heart Association-funded post-doctoral fellowship, he capitalizes on his experience of engaging primary care systems in West Africa to increase community health center engagement and participation in cardiovascular clinical trials in and around Baltimore City to increase diverse participation in cardiovascular research.
Yuling Chen
Faculty Mentor: Cheryl Himmelfarb
Yuling Chen, PhD, BSN, RN, is a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. Her research focuses on the prevention of cardiovascular disease and hypertension, shared decision-making, health informatics, health literacy, and social determinants of health. She is interested in the development and testing of theory-driven mobile health technology-based interventions and tools to support health behavior change and medication management among individuals with multiple cardiovascular risk factors.
Emerald Jenkins
Faculty Mentor: Quincy Samus
Emerald Jenkins, PhD, DNP, AGPCNP-BC, MSN, RN was appointed to the training grant as an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins in August 2023. Dr. Jenkins holds a bachelor’s degree in biology with minors in sociology, genetics, health/medicine and human values from North Carolina State University, master’s degrees in medical science and nursing from Hampton University and Johns Hopkins School of Nursing respectively, and dual doctoral degrees as a PhD and DNP-Advanced Practice from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.
As a Clinician Scientist, Dr. Jenkins works part-time as an Adult/Gero Primary Care Nurse Practitioner and as a telecollaborator on Dr. Quincy Samus’ MIND at Home Study with clinical mentor Dr. Valerie Cotter. Post-fellowship, she hopes to cultivate cultural humility and challenge power imbalances in healthcare education/research and build innovative human-centered care communities for elders.
Getachew Kassa
Faculty Mentor: Deborah Gross
Getachew Kassa is a Morton and Jane Blaustein Post-doctoral fellow in Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing. He completed his Ph.D. in Reproductive Health from the PAN African University Life and Earth Science Institute (PAULESI), University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He also obtained his MSc in Reproductive and Maternal Health Nursing from Addis Ababa University, and BSc in Nursing from Arba Minch University, Ethiopia. He is a 2018 Impact Evaluation Fellow of the East Africa Social Science Translation (EASST) Collaborative at the University of California Berkeley. He has experience working as an assistant professor and has published more than 80 research papers. He recently earned a 2024 Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Research Award.
Jiaying Li
Faculty Mentor: Junxin Li
Jiaying Li earned her Ph.D. from the University of Hong Kong, completing her degree a year early due to the timely progression of her research. Dr. Li’s educational journey has integrated nursing and epidemiology, providing her with a broad perspective that spans various aspects of healthcare including lifestyle factors, chronic disease management, and global health. She approaches research through comprehensive, embracing clinical trials, quantitative and qualitative methodologies, and utilizing tools like R software and NVivo. Throughout her doctoral studies, Dr. Li has had the privilege of authoring 12 first-author papers and participating in various collaborative efforts resulting in 2 co-authored publications and 6 manuscripts currently under review. She has also contributed to two book chapters and has been honored with two scholarships. Dr. Li holds two patents which were significant learning experiences in her career. She is eager to engage in collaborations that could benefit from her background and interests in research.
Yiqing Qian
Faculty Mentor: Katherine Ornstein
Yiqing’s passion for caregiving science is driven by her training in public health and her lived experience. Yiqing received her PhD in Health Behavior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2023 and her MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan in 2016. Her research areas include health disparities, sociocultural aspects of caregiving, and stress coping. Yiqing’s current work will explore national datasets to examine unmet needs of homebound older adults, trajectories of caregiving activities, and the heterogeneities across illness contexts and socio-demographic backgrounds.
Asma Rayani
Faculty Mentor: Yvonne Commodore-Mensah
Asma Rayani is a medical graduate from Karachi, Pakistan, who recently completed her Master of Science with honors from the Bloomberg School of Public Health, focusing on cardiovascular and clinical epidemiology. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Yvonne Commodore-Mensah at the School of Nursing, where her primary project is the SAFE HEART Study. Her research interests include cardiometabolic and kidney diseases, health disparities, community-based approaches, and the application of technology for disease prevention, patient-physician communication, and aging. Asma aspires to pursue a career as a physician-scientist in cardiology. Outside of her research, she enjoys experimenting with new recipes, reading books, engaging in arts and crafts, and singing as a hobby.
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