During my summer at KRIASH, I was primarily tasked with doing research regarding the impact of kangaroo mother care (also known as skin-to-skin care) on premature infants and maternal health outcomes. I consistently ran searches through databases and isolated academic studies that showed that practicing skin-to-skin care has a protective effect on many of the common conditions associated with premature birth and mothers going through childbirth in general. To accompany this, we also looked into studies that highlighted the economic costs that come with having these conditions. Putting it all together into a cost-benefit analysis report points to the fact that implementing and scaling up standardized kangaroo mother care in the United States has economic and health benefits to be had. My secondary work was to help in the extraction of a scoping review on kangaroo mother care's impacts, alongside a research team. KRIASH's mission is to help provide this standardized kangaroo mother care that is missing in neonatal intensive care units while also relieving the stress of parents to save time in the already busy hospital staff through their medical devices.

By working with KRIASH, I have been able to apply concepts and objectives from his coursework, such as developing research questions and hypotheses which has been helpful in my cost-benefit analysis research. Although I have never written a cost-benefit analysis article before, I have been exposed to how to think about costs, both direct and indirect, and the types of costs that are important to our potential audiences (the government, hospitals, investors, etc.). My MPH core courses in quantitative analysis combined with my health policy and empirical analysis course have been able to help me interpret all the results of many papers and decide if they are really significant to report on as well. Even in determining the type of information that would be beneficial to stakeholders, such as health care systems, I feel I have been able to understand this aspect better due to time in my Understanding Health Care Payment Systems course, which gave me insight on how to find certain data that I would not have been privy to without taking the course.

Due to the nature of working at a startup, there was a lot of independence that came with the job, as well as the flexibility to take care of items during off hours, learn to network, and connect with professionals to gain real-world insight into our study. Independence was important to work through because in startups, usually everyone is still learning what is needed to be successful. We were all learning about the process of this type of research and writing. It allows us to organize our time that best suits ourselves and produces quality results. Everyone, no matter the position level, provided opinions on how to proceed on projects — and even share their vision — since we are included in all conversations and meetings, but that also meant that I was heavily involved in the meetings too. I had to get comfortable sharing my voice during discussions and feedback meetings. Additionally, I have learned to be comfortable “cold” reaching out and conducting informational interviews that would be the precursors to building relationships for the startup.

Working at a medical device startup like KRIASH has been a wonderful experience. The startup of life is fast-paced, mercurial, and the possibilities are endless for professional development. The people around you all believe in the mission, which I find to be important in how I want to contribute to society. This opportunity has allowed me to work on professional outreach and manage an informational interview. In personal development, I really wanted to improve on those social interaction skills so I am proud of that experience that was happening quite regularly. While this research writing was new to me, I feel like applying my skills from my MPH courses, helped me grasp the main goal of the research, communicate concerns, and give thoughtful and knowledgeable considerations on how to move forward. Of course, writing a paper that is the quality to submit to academic journals is also one of my goals. Reflecting on this summer, I have been able to try a different work environment that I didn't think I had a serious interest in. I didn't realize how health outcomes research analysis would fit into the startup world, but now I can see a path that could continually evolve to continue to address new problems.

All of this would not be possible without support from the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise.