Department welcomes new residents (Part 2)
This time of year is always exciting as we welcome our new learners into the department. The new psychiatry residents who joined us on July 1 bring a diverse array of skills and experiences to the four years they will spend with us.
We are proud to introduce the second group of new residents in the last of this two-part series about who they are, what they value, and where they came from.
Jennifer Murillo, MD, MPH
Jennifer completed her medical degree at the University of Minnesota, her MPH at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Hanover, NH; and her undergraduate degree in biology at Idaho State University in Pocatello. She is a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
Jennifer was a Ogimaakwe (Ojibwe: woman leader) on the U’s Medical School Student Council and volunteered for several projects during her term. She played Division I NCAA softball while at Idaho State. Through AmeriCorps, she worked for just over a year at the Shoshone Bannock Community Health Center in Fort Hall, ID.
Jennifer built her research skills during an MPH internship at the University of Washington’s Seven Directions: Indigenous Public Health Institute. She was also a research assistant in the Native American Research Internship program at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She coauthored one journal article.
When she has free time, Jennifer enjoys listening to music and going to concerts, bowling, batting cages, and hiking.
Christina Nyquist, MD
Christina completed her medical degree at University of Minnesota, Duluth, and her undergraduate degree in biology and anthropology at University of Minnesota, Morris, where she won the Gertrude Gaffney Hanlon Scholarship. She also completed a first-year fellowship in Biomedical Ethics at the National Institutes of Health Department of Bioethics, in Bethesda, MD. Christina is a member of the TriBeta National Biological Honor Society, and in 2017, was awarded the Marfan Hero Award from the Minnesota Chapter of the Marfan Foundation.
For more than a year, she volunteered at the HOPE Clinic on the U of M, Duluth campus, and while at U of M Morris, Christina became a Jane Addams Program intern. During a trip to Romania, she volunteered at a day camp for families and individuals with various disabilities.
Christina is a trained EMT and spent 5 years working with the Cokato, MN, Ambulance Service. She was also a farm hand for 10 years on her parents’ dairy farm near Cokato.
During her year at the Department of Bioethics, she was a research fellow with the Medical Research Scholars Program and was also a post-baccalaureate research assistant in a lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. She helped coauthor four journal articles and has made several poster presentations at medical conferences throughout the United States.
Christina is a classically trained violinist who also plays the viola. She enjoys dog training, acrylic painting, working with chalk or oil pastels, gardening, and refurbishing antique furniture.
Mayada Saadoun, MBBCh (MD equivalent), PhD, MS, MPH
Mayada earned her MBBCh from Alexandria University Faculty of Medicine in Egypt, her PhD and MS from The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, and her MPH from Benha University School of Medicine in Egypt.
While at Brandeis University, Mayada was a volunteer graduate tutor and a member of the Pre-health Advisors Board and volunteered for a year with Bikes Not Bombs in Boston. Since 2013, Mayada helped conduct telehealth screenings with adults in her local community in Egypt and spent just over a year working with the Hepatitis C Coalition Initiative in Cairo.
She worked as a clinical extern at Norwood Behavioral Health in Massachusetts and as an undergraduate teaching assistant at Brandeis. She also spent five years as an adjunct lecturer teaching modern leadership and organizational management. Prior to that, Mayada spent about four years working with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population in Cairo.
She built her research skills working as a research associate at Brandeis University’s Institute for Behavioral Health, was a research intern for the HIV, Health, and Development Department of the United Nations Development Program in New York City; and worked for two years as a researcher for Supportive Living, Inc., in Lexington, MA. Mayada helped coauthor five journal articles and has given numerous oral and poster presentations.
In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, hiking, traveling, and watching television.
Nissah Vilceus, DO, MA
Nissah completed her medical degree at the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York, her graduate degree in biological sciences from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and her undergraduate in neuroscience from State University of New York at Binghamton.
During the pandemic, Nissah volunteered with COVID Sitters and with the Touro Harlem Hope Clinic, both in New York City. She also served as vice president of the local chapter of the Student National Medical Association. Nissah spent a year working for the Make a Wish Foundation as an administrative assistant.
She was a research assistant at Rutger’s Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, NJ; and at Touro Harlem Hope Clinic in New York City. Nissah was also a research assistant at the Oncology Translational Research Lab of the University of Buffalo in New York; and in the Movement Disorders Laboratory at SUNY (State University of New York) Binghamton. She coauthored one journal article and a book chapter.
When Nissah has some free time, she enjoys playing piano and saxophone and dancing. She hosted Zumba classes during the pandemic as a way to connect with others.
