GREL student and GREL Graduate Representative (2024-2025) has received a year long dissertation completion fellowship. Stephanie will use the fellowship in 2025-2026 to complete her dissertation, “I’ll Pray About It:” Black Patients' Expressed Beliefs and Agency in Critical Values-Based Health Decisions. The dissertation project explores the interconnectedness of faith, religiosity, and health equity, focusing on the dynamics between African Americans who draw upon their religious beliefs when facing power imbalances during end-of-life discussions and their medical providers. The study aims to learn how Black people's faith gives them hope and agency when making critical medical decisions.

Prof. Meaghan O'Keefe serves as Stephanie's Major Professor and Dissertation Director.