Recommendations

“Ms. Moriarty has demonstrated exceptional ability to synthesize complex and diverse concepts into a clear, well-structured, succinct presentation designed to inform policy deliberations by the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs and development of focused educational materials by Ethics group staff. She has developed articles for future issues the AMA Journal of Ethics have been well researched and well written. Ms. Moriarty’s knowledge of bioethics has given her an excellent foundation on which she has been able to expand, particularly in contributing to the development of content for a CME module on working with surrogate decision makers. She is also developing a narrative essay for the AMA Journal of Ethics on issues in community health. Ms. Moriarty has supported Ethics staff in the policymaking deliberations of the AMA House of Delegates. Ms. Moriarty brings excellent research and writing skills and considerable background knowledge to her internship. We therefore feel that the most appropriate avenue for growth in the context of our internship program would be for her to extend her work into areas of bioethics that are new to her. To that end, we have asked her to participate in a project to consolidate AMA policy on health care disparities, an area in which she has done relatively little focused work previously, but in which she has also expressed interest. AMA’s policy portfolio is significant in this area, but we also recognize that there is considerable overlap across individual policy statements and look forward to having Ms. Moriarty assist in developing a more succinct and cohesive body of policy on this important issue. In continuing to demonstrate her exceptional ability in synthesizing complex materials and presenting them succinctly, she has identified and reviewed core literature and prepared a summary of key issues for new work assigned to the Ethics group in the complex and contested area of “gene doping” in sport. These materials provide essential background for a report in this area requested by the AMA Board of Trustees. Importantly, Ms. Moriarty has gracefully demonstrated flexibility in adapting to changing priorities within the Ethics group. Ms. Moriarty has an excellent foundation in her research and communication skills. “

– Elliott Crigger, PhD

Director of Ethics Policy, Secretary to the Council of Ethical and Judicial Affairs, American Medical Association

“Ms. Moriarty behaves like a seasoned professional. If I was running a startup she would be one of my first employees. She is highly intelligent; she not only can make the right connections in this complex area of the intersection of virology, social epidemiology and migration research, but she thought of things that I had not even considered.

I was particularly struck by Ms. Moriarty’s practicality. She liked playing with complex ideas, but she rapidly got back to questions like where can we get the data to measure this? Who has it? How can we convince them to give it to us? How can we link these data to other data sets? These are the kinds of skills you usually only encounter in advanced graduate students with a time deadline to complete a PhD, and Sienna has them already.

Sienna has, I think, found her niche in the study of the social ecology of disease and how medical and public health systems can influence it. Over the last year I have had the opportunity to measure her brains against many of our top undergrads, a bunch of UIC med students, and some of my colleagues, and believe me, she holds her own with them in her ability to analyze a question, to consider alternative explanations, and to drive the argument forward.

Sienna is highly organized, a self-starter, and she meets deadlines. She knows how, in a very polite way, to set up an “expectation state” that you will take her seriously and do what she wants because it is good for your jointly shared goal. I am not entirely sure what “leadership” looks like for undergraduate students, but all the faculty members who I work with on our expanding project know that Sienna’s input has to be taken seriously. I think that Sienna has the drive and the ability to succeed in many fields, and I take it as my great good fortune that she decided that our HPV project was the one she wanted to concentrate on.”

– Richard E. Barrett, PhD

Emeritus Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago

“Sienna and I initially became colleagues due to our neighboring offices but we quickly became great friends. We were both in a place in our careers where having a supportive friend to talk to after a tough meeting truly made a world of difference. More women in the workplace should feel comfortable finding support in each other! After becoming friends I introduced her to the regulatory-side of research and we started to collaborate on more projects together. Those projects were a joy to work on because we could communicate effectively and reach deadlines quickly. Research and research collaboration are fields that require organizational skills, resilience, and warmth - all qualities Sienna has. I'm happy to have shared some of my regulatory knowledge with Sienna, and in turn gained a great collaborator and friend!”

— Monica Kane, MPH

IRB Reliance Analyst, Northwestern University

“Sienna mentored me during an externship set up through the Northwestern Alumni Association. Since I am interested in medical research, I chose to work with Dr. Gelila Goba who is both a physician and a researcher. Sienna organized all the logistics of the day to give me the most meaningful experience possible. Not only did I get to shadow Dr. Goba, but Sienna introduced me to an MPH and brought me to a talk given by a UIC physician. Additionally, Sienna and I discussed her own work, and this helped me to better understand what it is like to conduct research in the healthcare field. She taught me about the influence that social markers have on health, and how they ought to be given greater consideration when treating patients. Overall, Sienna gave me incredible advice that I can take with me as I finish up college and pursue my future career. I really value the encouragement and guidance she provided me, and I would recommend her as a mentor to anyone—especially students and recent graduates looking for career advice.”

– Kelly O’Conor, BS

Neuroscience & Linguistics, Northwestern University

“Sienna was an intern in the Ethics department at the American Medical Association for the summer 2018 term. She is a quick learner who was able to fully adapt to the type of research and writing that we do in our group. In one instance specifically, she worked with another intern to put together a wonderfully comprehensive and logically-flowing outline of complicated ethical issues for an upcoming Continuing Medical Education course. She is extremely bright and brings a broad and deep knowledge of social issues to her research, always with a critical eye. Sienna also worked quite well with the other interns and members of the ethics group.”

– Danielle Hahn Chaet, MS

Senior Research Associate, American Medical Association, Council of Ethical and Judicial Affairs

“Sienna started as a student in my internship course. Throughout the semester, I witnessed Sienna explode as a professional. We met in the summer after she secured her first internship, and by August, Sienna was more confident speaking in front of the class, being vulnerable, and identifying key pieces of her professional identity that she would continue to build on in her final semester. Sienna remained diligent in her follow-up and took on leadership opportunities within my department including assisting to lead a workshop and talking openly about her personal growth to incoming families at the university. Sienna is extremely self-aware as evidenced by her continued reflection and desire to practice the words written in her word cloud. I truly appreciate Sienna’s attention to detail and her method of organization which typically requires a map of post-it notes on her wall and several binders with multiple tabs. Throughout our sessions, Sienna has always shown a lot of enthusiasm and desire for doing social justice research and programming. Sienna is an asset to my department and will continue to be a great collaborator in future positions.”

– Lauren Gallagher, M.Ed, LCPC

Associate Director of Career Development and Internships, University of Illinois at Chicago

“Sienna worked in the Ethics department at the American Medical Association during the summer of 2018. I found her to be bright and fully engaged with the staff and other interns she with worked with. She also had a passion for learning about the issues we deal with in our office, primarily those related to medical ethics. She also helped to contribute to our AMA Journal of Ethics, providing interesting perspectives from her academic background in sociology. Sienna is a smart, capable worker and a great team collaborator.”

– Scott Schweikart, JD, MBE

Senior Research Associate, American Medical Association, Council of Ethical and Judicial Affairs