San Antonio, TX

PROGRAM: Bioinformatics Data Science, Ph.D.

This fall, I had the opportunity to present our research, “Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Syndrome and Accelerated Biological Aging in U.S. Adults,” as an oral presentation at the American Public Health Association’s 2026 Annual Meeting in San Antonio. The work, conducted with Dr. Tarang Parekh in the Department of Epidemiology, uses nationally representative NHANES data to examine whether biological aging, measured with Phenotypic Age, differs across CKM stages and whether it is associated with mortality within those stages.

Preparing for APHA was one of the most valuable parts of the experience. Working with Dr. Parekh on the presentation taught me how differently research has to be communicated in a ten-minute talk than in a manuscript. I learned to lead with the research question, replace tables with clear visuals, and focus on the few findings an audience will remember. Those lessons changed how I think about scientific communication, and I will carry them into every presentation going forward.

The conference itself was a lesson in independence. APHA is an enormous meeting with hundreds of concurrent sessions, and navigating it, from finding my session to setting up my own presentation at the podium, required staying calm and adaptable under pressure. Presenting to a public health audience also pushed me to frame our findings in terms of prevention and population impact rather than clinical detail alone. Fielding questions afterward reinforced how important it is to know the work well enough to explain it from several angles.

Merely days prior, I also presented a poster on this work at the MidAtlantic Bioinformatics Conference, which gave me the chance to discuss it with a different audience and see how others in the field present their research.

Together, these experiences helped me grow as a researcher and communicator. They came during a productive period: the accompanying manuscript is now under review at Circulation: Population Health and Outcomes, and I am beginning a follow-up study on menopause, hormonal status and CKM-related biological aging.

I am grateful to Dr. Parekh for his mentorship and guidance, to the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and to the NIH NIGMS CBB T32 Training Program (T32GM142603) for supporting my training. Opportunities like this are an essential part of developing as an independent researcher, and I appreciate the support that made it possible.