Spotlight: REDCap Intern, Karen Kirunda

Karen Kirunda, Yale senior, graduates with her Bachelors of Science in Neuroscience today.  Congratulations! 

Over the past year, Karen worked with the REDCap@Yale team to gain experience that builds upon her coursework in data analysis, cognitive science, and biostatistics.   The goal of our internships is to identify talented students interested in integrating their academic training in data science and statistics with practical real-world experience.  

Karen joined us in August 2022.  Over the past year, she has been working closely with members of the REDCap@Yale team and Yale New Haven's Internal Medicine Department, Geriatrics Section. Karen worked with Dr. James Lai on a quality improvement project, Mitigating Delirium Upstream , the ED Delirium (ED-DEL) Prevention Project.  The overall aim of this quality improvement effort is to guide the implementation of an embedded delirium screening and prevention program for patients 65 years and old in the ED. 

As part of her intership, Karen cleaned and coded study data, created analytic datasets,  and generated summary tables using R. The clinical team used these summaries to review areas of interest including eligibility, delirium detection, and intervention criteria for ED-Del.  Karen also designed a cohort diagram that will be used for the intervention assessment.  Previously, Karen worked for Yale School of Medicine as a researcher for the Clinical Neuroscience Neuroanalytics lab, for Yale Summer Session as a technology and education specialist, and for Change Healthcare as a healthcare and technology intern. 

This experience has enhanced my analytical skills while also providing me with a unique opportunity to learn more about Geriatrics. I have enjoyed working closely with the team, performing statistical analyses, and exploring RedCap. "

We are grateful to have an opportunity to sponsor and work with bright, talented students like Karen.

Thank you Karen for your hard work and contributions over the past year. We hope this intership proves to be a valuable experience as you move forward in your education and your career. We are proud of you and wish you the best.