Khajenoori (’20) Creates Student COVID-19 Task Force

COVID-19 has caused more than 700,000 deaths and over 20 million confirmed cases. That’s 7 times the number of Americans who died in World War 1, 28 times the death toll of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and one-quarter of the total global casualties from the pandemic. At the same time, the national lock down forced everyone to stay at home, resulting in 33 million Americans out of work, small business owners shutting down their business, and 1 in 5 children not being able to eat. With the nation being in a panic, misinformation about COVID-19 is an important issue. 

“When coronavirus hit, I noticed how much confusion and misinformation there was in our community and wanted to help mediate it,” says Yasmin Khajenoori, director and founder of The Student CoronaVirus Task Force. “I think with science and research there are a lot of misconceptions that it is inaccessible or not understandable.”

Khajenoori graduated from Del Norte last year and currently attends UC Berkeley. Her background with research sparked her interest in starting the Student Task Force. She participated in multiple research projects during her junior year of high school. Her first internship was at SBP Medical Institute, where she gained a love for biology. In addition, Khajenoori participated in the Reproductive and Oncofertility Science Academy at UC San Diego, where she completed a research poster which was selected to be presented at the National Oncofertility Conference at Northwestern.

After graduating highschool and enrolling into Berkely, Khajenoori knew she wanted to participate in research. In her first semester, she participated on a public health project and studied violence against health in Yemen. Participating in different research has helped her gain confidence to start her own project.

Khajenoori’s research experience, the current pandemic and her passion to help others created a wonderful opportunity to start the Task Force. Khajenoori says, “My background in both public health and biology became very relevant. I took inspiration from prior programs and research groups that I had participated in and decided to organize the task force.” 

Founded in June, the Student CoronaVirus Task Force encourages all students to join and help raise awareness around the misconceptions regarding COVID-19 on the internet. The Task Force is a mix of students from MIT, UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, UC San Diego, and Del Norte High School. The goal, Khajenoori says, is to “consolidate new research that is coming out every day and fight against the spread of misinformation regarding coronavirus.”    

With the rush to find a vaccine, the nation is desperate to know every detail on clinical trials. Students have “completed meta analysis and literature reviews papers and are currently utilizing social media to spread the knowledge gained” while also presenting their knowledge to others. 

Widespread testing of populations could capture more cases and help public-health officials educate people about the need for social distancing and other measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Still, Khajenoori says there is a need for people to stay accountable for the correct information. She and her team consolidated research, performed statistical analysis on trends, and spread research backed information to the public.  

The Student Task Force has been researching and writing constantly, and the results look very promising.  

“We have officially completed three of our projects with different biology and public health focuses! Our team worked very hard the past few weeks to complete these comprehensive papers,” Khajenoori explains. The comprehensive papers are similar to research posters, where the methods, materials, and results are discussed. Once published, they will be read by the public to better understand the virus.   

Additionally, Khajenoori elaborates on how the publication will work, “We are currently submitting our papers to different preprint servers as well as having them accessible on our website which we are in the process of developing.”

“I want people to learn that especially now, it is important to trust the scientific process and to educate yourself on the virus by reading literature that is coming out,” Khajenoori says. “I also want people to learn that you can make a difference with what’s happening right now no matter your age or education level.”