Sophia Roy-Burman
Berkeley
Summary
Highly motivated undergraduate at UC Berkeley passionate about Public Health and Medicine.Organized and enthusiastic, with experience in equity-focused epidemiology, community engagement, education, and digital health.
Overview
3
3
years of professional experience
Work History
Researcher: CLEAN Trial
Water Center, UC Berkeley Dept of Civil & Environmental Engineering (PI: Amy Pickering, PhD)
05.2025 - Current
Cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating impacts of novel water chlorination technology and infection prevention and control on hospital-acquired infections in maternal and neonatal patients.
- Collected, aggregated, and analyzed clinical, environmental, and demographic data from 36 rural healthcare facilities in Western Kenya
- Installed in-line water chlorinators and routinely monitored water quality
- Trained hospital staff on infection prevention/control and piloted shift to powder chlorine for facility cleaning
- Developed scripts in R to analyze efficacy of chlorinators, postpartum maternal and neonatal morbidity, and antibiotic use
- Constructed workflows in R to merge and report data on severe adverse events in study population
- Built high-frequency checks in R to automate survey data review in addition to weekly manual review
Researcher: Arsenic Reduction and STEM Education
Health Research for Action, UC Berkeley School of Public Health (PI: Winston Tseng, PhD)
09.2024 - Current
Project partnering with Allensworth (an unincorporated town in California's Central Valley) to implement a novel technology removing arsenic from drinking water.
- Engaged with community members to raise awareness of arsenic burden and mitigation technology
- Built multi-year tiered curriculum to increase environmental health competency across community youth
- Taught classes to elementary and middle school students monthly
- Systematically analyzed lesson comprehension and retention
- Supported analysis of key informant interviews to gauge community response to implementation of arsenic removal technology
Researcher: Antimicrobial Resistance in Wastewater
Water Center, UC Berkeley Dept of Civil & Environmental Engineering (PI: Amy Pickering, PhD)
09.2024 - 06.2025
Systematic review analyzing PCR assays used in wastewater-based surveillance of critical antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs).
- Reviewed 486 studies detecting beta-lactamase genes in wastewater and the environment
- Designed and conducted in silico PCR analyses with Bash to evaluate the efficacy of most commonly used assays for 3 critical ARGs
- Presented abstract/poster at Stanford Global and Planetary Health Research Convening
Fellow: NIH Summer Institute in Biostatistics
University of Michigan School of Public Health
06.2024 - 08.2024
NIH-funded summer fellowship in Biostatistics, with specific focus on big data.
- Developed and executed project identifying gene targets of non-coding single nucleotide polymorphisms
- Wrangled large genomic datasets (Genome Wide Association Studies, single cell RNA-Seq, single cell ATAC-Seq) in R
- Performed regressions on peak-gene pairs using Benjamini Hochberg FDR method to identify cis-regulatory elements
- Presented research findings at Big Data Summer Institute Concluding Symposium
Intern: Epidemiology
Public Health Officer Unit, City of Berkeley
05.2023 - 06.2024
- Co-led City of Berkeley's first wastewater surveillance initiative for COVID, mapped COVID trends
- Analyzed data in R on mortality, disease, traffic injuries, and student mental health
- Integrated results in a comprehensive Community Health Assessment report to identify critical health priorities
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Public Health
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA05-2026
High School Diploma -
Head-Royce School
Oakland, CA06-2022
Skills
- R
- Python
- Bash
- SurveyCTO
- Power BI
- Photoshop
- InDesign
Languages
English (native)
Spanish (intermediate)
French (intermediate)
Timeline
Researcher: CLEAN Trial
Water Center, UC Berkeley Dept of Civil & Environmental Engineering (PI: Amy Pickering, PhD)
05.2025 - Current
Researcher: Antimicrobial Resistance in Wastewater
Water Center, UC Berkeley Dept of Civil & Environmental Engineering (PI: Amy Pickering, PhD)
09.2024 - 06.2025
Researcher: Arsenic Reduction and STEM Education
Health Research for Action, UC Berkeley School of Public Health (PI: Winston Tseng, PhD)
09.2024 - Current
Fellow: NIH Summer Institute in Biostatistics
University of Michigan School of Public Health
06.2024 - 08.2024
Intern: Epidemiology
Public Health Officer Unit, City of Berkeley
05.2023 - 06.2024
Bachelor of Arts - Public Health
University of California, Berkeley
High School Diploma -
Head-Royce School
Leadership Experience
Risk & Safety Chair - Bowles Hall Residential College | 01/2024 - 12/2024
- Developed freshman risk awareness orientation and led harm reduction workshops
Health Worker - University Health Services | 05/2023 - 05/2024
- Served as UHS representative for Bowles Hall Residential College
- Promoted health literacy through educational events and multi-media
- Responded to student health crises and advocated for student health needs
Infectious Disease Instructor - Splash at Berkeley | 09/2022 - 05/2024
- Taught classes on the American anti-vax movement to local high school students
Community Engagement Board Senior Leader - Head-Royce School | 07/2020 - 07/2022
- Created the high school's new community engagement requirement
- Led 10+ initiatives addressing disparities, connected with new community partners
Kale-on-Wheels Club Leader - Head-Royce School | 07/2019 - 06/2022
- Addressed nutritional disparities through improved access to fresh produce
- Solicited produce from farmers' markets to Emeryville Citizen's Assistance Program
- Created club social media and grew club following
Surfrider Club Leader - Head-Royce School | 09/2019 - 06/2022
- Organized monthly beach and park cleanups
- Expanded club following and fostered partnership with San Francisco chapter
Social Skills Group Facilitator - Behavioral Intervention Associates 4 Autism | 08/2021 - 03/2022
- Supported social skills development in children with autism
- Facilitated discussions of complex social topics and led field trips and game activities
MLK 40 Days of Service Leader - Head-Royce School | 01/2021 - 03/2022
- Facilitated outreach for 8 community engagement projects
- Organized and led 2 Lake Merritt cleanups
Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency Gift Drive Leader - Head-Royce School | 10/2020 - 01/2022
- Organized holiday gift collection from 400 students
- Packaged and transported gifts to facility supporting unhoused population
Navajo Nation Book Drive Organizer and Leader | 06/2020 - 04/2021
- Created and led local community drive donating 3,000 books to Navajo Nation library
- Initiated and coordinated communications with library, advertised through print and social, recruited local students and businesses to help package/ship
Additional Volunteering Experience
Cal Undergraduate Public Health Coalition, UC Berkeley | 09/2022 - 05/2023
- Disseminated communicable disease and vaccination information across the university
Prisoners Literature Project 501(c)(3) | 07/2021 - 09/2022
- Facilitated access to learning and development for a disadvantaged community
- Selected and shipped books to prisoners based on their written requests
Athletics
Cal Club Triathlon, Cal Club Fencing
Abstracts
- McCormack C, Roy-Burman S, Kim S, Pickering A. Towards a pathogen-drug framework for wastewater surveillance of antibiotic resistance with PCR: a critical review. Stanford Global and Planetary Health Research Convening 2025.
- Waldrup A, Halford R, Lisi R, Roy-Burman S, Wiggins J. Empowering Nurses through the Cloud to Improve Engagement, Onboarding, and Costs. American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) Annual Conference 2022.