In this onePERspective episode of asPERusual, we pass the mic from long-time patient partner Kathy Smith to new guest host Sasha Kullman — a doctoral trainee exploring how to meaningfully engage children, youth, and families in research. Sasha shares thoughtful, personal reflections on Season 3, Episode 3, which featured Brianna Hunt, Michelle Roy, and Onalee Garcia-Alecio in a powerful conversation about youth and family engagement in the iCARE study.
As a researcher stepping into pediatric-focused engagement work for the first time, Sasha brings a fresh and deeply introspective learner’s lens to this conversation. She reflects on what it means to create safe, youth-led spaces in research, the importance of honoring lived/living experience, and how small actions — like starting with a genuine smile — can lay the foundation for authentic relationships.
This episode invites listeners to rethink traditional research values, reflect on the role of trust and flexibility in engagement, and consider how we might measure research impact not just by outputs, but by the relationships we build and the communities we support. If you’re a researcher, student, or someone with lived experience interested in more meaningful engagement — this episode is for you.
👉 Tune in and reflect with us: How can we build a research culture that truly centers people?
👉 Check out the interactive transcript at asperusual.substack.com!
