Kiera Caldwell
Wallingford,PA
Summary
Passionate about leveraging my research experiences and advocacy efforts to inform policies related to behavioral health, gender/racial equality, and criminal justice. Adept at project management, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, mentoring junior researchers, and driving initiatives that influence public policy.
Overview
4
4
years of professional experience
Work History
Free-Minds Non-profit Volunteer
Free Minds Book Club
2022.09 - Current
- Use the power of books, writing, and peacebuilding to create a foundation of support and assist incarcerated or formerly incarcerated youths and adults achieve education, career, and life goals
- Attend weekly meetings to discuss topics surrounding the criminal justice system and reform.
Intramural Research Training Fellow
National Institute on Drug Abuse/National Institutes of Health
2022.06 - Current
- Collect, analyze, and communicate data through behavioral neuroscience experiments to better understand opioid addiction using programs including MedPC, Microsoft, SPSS, and Prism
- Collaborate with peers and supervisors in writing scientific literature for four publications and seven presentations
- Serve as lab manager by coordinating meetings, outreach, hiring, and maintaining inventory
- Completed an R Programming course, gaining familiarity with data analysis, statistical modeling, and data visualization techniques.
Senior Honor's Thesis
Lafayette College
2021.09 - 2022.05
- Conducted in-person interviews with first-year students at Lafayette College to examine the tendency for college students to victim blame in instances of the distribution of intimate images
- Presented my work at the Honor's thesis ceremony and produced a White Paper Report to submit to the college, which led to a $40,000 grant for Lafayette College to continue related work.
Technology and Domestic Violence EXCEL researcher
Lafayette College
2020.04 - 2022.05
- Helped facilitate research that examined the intersections between gender-based violence, technology, and firearms by screening hundreds of legal protective orders for key words
- Orchestrated and transcribed interviews while assisting professor in other day-to-day tasks
- Utilized thematic coding with Atlas.ti to yield meaningful results from qualitative data.
U.S. Probation Office Shadow
United States District Court - Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia , PA
2024.06 - Current
- Shadow the Eastern District of Pennsylvania's Mental Health and Relapse Prevention programs which aims to maximize opportunity for mental health stability among participants
- Engage in conversation with legal counsel, advocates, and participants that discusses strategies for preventing recidivism, promoting public safety, and supporting participants with addressing their needs.
Education
Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, cum laude -
Lafayette College
Easton, PASkills
- Qualitative/Quantitative Data Analysis
- Data visualization
- Regulatory knowledge
- Scientific writing
- Oral presentation
- Project coordination
Publications
- Effect of selective lesions of nucleus accumbens µ-opioid receptor-expressing cells on heroin self-administration in male and female rats: a study with novel Oprm1-Cre knock-in rats, J Neurosci, 01/30/2023, 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2049-22.2023
- Effect of chronic delivery of the partial MOP/NOP agonist AT-201 and the NOP antagonist J-113397 on heroin relapse in a rat model of opioid maintenance, Journal of Psychopharmacology, under review
- Role of piriform cortex and its afferent projections in relapse to fentanyl seeking after food choice-induced voluntary abstinence, J Neurosci, 03/03/2023, 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0034-23.2023
- Role of claustrum in incubation of opioid seeking after electric-barrier induced voluntary abstinence in male and female rats, J Neurosci, under review
Awards
- Outstanding Poster Award at NIH Poster Day 2023
- Honors in Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies 2022
- Benjamin F. Barge Oratorical Prize 2022
- Marc J. Cardella '06 and Colleen W. Cardella '06 Scholarship Recipient 2019-2022
- EXCEL Scholar Research Recipient 2021
- Student Research Expense Grant 2021
Presentations
- Modeling opioid maintenance treatment in Oprm1-Cre knock-in rats: effect of chronic buprenorphine on context-induced reinstatement of heroin seeking, 2024 Kahlert Institute for Addiction Medicine Inaugural Research Symposium, 05/2024, Poster presentation
- Modeling opioid maintenance treatment in Oprm1-Cre knock-in rats: effect of chronic buprenorphine on incubation of heroin seeking, 2023 Society for Neuroscience Conference & NIH Poster Day, 04/2023, Poster presentation
- Role of the posterior claustrum in incubation of opioid seeking after electric-barrier induced voluntary abstinence, 2023 Society for Neuroscience Conference, 11/2023, Poster presentation
- An operant procedure to study choice between rewarding physical activity and heroin in male and female rats, 2023 Society for Neuroscience Conference, 11/2023, Poster presentation
- First year students' perceptions of the distribution of intimate images, 2022 Lafayette College Honors Thesis Showcase, 05/2022, Oral presentation
- RAP-103 attenuates heroin-taking in Sprague Dawley males, NIDA Summer Research Internship Project Showcase, 08/2021, Oral presentation
Timeline
U.S. Probation Office Shadow
United States District Court - Eastern District of Pennsylvania
2024.06 - Current
Free-Minds Non-profit Volunteer
Free Minds Book Club
2022.09 - Current
Intramural Research Training Fellow
National Institute on Drug Abuse/National Institutes of Health
2022.06 - Current
Senior Honor's Thesis
Lafayette College
2021.09 - 2022.05
Technology and Domestic Violence EXCEL researcher
Lafayette College
2020.04 - 2022.05
Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience, cum laude -
Lafayette College
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