USF Health Research Day 2026, one of the university鈥檚 premier showcases of scholarly work, drew together faculty, students, clinicians and research staff on March 6 at the Marshall Student Center to highlight transformative research taking place across the institution. Nine students from the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences (CBCS) were among the presenters, with work spanning aging, communication sciences and disorders, and social work.
Karah Greene, a doctoral student in the School of Social Work mentored by , earned the USF Health Interprofessional Research Award for her poster, "When You鈥檝e Talked To One Tribe, You鈥檝e Literally Talked To One Tribe: Barriers and Facilitators Disease Intervention Professionals Encounter While Working in Tribal Nations."
鈥淚 felt more comfortable sharing details about our project each time I told another person what we did, why and how we did it, and how we hoped our findings would be used in the future,鈥 Greene said. 鈥淭he event gave me an opportunity to practice sharing research findings with students and faculty.鈥
Greene was joined by eight other CBCS students whose research covered a wide range of health and behavioral topics:
Natalia Babenko with her poster presentation.
- Natalia Babenko, doctoral student in the School of Aging Studies (mentored by William E. Haley, PhD, and) 鈥 "The Role of Social Engagement and Support in the Association Between Combined Caregiver-Cancer Survivor Status and Depressive Symptoms."
- Kaitlyn Ballenberger, undergraduate student in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (mentored by Hana Kim, PhD) 鈥 "Self-Perceived and Measured Communication Performance in Mild Aphasia."
- Dimitri Brunelle, doctoral student in the Department of Communication Sciences and
Disorders (mentored by Michelle Kapolowicz, PhD, and Joseph Walton, PhD) 鈥 "Subclinical Hearing Loss, Neural Encoding, and Cholinergic Modulation in Tinnitus."
Mina Davari with her poster presentation.
- Mina Davari, doctoral student in the Behavioral and Community Sciences program (mentored by , and ) 鈥 "Moderating Effect of Parental Immigration Background on the Association Between Media Exposure and Dietary Behavior in Preschool Children in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the 2022鈥2023 National Survey of Children鈥檚 Health (NSCH)."
- Sahar Heydari, doctoral student in the Behavioral and Community Sciences program (mentored by Marilyn Stern, PhD) 鈥 "Behavioral Interventions Addressing Alcohol Consumption for Cancer Prevention in HIV-Positive African Communities: A Scoping Review."
- Madolyn McDonald, master鈥檚 student in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (mentored by Kelli Gorajec, MA, CCC-SLP; Charlotte Purcell King, SLPD, CCC-SLP, BC-ANCDS; and Alexandra Brandimore, PhD, CCC-SLP) 鈥 "Impact of Disease Duration on Vocal Intensity in SPEAK OUT! With or Without EMST."
- Sabrina Musteric, master鈥檚 student in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (mentored by ) 鈥 "Dysphonia in the Digital Age."
- Sridevi Unni Nair, doctoral student in the School of Aging Studies (mentored by Dr. Hariom Yadav; Dr. Shalini Jain; and Dr. Hongdao Meng, MPH, PhD) 鈥 鈥淢icrobiome Profiles Distinguish Physical Function Status in Older Adults: Insights from the Florida MiaGB Consortium.鈥