Aislyn Orji is an alumna of Rice University's Class of 2018. After graduating with a BA in Kinesiology - Health Sciences and a minor in Sociology, she was accepted to the Post-Bachelor Fellowship at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). This fellowship involves a 3-year period of full-time employment as a researcher at IHME, and the opportunity to pursue a Master's in Public Health (MPH) at the University of Washington. One key element of her Rice education that prepared Aislyn for this fellowship, was an internship at the Houston Health Department working with Dr. Beverly Gor. In this role, her demographic analyses of elementary school children influenced a more targeted implementation of Houston's See to Succeed initiative for different subpopulations.

Aislyn is currently in her 2nd year of the IHME Post-Bachelor Fellowship. She is a statistical modeler for the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) project. Her modeling currently focuses on quantifying the burden of two causes of health loss: Hearing Impairment and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Future work includes further analysis of STIs, as well as a foray into gynecological diseases, infertility, and the vertical transmission of STIs. In her work at IHME, Aislyn has developed skills in big data analysis and visualization using R and Stata, and is currently working to develop competencies in Tableau and Python. In her work at IHME & at the UW School of Public Health, she has collaborated with various departments of the World Health Organization to understand the way that social determinants impact health in different regions of the globe.

With her time in the fellowship coming to an end, Aislyn hopes to continue pursuing research or delve into strategy & social impact consulting for global health. Her aim is to use data to influence health policy and bring about more effective program implementation. She is especially interested in a period of independent international travel to engage directly with the communities that her research impacts. In this vein, she hopes to investigate how media can foster a deeper understanding of diverse health perspectives.

In her free time, Aislyn enjoys reading about holistic medicine, perusing the latest in contemporary art and fashion, writing, and trying out new restaurants. She additionally volunteers at a shelter for young adults, is a professional lifestyle model, and sings in the choir of her local church. She can be contacted at aorji@uw.edu.