Moira Hughes ‘28

Moira Hughes is a sophomore from Hinsdale, Illinois. At Notre Dame, she is majoring in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics, with a concentration in Biology and a minor in Marketing. She is excited to work with Dr. Jason Rohr and explore connections between environmental change and global health.

This year, Hughes will research how deforestation affects malaria risk in low- and middle-income countries. She will perform a meta-analysis of data, compiling research studies with a common theme and then evaluating their quality. Hughes will utilize the programming language, R, along with her critical thinking skills, to extract quality data from the research studies and make a mathematical model to represent the findings. She will also develop empirical laboratory skills by working directly with mosquitos in aquatic environments, performing cell culturing and viral culturing to test for viruses in the mosquitos. Hughes is also eager to research the socioeconomic factors that are at play in the spread of infectious disease, beyond just environmental changes in a community. Hughes is a member of Notre Dame’s Chapter of Global Medical Brigades, a club that travels to Panama yearly to serve thousands of individuals in a pop-up healthcare clinic. She looks forward to further exploring her passion for ending global healthcare disparities through the Kellogg Institute.