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Research Department

Advancing Global Health Research.

The Research Department carries every study from its first question through to publication, creating opportunities for students across our chapters to lead their own clinical and translational research.

Meet the team The Meridian: Research and Practice
Team reviewing research data and charts around a table
Clinical and Translational Research

Institutional Review Board

Reviewed by an independent IRB.

IORG0010851 · Registered with HHS

The Research Department is completely independent of the IRB, so there are no conflicts of interest. The IRB is registered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (IORG0010851) and is composed of practicing physicians and public health experts who provide independent and thorough reviews of all proposed projects and studies.

The people behind the work

How the department works.

Three teams carry a study from its first question through to a published paper. Each team is led from the tier above the associates who report into it.

Jennifer Daley, MSc, MPH, Chief Scientific Officer and Research Director
Chief scientific officer & research director Jennifer Daley, MSc, MPH View profile

Research Operations

Designs studies, builds instruments, runs analyses.

Chukwuamaka Onyewadume, MPH, Research Operations Co-Lead
Co-lead Chukwuamaka Onyewadume, MPH View profile
AJ
Co-lead Akhilesh Jakhete, MPH View profile
SG
Data analyst Sandilya Garemilla, MSc

Research Compliance & QA

Prepares IRB submissions, monitors protocol and ethics.

VR
Lead Venkata Repaka
FS
Compliance associate Fatima Shaikh
LA
QA associate Layla Abousaab

Publication Development

Reviews student manuscripts, guides peer review.

FG
Lead Feven Gidey, MD, MSc, MPH
SV
Writing associate Sai Krishna Vallamchetla, MD

Publishing partner

Where our research gets published

The journal is published by Meridian Research & Publishing, a separate organisation. Author guidelines and manuscript submissions live on their site.

Visit meridian-rp.org Email the research team
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Jennifer Daley, MSc, MPH, Chief Scientific Officer and Research Director
Chief scientific officer & research director

Jennifer Daley, MSc, MPH

Research Department

Jennifer Daley studied neuroscience at Virginia Tech, then earned her MPH in Biostatistics at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health, where in December 2023 she founded the GWU chapter of Hearts for the Homeless alongside fellow MPH students. She was born and raised in the DC, Maryland, Virginia (DMV) area. Since it is her personal community, she wanted to see it turn toward people in the community who have the least. After graduating in December 2024, she enrolled in an MSc in Clinical and Translational Research at Georgetown University, with a concentration in clinical trials, and completed it in May 2026.

She joined H4H International's research department in 2024 and became Research Director by the end of that year. At the close of 2025, she took on the additional role of Chief Scientific Officer, with voting authority on the executive board, and she holds both roles today. She oversees H4H's research end-to-end, including IRB management, data collection, data security, analysis, and manuscript development, across both international and chapter-level projects.

She enjoys mentoring H4H's students, helping them shape their own ideas into ethical, meaningful research that gives unhoused neighbors the autonomy and respect they deserve.

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Amaka Onyewadume, Research Operations Co-Lead
Research operations co-lead

Chukwuamaka Onyewadume, MPH

Research Department

Biography coming soon.

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AJ
Research operations co-lead

Akhilesh Jakhete, MPH

Research Department

Biography coming soon.