Annika is a first-year Ph.D. student who earned her Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Cum Laude) with Distinction in Communication where she focused on health communication.  She worked under Dr. Lisa Guntzviller and Ph.D. candidate Lindsay Kelpinski on undergraduate research analyzing interactions between a physician and a standardized patient regarding opioid and pain management. Annika has published in the journal Medical Decision Making, where she was co-author on a study motivated by her interest in choices about health and the role of personality in adolescents and adults.

Annika’s current research interests include patient-provider communication, health literacy, and medication adherence. She seeks to elucidate communication-related aspects of the patient-provider relationship that contribute to better patient outcomes, such as making patients feel comfortable with their care plan and helping them feel heard by their providers.  These issues may differ by subgroups of the population, and Annika is interested in examining the interaction of age, gender, race, and region to promote health equity and access to care.

She is currently a member of the Shiyanbola Research Group and working on research projects of implementing a culturally tailored community intervention program that aims at improving medication adherence among Black adults with type 2 diabetes.

Annika is excited to continue to grow academically and learn from these research opportunities. She is open-minded about opportunities in academia, the pharmaceutical industry, and public health/government.  Outside of research, she likes to play volleyball which she played in her first year at Stonehill College before transferring to UIUC.  She also likes to work out, go on nature walks, write poetry, and listen to music.