Hi. My name is Lilah Khoja, and I am an Epidemiology doctoral candidate at the University of Michigan, School of Public Health.
Dr. Leigh Pearce is my advisor and I am part of the Mondul-Pearce Research Group. I am primarily interested in cancer risks and disparities, and Arab/Arab American health. In planning for my dissertation, I hope to focus on bladder cancer disparities and nativity and immigration. In the future, I will use my diverse skill set to design interventions to eliminate health inequities.
With Dr. Pearce, I have worked on SAHA-HPV, a study evaluating HPV self-collection acceptability and feasibility amongst Arab American women in Dearborn, numerous projects looking at ovarian cancer risk, and some projects evaluating life purpose and survival. I am also currently an interviewer on the Michigan COVID-19 Recovery Surveillance Study (MI CReSS), a joint project between UM SPH and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Professional Philosophy
“Knowledge emerges only through invention and reinvention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” - Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
I firmly believe that critical scholarship is necessary to transform the world. I entered public health because without health, there is nothing. I am committed to not just becoming an expert in specifically cancer disparities in immigrant and refugee communities, but to working with them to address these disparities. I channel this hope for change to better myself, to push me even further, and to remain steadfast in my drive to do a world of good.