PhD students Kamkhoad and Killela awarded Dhillon Jordan Shah Innovation Fund support

Congratulations to SON PhD students Donruedee Kamkhoad, MSN, RN, and Mary Killela who have been awarded support from the 2023 Dhillon Jordan Shah Innovation Fund, an endowment intended to encourage and support students, post-graduates and practitioners working on pilot endeavors in the field of congenital heart defects.

Donruedee’s project, “Nutritional Status, Eating Behaviors, and Gastrointestinal Symptom Cluster Among Thai Children During Cancer Chemotherapy,” will expand current understanding of these topics in a field investigated primarily in Western countries.

Mary’s project, ““Medical Crowdfunding,” will analyze the content of medical expense crowdfunding websites to increase our understanding of how families of children with cancer cope with the financial demands, along with how to update or adapt financial navigation interventions to include this coping strategy. 

Dhillon’s Gift, the Dhillon Jordan Shah Innovation Fund, was created by his maternal grandmother Bev Foster and family at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Nursing to honor the memory of Dhillon Jordan Shah, who was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a severe congenital heart defect. Dhillon received medical care in three world class institutions: UNC Health Care; the University of Michigan Health System; and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dhillon’s gift honors not only Dhillon, but the health professionals who contributed to his care. Learn more about Dhillon’s gift here.