Graduate students awarded fellowships by Latino health research center

The University’s new research center devoted to eliminating minority health disparities has awarded its first graduate fellowships for minority students in health-related fields.

The Connecticut Center of Excellence for Eliminating Health Disparities Among Latinos, funded by an $8.25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, recently awarded one doctoral-level fellowship and one master’s-level fellowship to graduate students in psychology.

Both fellowships are annual awards worth $20,000, not including tuition and health benefits, and are renewable for up to three years.

The winners are:

• Sophia Belay, an Ethiopian-American from Texas. Belay earned her master’s degree from Tulane University and is beginning her doctoral studies in UConn’s psychology department. She will research depression among pregnant minority adolescents under the mentorship of Stephanie Milan, an assistant professor of clinical psychology.
• Francisco Quintana, a native of Mexico who grew up in California. The first in his family to graduate from high school, Quintana earned his bachelor’s degree from San Diego State University and is beginning his master’s degree at UConn in psychology. He will research the relationship between drug use and depression in minority communities under the guidance of Michelle Williams, an associate professor of clinical psychology.