The foundation's staff is comprised of dedicated people use their talents to help the blood and bleeding disorders community. One of them is Karina Lopez, MPH!
Karina joined us to talk about her progression from an internship to a full-time position as a Project Management Specialist at the organization, plus one of the projects she's most proud of during her time here.
Watch the interview or read the full conversation below.
Tell us a little about yourself and your role at NHF!
Karina: Hello, I'm Karina Lopez and I am the Project Management Specialist here at NHF.
How long have you been part of the NHF team?
Karina: So, I started um with NHF as an intern in February of 2015. And during my time as an intern, I assisted different departments at NHF including Finance and Human Resources. But during this time, NHF was also in the middle of moving to a new office location; so I also assisted with the logistics of the move. In April of 2015, I was hired full-time as the Administrative Assistant under our former Chief Operating Officer, Jordana Sieger.
What led you to this type of work?
Karina: NHF was my first job straight from undergraduate. And I've always been a person to enjoy helping others and making an impact on others lives; and after reading NHF's mission I knew that NHF would be able to provide those opportunities for me.
What is one highlight from your time here?
Karina: While I've had many highlights during my time at NHF, one important highlight has been being able to collaborate with my colleagues, Dr. Len Valentino, Dr Keri Norris, and Dr. Marcy Hardy on a peer-reviewed published manuscript.
And this manuscript was a systematic literature review that we conducted examining the ways that social drivers of health, or social determinants of health, affect health outcomes for people with inheritable bleeding disorders.
This systematic literature review suggested that the social drivers of health have an association with inferior health outcomes and may influence the clinical progression of inheritable bleeding disorders.
Naming, defining, and understanding the root causes for the social drivers of health is the first steps towards mitigation of pervasive health and social inequities within the inheritable to improve population health, reduce health disparities, but most importantly, to fulfill our missions of enabling people with inheritable bleeding disorders to thrive.
I was fortunate enough in 2022 to have been able to been invited to present the work of this manuscript through poster abstracts both at the NHF Bleeding Disorders Conference and at the Thrombosis and Hemostasis Summit of North America, also known as THSNA.
And I truly look forward to the projects that this manuscript has opened the door for. Thank you!
Read Defining the Impact of Social Drivers on Health Outcomes for People with Inherited Bleeding Disorders here.
Interested in joining the team? Visit our Careers page!
