Aish Lovett

Aish is senior majoring in Neuroscience at Harvard University. They became interested in working in mental health through experiences with friends and family as a teen. They grew up in New Orleans and were inspired by the mental health support delivered to their school after Katrina that emphasized resiliency and art-based emotional expression. They are involved in research on the mental health of people detained in the justice system and are a peer counselor with a group at school that specializes around gender, sexuality, sex, and relationships.

As a Global Mental Health Programs summer intern, Aish worked with Dr. Silvia Martins and Dr. Esteban Calvo on their project proposal, which aims to map the prevalence and trajectory of chronic pain across the life course and across 39 countries. This involved acquiring data from international sources and institutes, and researching different ways to potentially approach operationalizing it. Aish also helped collect drug policy information on cannabis and opioids for the treatment for pain internationally. They compiled resources on policy across countries and domestic information on treatment guidelines for the treatment of chronic pain in the United States. This internship has given them incredible insight into how researchers systematically score and analyze policies in terms of clinically meaningful outcomes and exposure to how macro-level international projects are coordinated.