Since graduation, Virginia has worked in Boston, MA as a fulltime research assistant for the Women’s Health Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD. In this role, Virginia works under the Director and Deputy Director of the Women’s Health Sciences Division, Drs. Tara Galovski and Amy Street. She has been involved in numerous projects, including serving as a research assistant in the development of a nationwide peer support network for women Veterans called WoVeN (Women Veterans Network). Virginia says of her experience, “This role has had incredible value for me as a junior researcher because I have been able to connect directly with the women Veterans we serve and also work alongside Drs. Galovski and Street in this effort to support WoVeN in sustainable ways as it continuously grows.” Virginia has also been involved in projects dealing with military sexual trauma (MST), most notably the development of a mobile app for survivors of MST. This app is being developed under the leadership of Dr. Street, who saw a need for this kind of technology to specifically serve survivors of MST. During her time at NCPTSD, Virginia has had incredible opportunities to present research at international conferences, co-author peer reviewed journal articles, join professional organizations and take leadership roles within them, and create long lasting professional relationships with people who are also passionate about studying PTSD to improve to lives of those affected by it.
While a student at CofC, Virginia conducted research with Dr. Grace Hubel on a systematic review of existing interventions for the prevention of rapid repeat pregnancy in adolescent females. With other members of the team, Virginia learned the methodology of conducting a systematic review, including determining inclusion and exclusion criteria, drafting scoring sheets, conducting thorough literature reviews, and collaborating to discuss the progress and future directions of the project. She presented outcomes from this project at the PSYC department’s annual SARD event in 2017 as well as at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association (APA) in Washington, DC in 2014. Virginia says of her experience, “I’ve been able to apply my knowledge gained from this experience to conduct a systematic review and co-author a manuscript with a polytrauma investigator at the DC VA about sex and gender differences among Veterans with traumatic brain injury to highlight the unique outcomes of women Veterans with TBIs.” During her time at CofC, Virginia also contributed to two additional labs at MUSC and Harvard.
Virginia also highly values her CofC experience as a peer counselor for the Cougar Counseling Team (CCT). Virginia served as a peer counselor on CCT for three years, and during two of those years she served as the program’s co-director. Virginia says, “My favorite thing about being a peer counselor was having the opportunity to support my peers in validating and comforting ways. College is a really transitional time—it presents a lot of great things, but it also presents a lot of academic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal challenges that aren’t always talked, so being a part of a team that volunteered their time to help students through the transitions that college can present was incredibly fulfilling and something I will always regard as one of my favorite college experiences. I would encourage any student thinking about visiting CCT for support to give it a chance. Reaching out for support for difficult things can be really uncomfortable, but more often than not, it’s worth it. CCT’s peer counselors are carefully selected and extensively trained and will support and listen to you however you need them to.”