Muhlenberg athletes are spending the summer of 2024 enjoying fantastic experiences on campus, in their hometowns, across the country and even around the world.

As much as Jocelyn Mertz '25 enjoys being in the lab, it was a course in the humanities that opened her eyes to a new passion.

In the second semester of her sophomore year, the biochemistry major took Biomedical Ethics to fulfill one of her graduation requirements. That, combined with personal observations of interactions between doctors and patients, piqued Mertz's interest in public health.

"I want to work with people," says Mertz, who's also co-captain of the women's soccer team. "These are human beings that we're working with, and I think it's extremely important to understand how policies impact people and their health-seeking habits and behaviors."

This summer, Mertz, now a public health minor as well, is working with people as a research scholar at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), where she's participating in a research project to assess cervical cancer disparities in Hispanic women in the Lehigh Valley.  

"We aim to illuminate where disparities exist in the Lehigh Valley, as well as identify and understand the social determinants of health contributing to these disparities," she says. "This research seeks to provide insight for targeted interventions focused on improving HPV vaccination rates, increasing access to Pap screenings and ensuring timely treatment, ultimately aiming to reduce cervical cancer mortality rates in the local Hispanic community."

The project is in its fourth and final year, and Mertz's primary role is to code interviews conducted by her mentor, Dr. Autumn Kieber-Emmons, LVHN's vice-chair for research in the department of family medicine. Although Mertz doesn't yet have the skill set to conduct the interviews herself, she does sit in on them and can ask a question or two.

After the transcription comes back, Mertz pores over the responses, carefully sorting and coding each sentence or phrase. Some of the most frequently identified codes include lack of education, existence of language barriers and supervisor misunderstanding, as well as more specific ones like fear of an abnormal Pap result, experience with sexual trauma and socioeconomic factors. 

"I was definitely surprised about the impact and the conclusions that can be drawn from qualitative research," says Mertz, who was more familiar with quantitative research from her biology and chemistry courses.

After Mertz's coding is complete, the data will be analyzed and incorporated into a policy brief. What are some things she thinks should be included?

"I think there needs to be some sort of initiative or intervention that educates the doctors and managers about what's actually happening in their clinics," she says. "They need to understand how many patients are canceling, and why. Is it because of transportation issues or inability to find child care? And more effective community outreach … they have health fairs, but providers are rarely asked to attend, to educate. So I think that there are community efforts that are implemented, but they're not carried out to their full potential."

The topic of cervical cancer is of particular interest to Mertz because she plans to pursue a career in the OB-GYN field. Her summer position at LVHN, which she learned about from her advisor, Professor of Chemistry Keri Colabroy, has allowed her to gain other relevant, hands-on experiences, such as observing an obstetrician, shadowing her mentor in prenatal care and even practicing with a robot that is used to perform surgeries.

"There are a lot of benefits to this program, and I recommend it to anyone interested in health care," she says.

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