Student Highlights

Step into the world of extraordinary individuals who are shaping the future at the Roger and Flo Lipitz Center to Advance Policy in Aging and Disability. Our graduate students are more than just scholars; they are innovators, leaders, and visionaries, each with their unique stories and aspirations. This diverse community of graduate students are driven by their passions and dedicated to making a difference in the world. Join us in celebrating their achievements, their resilience, and their unwavering commitment to excellence as we highlight a few of our students below. 

Aki Morishima, MS

MPH (2023- 2024)

Aki has a medical degree from Juntendo University in Japan and a master's degree in project design from the Graduate School of Business Planning. Aki joined the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2021. Her capstone title was “Understanding the relationship between dementia care and elder abuse in Japan: A scoping review,'' and she learned under the guidance and warm support from Professor Wolff and Dr. Scerpella. As a family physician, she has a strong interest in social issues in primary health care, geriatric medicine with issues such as dementia and long-term care, and public health related to social determinants of health. Through the MPH program and capstone, she learned the process of obtaining epidemiological evidence-based policies and information, analyzing, reviewing, and interpreting data, planning projects, and making policy decisions based on deep analysis of health issues and community factors. In the future, she would like to continue conducting research that focuses on social issues surrounding the elderly and issues such as dementia in areas where the population is aging, as well as conducting activities that will lead to policy recommendations.

Natalie Mulmule

MPH (2023- 2024)

Natalie is a current MPH candidate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on health policy and aging. Previously, she worked as a public health analyst in the Aging, Disability, and Long-Term Care Program within the Division for Social Policy, Health, and Economics Research at RTI International. Her research interests include strengthening the long-term care workforce, as well as policies supporting family caregivers and systems and programs that facilitate aging in place. Currently, she is working on her MPH capstone project on state paid family leave policies and their impact on family caregivers with Dr. Kate Miller and Danny Scerpella from the Lipitz Center. Working with both of them has been an amazing experience, and they both have been so supportive throughout the entire process. They worked together to develop a topic and a timeline for the entire project, and both have been providing her with very thoughtful feedback as she worked through her capstone.

Sharmini Rathakrishnan, MD

MPH (2023- 2024)

Sharmini is a full-time MPH student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is affiliated with the Department of Aging. A Preventive Medicine physician from Singapore, Sharmini’s research interests include healthy aging and health equity. Her practicum experience with the Lipitz Center provided a myriad of diverse experiences such as assisting in a scoping review, being involved in a qualitative validation exercise for a study involving artificial intelligence, and working with NIH-grant recipient Dr Chanee Fabius, on her qualitative research on home and community-based support services received by people with dementia and their families. During her learning experience, Sharmini was well-supported by mentors Danny Scerpella and Chase Mulholland Green, and appreciated the variety of opportunities sourced by the dynamic duo. On returning to Singapore, Shamini aims to utilize her knowledge gained in qualitative research, to tackle health disparities among the older adult population.