Berger, Math Students Publish Research in Medical Journal

Simpson College Professor of Math Dr. Heidi Berger and three Simpson students recently had their research work published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A. Their collaborative research focused on “Specialty Care Oases: Utilizing Geographic Information Systems to Evaluate Specialty Care Access for Individuals with Down Syndrome.“

Kayla Jensen ’26 earned credit as the first author while Dr. Brian Skotko, director of the Down Syndrome Research Program at Harvard Medical School, served as the article’s senior author. Paul Llamas ’25 and Jace Howard ’25 joined Berger as co-authors.

“This is a prestigious accomplishment for our Simpson student researchers,” said Berger. “Through creativity and hard work, they advanced the critical research on access to Down syndrome specialty care. Our students gained incredible insights that will serve them extremely well in their future research work and academic pursuits.”

This is the fourth article in a national medical journal from Berger’s research group and the eighth overall publication that she has co-authored with undergraduate students in the Bryan Summer Research Program at Simpson. The Bryan Summer Research Program provides the opportunity for Simpson students to spend eight weeks engaging in mathematics alongside Simpson faculty members. The students receive funding to present their results at a national mathematics conference.