Student Fellowship in Disability Policy

Sydney is a junior majoring in Biology and HSSP (Health: Science, Society, and Policy). She is passionate about health education and advocacy; she recently returned from Mexico and Cuba, where she studied Latin American healthcare systems and rural access to traditional and biomedical medicine. Sydney is involved on and off campus with disability advocacy, working for the JumpStart program at the JCC (Jewish Community Center) over the past two summers as well as volunteering as a mentor and tutor for the SPECTRUM division of the Waltham Group. She holds other leadership roles on campus as a teaching assistant for a biology lab, choreographer for the Adagio Dance Company, and social coordinator for the ice skating club. In her free time, Sydney enjoys music and concerts (her favorite band is U2), playing ultimate frisbee (with Brandeis’s team, Banshee), training dogs (she has two dogs at home), and cooking/baking (her favorite food to make is spring rolls)! Sydney is beyond excited to continue expanding her knowledge and perspective about disability studies and advocacy with her mentor, Dr. Miriam Heyman, and all the awesome people at the Lurie Institute!

Sophie is a senior majoring in Linguistics and Psychology with a minor in Social Justice and Social Policy. She is involved with the Brandeis community as president of Period Activists at ‘Deis (PAD), a Confidential Peer Educator at the Prevention, Advocacy, and Resource Center (PARC), an Orientation Leader, and a member of the Adagio dance ensemble. She recently spent the summer working in the domains of language and communication for the Connecticut Department of Public Health. She is honored to join the Lurie team to spend the year expanding her knowledge and skills within disability policy. This is an incredible step on hopefully a long journey as an advocate and she feels fortunate to be doing it among so many passionate individuals.

Tori is a senior majoring in neuroscience, psychology, and health: science, society, and policy. She has worked in several research labs at various universities and is a recurring guest speaker for UTD and UW. At Brandeis, Tori is involved with the Campus Accessibility Committee, where she works to increase accessibility in all aspects of campus life. She is very excited to begin working with Lurie on issues of disability justice on a larger scale and looks forward to growing in her work as both a researcher and an advocate.

Sam is a second-year Masters of Public Policy student at the Heller School at Brandeis. She is in the Children, Youth, and Families concentration, and focuses on a broad range of disability policy topics, such as supports for LGBTQI+ disabled youth and affordable accessible housing for disabled families. She is spending the summer and fall as a housing policy intern with the Southeast Center for Independent Living in Fall River, MA, helping develop advocacy strategies and materials around accessible housing development reform. They also contribute to the Heller student-run Open Air Journal as the Weekly Content Editor. She is very excited to work with the Lurie Institute to help develop her skills as a researcher and disability justice advocate, in service of a more radical, well-rounded disability justice politics and the democratization of research knowledge.

Elana is a senior majoring in Politics and Sociology with a minor in Legal Studies. On campus, Elana was involved in the Undergraduate Theater Collective (UTC) as both an actor and crew member, and served as a Student Accessibility Support (SAS) Fellow. Outside of Brandeis, she plays Beep Baseball, an adaptive sport for the blind, with the Boston Renegades. She looks forward to gaining practical research experience during the fellowship and continuing her journey as a disability rights advocate.

Christina is a Junior majoring in HSSP (Health: Science, Society, and Policy). She has been a fervent advocate for accessibility within the Brandeis community and displays this passion through involvement in the Campus Accessibility Committee, working as a Student Accessibility Support fellow, participating in the Disabled Students’ Network, and co-chairing of Deisvergent, a the neurodivergent affinity group. She is honored to join the Lurie Institute to expand her research skills and awareness of disability policy alongside such brilliant mentors and students.