University of Utah Health Sciences Workforce Excellence

As part of a broader organizational restructuring and realignment of responsibilities across the institution, the work currently carried out by the Health Sciences Workforce Excellence team is being redistributed. As a result of this transition, we will be concluding our roles in the coming weeks. Our last day of work is May 29, 2026.

While this is difficult news, our focus remains on ensuring a smooth and thoughtful transition with as little disruption as possible to ongoing work and partnerships.

To support continuity, we are prioritizing the following:
• Preparing detailed transition documentation for all programs and initiatives
• Coordinating knowledge transfer and handoff discussions
• Remaining available throughout the transition period to answer questions and support next steps

It has truly been an honor and privilege working with all of you. We have deeply valued your partnership, collaboration, and support.

If there are specific priorities you would like us to address during this transition period, please feel free to reach out. After May 29, please direct all inquiries to Christian Sherwood or Angie Fagerlin.

Thank you for everything you do,

Abdulkhaliq, Chris, Jen, Guillermo, and Loretta

Are you a current student at SLCC? Are you interested in pursuing a degree and career in health sciences? Apply to UCREW!

This paid 6-week program from June 15 – July 31 pairs eligible SLCC students with a U of U researcher to gain invaluable experience on your education and career journey.

Applications are now open: https://utah.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8A1eUBwBG0ugP5Q

Meet our new UHELM 2025 - 2026 Fellows:

Wenxi Xia received her PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Dalian University of Technology. She currently works in Professor Ismail Ahmend’s lab on the thesis “Chemical tools to track and control oxytocin and vasopressin signaling in vivo.” Building on her strong background in synthetic chemistry, she takes a multidisciplinary approach to developing innovative chemical and molecular tools to enable real-time identification and tracking of neuropeptides and their receptors in living organisms. Aiming to apply the molecular toolbox she is developing to study neuropeptide functions (with a focus on oxytocin and vasopressin) and their roles in the modulation of physiology and social in health and disease.

Registration is still open for Saturday Academy on April 18! Come learn, explore, and have fun with hands-on activities taught by the University of Utah Department of Surgery and medical students.

Register here: https://utah.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_55sMABqqPw9zQXQ

Meet our new UHELM 2025 - 2026 Fellows:

Sonia Parra, MD, PhD, is a general obstetrician-gynecologist who cares for women across all stages of life. She is a Utah StARR (Stimulating Access to Research in Residency) scholar, a program that allows her to continue her research while developing her clinical practice. Her research interests lie at the intersection of women’s health and biomedical engineering. She earned her PhD in bioengineering with a focus on developing new technologies to improve cervical cancer prevention in low-resource settings. Her ongoing work continues this mission, with an emphasis on medical device development to improve care for women, particularly those in underserved communities. Currently, she is working on creating a low-cost device to provide quantitative measurement of pelvic floor muscle force.

Meet our new UHELM 2025 - 2026 Fellows:

Sewon received her bachelor’s degrees in Life Science and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Sogang University in 2012 and her Ph.D. from the interdisciplinary program in Neuroscience at Seoul National University in 2019 under Dr. Sukwoo Choi. Her thesis work focused on how value information is processed in the basal amygdala. She is currently studying social behavior and the underlying neural circuits at the Zelikowsky Lab. In her free time, Sewon enjoys traveling, swimming, and playing games.

There is still time to register for Saturday Academy with the School of Dentistry this weekend!

Come participate with other students from around the state in fun, hands-on activities taught by dental and medical students at the University of Utah.

Registration link: https://utah.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_55sMABqqPw9zQXQ

Are you active duty, reserve, or a veteran? Are you the spouse, child, or parent of someone who is?

We want to connect with you! Click the link below, for more information on our initiatives and programming geared towards individuals and family members of those who are serving or have served in any branch of the U.S. military.

https://tinyurl.com/3bzr34xt

Meet our new UHELM 2025 - 2026 Fellows:

Rosa Speranza, MD is in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Utah Health. She completed medical school at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, OR and residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. Her clinical and research interests include preeclampsia, placenta accreta spectrum, labor and delivery, prenatal/postpartum care, palliative care as well as bioethics, implementation science, and qualitative research.

Meet our new UHELM 2025 - 2026 Fellows:

Rachael K. Ross, PhD, MSPH is a pharmacoepidemiologist. She holds a PhD in epidemiology with a minor in biostatistics from the University of North Carolina and a Master's in Public Health from Emory University, and she completed post-doctoral training at Columbia University. Her applied research leverages real-world health data and clinical trial data to inform optimal and equitable treatment of opioid use disorder, in particular medication treatment including buprenorphine and methadone. Rachael has a K99R00 Pathway to Independence Award from NIDA (1K99DA061935). In this work she will examine real-world access to extended-release (long-acting) buprenorphine and to understand optimal use of the different buprenorphine formulations with the goal of producing evidence to support personalized and effective buprenorphine treatment decisions. In her methodological research, Rachael develops and evaluates causal inference methods related to missing data, measurement error, and transporting results to relevant real-world target populations. She is also passionate about the dissemination of methodological and statistical tools to a broad research audience. Prior to her PhD, Rachael worked for 7 years at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia conducting pharmacoepidemiology and health services research focused on antibiotic treatment in children.