The 2022 Kendal at Ithaca Scholarship is being awarded to Taeyoung Park ‘22, a human biology, health, and society major in the Division of Nutritional Sciences. The scholarship was established by an anonymous Cornell alumnus living at Kendal of Ithaca, a continuing care retirement community located a mile from the Cornell campus. It is awarded to a student interested in pursuing a career in gerontology.
Taeyoung Park ’22, winner of this year’s Kendal at Ithaca Scholarship. (Photo provided)
Park aspires to be a geriatrician specializing in pain management, an interest born from volunteering at her family’s pain & anesthesiology clinic in Korea. She currently volunteers at the Ithaca Free Clinic and recently earned her emergency medical technician certification which has allowed her to help older adults.
“Through these three experiences, I have developed sensitivity in interacting with patients in a clinical setting and insight into the diverse needs of older adults,” Park says.
Currently, Park is a research assistant in Dr. Catherine Riffin’s lab at Weill Cornell Medicine. She helped pilot a randomized control trial of the Pain Identification and Communication Toolkit, an intervention designed to help family caregivers of persons with dementia recognize and communicate about pain.
“Over and again, Taeyoung has demonstrated an eagerness to take on complex and challenging projects, strong initiative in seeking out opportunities to grow her skillset, and high level of compassion in her interactions with clinical populations,” Riffin says. “These qualities are fundamental to her chosen career and will serve her well as she pursues her long-term goals.”
As a part of Dr. Corinna Loeckenhoff’s lab, she administered Balloon Analog Risk Tasks, a risk-taking behavioral measure also known as BART, on older and younger adults.
“The jurors were particularly impressed with the fact that Taeyoung is involved in multiple types of aging-related research, ranging from controlled laboratory paradigms to complex clinical studies involving patients and their providers,” Loeckenhoff says. “As a future geriatrician, this will allow her to keep abreast with the latest research and contribute insights of her own.”
“In order to achieve holistic care in treating older adults, I have focused on building on my current research endeavors and fill gaps in my knowledge by familiarizing myself with the diverse needs of older adults and available resources,” Park says. “I am highly interested in studying and being involved in designing and testing evidence-based interventions to help close the gaps in current geriatric practices. The minor in gerontology has helped me be involved with those endeavors, and I hope to continue my passion for gerontology and geriatrics in graduate education.”
This is the 21st Kendal at Ithaca Scholarship awarded. The donor, who built a career in the corporate world after graduating from Cornell in the 1940s, first learned about gerontology work at Cornell by participating in a study about the transition to living in a retirement community.
The donor’s goal was to build a lasting link between Kendal at Ithaca and Cornell so that more students have a chance to learn about the colorful, interesting lives and careers of retirees, and more residents have an opportunity to better understand students of today – their hopes, thoughts, and dreams.
