doctoral students

Mason PhD student’s personal experience shapes his passion for food access

Colleen Rich — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:50:06 +0000

Mason PhD student’s personal experience shapes his passion for food access Colleen Rich Wed, 03/15/2023 - 16:50

Food insecurity is something that Drew Bonner, a second-year sociology PhD student at George Mason University, experienced before he knew what to call it.

Mason PhD student Drew Bonner. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Bonner’s interest in understanding food access was piqued during his AP human geography class in his junior year of high school, when the class studied food deserts, areas where access to affordable and high quality fresh food is limited.

“When I heard the term, I thought to myself that I live in a food desert. I realized that I grew up in one,” said Bonner, who was born and raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “Even as a kid when I moved houses from one side of the city to another, I lived in a mostly black residential neighborhood where people were just above the poverty line.”

His firsthand experience with food deserts motivated Bonner to learn more about food access research.

“My family had trouble with diabetes and other health disparities related to food consumption habits and general access to healthcare,” Bonner shared. “That is a major part of what inspired my research interests.”

Bonner spent the following years heavily involved in church, charity work, food banks, food pantries, and food donations. He also volunteered with such organizations as The 6th Branch, a neighborhood development nonprofit that helps communities and schools restore and manage green spaces. These commitments helped shape his goals toward a career choice in sociology.

Prior to graduating with a dual BA in sociology and criminal justice and a minor in African and American studies from Mount St. Mary’s University, Bonner completed his senior thesis project on food access and how it impacts educational attainment. His passion to become a social change agent grew and he came to Mason to pursue an MA in sociology.

“I was attracted by Mason’s public sociology initiative and the manner they were interfacing with the community and wanted to make real change,” Bonner said.

In November 2020 in the final year of his master’s program, Bonner stumbled on a post about Mason’s Graduate Inclusion and Access (GIA) Scholarship. The competitive scholarship program is for first-generation college students who are incoming fall semester full-time students from populations underrepresented in doctoral programs at Mason and are in need of financial aid. He made the decision to apply and received the scholarship starting in the fall of 2021.

“The scholarship means everything; I wouldn’t be able to be in school without it,” Bonner said. “I thought the scholarship would help me make real-world impacts and be able to spread my research. I want to be able to get on the ground and improve people’s actual living conditions.”

The GIA scholarship allows Bonner to invest himself in the educational world, to have more time to read about his interests, and to network.

Bonner’s current research includes working with a food organization known as FRESHFARM, where he conducts program evaluations under two of FRESHFARM’s market programs, Produce Plus and GUSNIP, assessing how the nutrition and produce incentive access programs are working for participants.

“I’m able to see how other people are experiencing food insecurity or how they’re accessing food [grocery stores, food hubs, etc.],” he said. “Most of the people we work with are other Black individuals so just seeing the same experiences in another context really solidifies my work in research on how food access and food security are a systemic issue and something we need to address through policy and structural change.”

“Drew has already had a tremendous impact on our community, and I commend him for his work, passion, and commitment to helping people in need,” said Laurence Bray, associate provost of graduate education. “His interest and dedication to teaching, research, and services would make Drew a fantastic future professor in academia.”

Bonner wants to keep one foot in academia and the other in applied sociology and/or research. He wants to make a positive impact on people’s living conditions by working for a nonprofit organization, providing produce incentives to people more equitably, or being employed in government and implementing national policy interests.

He also wants to teach and welcome more people into the academic realm, specifically Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to help them learn about food-related issues.

“I wasn’t aware of things going on in my own world. I knew something was wrong but didn’t know how to describe it. So being able to teach in any capacity would be of interest to me, specifically on food access and nutrition,” Bonner said.

Bonner’s advisor, Shannon Davis, associate dean for faculty and academic affairs at Mason Korea, describes him as a “truly public sociologist” who sees the value in developing a deep understanding of the social world and then using that knowledge to give back to society.

“He values social justice and is expanding his research skills so that he can more effectively work towards greater social justice,” Davis said. “You can see this through the classes he has taken, drawing from across multiple disciplines on campus to ensure he is framing his questions and analyses through deeply informed perspectives.”

Relationships between advisors and PhD students are critical for student success, and Bonner keeps a robust bond with Davis via Zoom and email exchanges.

His biggest and most ambitious goal is to have standardized nutrition across the country.

“I would love to have every grocery store, corner store, or anywhere that serves food to be able to access a brand that will allow them to have a sizable amount of fresh produce that also meets a certain quality,” he said, “standards that make real world impact on the accessibility of produce and how people can access healthy options.”

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Mason PhD student is changing how the world views HIV/AIDS

Colleen Rich — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 15:26:28 +0000

Mason PhD student is changing how the world views HIV/AIDS Colleen Rich Tue, 04/26/2022 - 11:26

Gifty Mensah. Photo by Sierra Guard/Creative Services

George Mason University doctoral student Gifty Mensah lived in Ghana until she was 14. It was common to see people there die from preventable diseases such as HIV/AIDS due to a lack of medical resources.

HIV has killed more than 36 million people worldwide since 1981. While the disease can be controlled by modern-day antiretroviral medications, the majority of people with HIV live in developing and moderate-income nations, such as in sub-Saharan Africa, and may lack access to those treatments.

“I was always asking ‘How did this happen?’ and there weren’t any answers,” said Mensah, who is pursuing a PhD in biosciences with a concentration in cell and molecular biology. “I wanted a career in science or medicine to see if I could help address this deadly disease because what was happening wasn’t right.”

Mensah is now in a place where she can make a difference by studying extracellular vesicles, which carry substances in and out of the cell, serving as a snapshot of what is happening in that particular cell.

“Although great strides have been made in the fight against HIV-1 such as the development of antiretrovirals, there is still room for improvement,” said Professor Fatah Kashanchi, Mensah’s advisor and virology director of Mason's Laboratory of Molecular Virology. “The goal of Gifty’s research is to find the mechanisms extracellular vesicles utilize in altering the course of infection for the worse, and ultimately discover therapeutic approaches of mitigating this process.”

While she worked on her bachelor’s degree in biology at Mason, Mensah was a research intern and clinical technician at Inova Fairfax Hospital. She then pursued her master’s degree in microbiology, with a particular interest in the therapeutics of HIV, while simultaneously working as a medical technologist at Quest Diagnostics. It was during these years that Mensah realized the tangible impact of research.

She struggled with choosing between continuing her research and how to pay for the program.

She decided to apply to the PhD program anyway. That’s when she read about the Graduate Inclusion and Access (GIA) Scholarship program, a highly competitive scholarship for first-generation college students from underrepresented populations within their doctoral field of study at Mason.

“Chances are if not for the GIA program, I would not have been able to pursue my PhD,” she said. “Maybe later down the line, but this was a sure way in. I feel so humbled to have been given this opportunity… it’s changed my life.”

“I find Gifty’s journey to be an inspiration and envision that she will be a strong role model for all of our incoming GIA scholars, and especially women from historically underrepresented backgrounds who may want to pursue a doctoral degree in STEM,” said Associate Provost of Graduate Education Laurence Bray. “It has been such a privilege to see her grow as a student, a researcher, and a person. I cannot wait to celebrate her and her accomplishments as she becomes our first GIA scholar graduate later this year.”

Three years into her PhD and only months to go before she completes her research, Mensah has spent countless hours in the laboratory identifying HIV mutations and searching for diagnostics and therapeutics that could improve existing therapies. She is on six publications that cover topics such as HIV-1 latency, exosomes, HTLV-1 infection leading to Adult T-cell leukemia, and COVID-19 research.

“I am almost at the finish line,” she said. “I started my education with a basic interest in science and along the way I found a path. I’m now in an intense program and it hasn’t been easy. However, I firmly believe 1,000% in what I am doing.”

Women of color make up less than 5% of the STEM workforce, something Mensah is determined to change. There is one person in particular she hopes her work will impact and inspire: her 22-month old daughter, who was born during the early days of the pandemic.

“As a little girl, I was expected to get married early and have kids. What I have done and achieved is not typical where I come from, but it is my hope that it will soon be,” she said. “I want to serve as role model for girls and let them know that just because they are women of color doesn’t mean they can’t be exposed to amazing things and work with brilliant minds.”

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