Yara Tashkandi
Program Evaluation Volunteer, she/her/hers
Yara Tashkandi is an MPH candidate in the Sociomedical Sciences Department with a certificate in Health Promotion Research and Practice at the Mailman School of Public Health. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Health Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (Summa Cum Laude) from Boston University in 2019. While at Boston University, Yara worked as a research assistant at the Social Adjustment and Bullying Prevention Lab. She primarily worked on research projects related to sexual violence prevention, mental health, and gender disparities in health among college students. Her work on these projects included conducting literature reviews, creating surveys, conducting program evaluation studies, and cleaning and analyzing data. In August of 2019, Yara presented her first first-author poster titled “sexual violence and mental health symptoms among high school students: differences by sex” at the 2019 American Psychological Association (APA) conference. Yara was awarded the Sargent College Community Service Award, an annual award presented to graduating seniors who demonstrate excellence in leadership, scholarship, and active volunteering for the betterment of the community. At Columbia, Yara is working as a graduate research assistant to Dr. Jennifer Hirsch, working on projects related to gender, health, and sexuality. Yara’s research interests include mental health, sexual violence, sexual and reproductive health among women of color, especially women in the MENA region, and health disparities among socially-disadvantaged populations (e.g., people of color, LGBTQ+, low SES).