Celebrating Innovation in Global Health: 2025 Student Research Showcase Winners

The 2025 Harvard Global Health Student Research Showcase, held on April 11th, spotlighted original research by undergraduate and graduate students tackling urgent global health challenges. This year’s event brought together a vibrant mix of disciplines, perspectives, and experiences, all united by a shared commitment to advancing health equity.

We are proud to recognize the outstanding work of this year’s Showcase winners:

Undergraduate Winner: Sara Silarszka, Harvard College ’25
Project: Community Engagement for HIV Prevention Among Postpartum Women in Botswana

Last summer, Sara spent ten weeks in Gaborone, Botswana, interning with the Tshireletso Study at the Botswana Harvard Health Partnership. Her project aimed to increase awareness of HIV prevention options—specifically Cabotegravir, a long-acting form of PrEP—among expecting mothers by introducing early education sessions in antenatal clinics.

“We wanted to meet women earlier in the care process to give them the time and resources to make the HIV prevention choice that’s right for them,” she shared.

This was Sara’s first poster presentation, and she credits her mentor, Dr. Rebecca Zash, for invaluable guidance. “It was inspiring to meet leaders like poster session judge, Professor Sheila Tlou and to hear from fellow students doing such impactful work,” she said.

Following graduation, Sara plan to attend the International AIDS Society conference in Kigali, Rwanda this July, before returning to Gaborone to work in-person with the Tshireletso Study team.

Graduate Winner: Suci Ardini Widyaningsih, MD, MMSc in Clinical Investigation, HMS ’25
Project: Identifying Clinical Signs of Neonatal Mortality in Low-Resource Settings

Suci’s research is grounded in her firsthand experience providing neonatal care in remote parts of Indonesia, where access to diagnostics is limited. For her thesis, she worked with the Projahnmo research group in Bangladesh, evaluating which newborn clinical signs most reliably predict neonatal mortality, critical information for frontline providers in low-resource settings.

“Doctors, nurses, and health workers in these settings must rely on clinical signs. Our goal is to equip them with the best evidence to guide urgent care,” she explained.

Mentored by Dr. Anne CC Lee, a pediatrician and Founding Director of the Global Alliance for Infant and Maternal Health Research Lab, her work seeks to inform scalable interventions for improving newborn survival rates in LMICs. She also collaborated with Dr. Abdullah H. Baqui and Dr. Rasheda Khanam from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Looking ahead, Suci hopes to become both a pediatrician and a global health researcher. She is committed to using her clinical and investigative skills to address critical challenges in child health and generate evidence that drives meaningful improvements in care. “By advancing child health today, we lay the foundation for healthier generations to come,” she shared.

This year’s showcase not only highlighted student innovation, but also fostered vital cross-disciplinary dialogue at the intersection of research, policy, and care delivery. Congratulations to Sara, Suci, and all participants for their commitment to building a healthier, more equitable future.

To learn more about the Harvard Global Health Student Research Showcase, please visit the following link to the full webpage.