McKinstry Fellowship Advances Student-Faculty Research
SPOKANE, Wash. - The McKinstry Fellowship Research Program has kicked off another summer of tackling today’s health-related research by students of the University of Washington School of Medicine and Gonzaga University.
The Fellowship is part of the UW-GU Health Partnership that gives students an opportunity to expand their interests, tackle probing questions relevant to society, and gain research experience that can help them excel in their continued studies or their professions after graduation.
Founded in 2022 by the generosity of Dean and Vicki Allen, the McKinstry Fellows Research Program funds interdisciplinary and/or interprofessional research teams of students and faculty mentors from the UWSOM and GU.
The 2026 fellowship recipients are studying a variety of topics from glyphosate contamination in local waterways to heat and wildfire smoke resilience for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe to maternal health access in rural immigrant communities.
A total of 12 students and three professors make up this year's cohort, spanning three distinct research projects.
One team, led by Christy Andrade of Gonzaga's College of Arts & Sciences' biology department, is probing the influence of environmental glyphosate contamination on human pathogens in Spokane waterways. Biology majors Olivia DeFeo ('27), Bella Vaughn ('27), and Zach Kim ('27) are conducting the research.
A second project, led by Brian Henning, director of Gonzaga's Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment, alongside Sarah Bliss Matousek, a joint faculty member of GU's School of Health Sciences and the UWSOM, is advancing resilience to extreme heat and wildfire smoke in the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. Public health major Nermin Omar ('29) and environmental studies and sciences major Gabriel "Kai" Crouch ('27) are working on the project.
A third team, led by Matousek, is examining immigration policy vulnerability and maternal health outcomes in rural Eastern Washington communities. The project brings together Gonzaga students Greta Crumley ('27, human physiology) and Valeria Lopez ('28, public health) and UWSOM students Josh Reneau, Tara Saleh, Danielle Pettigrew, Eric Shaporda and Jazlyhn Rebuelta.
Learn more about the UW-GU Health Partnership here.