Nkosi Jones served as a research assistant on a project examining the impact of poverty on children's health and well-being. He displayed a strong work ethic, completing assignments quickly and efficiently. His conscientious work improved the quality and timeliness of the project. Throughout the project, Nkosi demonstrated versatility in skills from interviewing to creating graphics. He was an enthusiastic learner who could quickly teach himself new skills. Nkosi also had strong communication skills as a writer, producing case studies that clearly conveyed each organization's unique aspects. He was considered a valued member of the team due to his hard work, skills, and high emotional intelligence.

1. To Whom It May Concern:
It is with great enthusiasm that I provide this letter of recommendation on behalf of Nkosi
Jones. As a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of
Medicine and general pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, I conduct
research examining the impact of poverty on the health and well being of children
throughout their life course. It is in this capacity that I first met Nkosi, he served as a
research assistant on project I led titled “Creating, Magnifying, and Measuring Youth
Success”. As part of this project, we partnered with five social service organizations in the
Philadelphia metropolitan area. Our goal was to build data collection systems across these
agencies enabling these organizations to better allocate resources, improve the quality of
their services, and develop complex learning networks with other youth organizations to
share best practices and solutions to common problems.
What struck me most about Nkosi was his strong work ethic and ability to work
independently on assignments at that stage of his training. There were instances when I
assigned him a project that I expected him to take up to a week to complete but he would
present me with an expertly prepared finished product the next day. Having Nkosi as a
team member on our project improved the efficiency and quality of our work
dramatically. His conscientious and timely work was instrumental in allowing us to finish
the project ahead of schedule and provide the funder with final deliverables that exceeded
expectations.
Throughout his time with our research group, Nkosi has shown immense adaptability
working on a variety of assignments, from interviewing patients to creating graphics
illustrating key statistics. He expertly completed all assigned tasks, demonstrating an
extraordinarily high level of versatility in skills. He is an enthusiastic learner with the
ability to quickly teach himself new skills and pass this new knowledge to other members
of the team.
Nkosi has strong communication skills and was considered by every member of our
research group to be a very effective writer. As part of our project titled “Creating,
Magnifying, and Measuring Youth Success”, one of his assignments was to prepare
comprehensive case studies for each of the project agencies, focusing on the institution’s
services rendered, organizational structure, core values, history, financial situation, and

2. recent evaluations and outcomes. In reviewing Nkosi’s work, all of our team members
were struck by his ability to clearly and concisely convey the unique aspects of each
agency, providing a thoughtful analysis of the importance of these findings. While Nkosi is
a man of many gifts, his written and even his oral prose are among his most exceptional
skills.
However, Nkosi is more than just a hard-worker, versatile thinker, and excellent
communicator. He is a man of strong character. In his interactions with colleagues, he
consistently displayed a high emotional intelligence and empathy that allowed him to
seamlessly integrate into our group and support the work of our team. Everyone within our
research group thoroughly enjoyed working with him and speak of him fondly to this day.
Nkosi was considered such a valued member of our team that the principal investigator of
our research group actively sought opportunities each summer to bring Nkosi back to our
research group to work during his college breaks.
Despite his academic, athletic, and personal success, Nkosi maintains a certain humility
that endears him to people of all professions and aspirations. Nkosi would make a
phenomenal addition to whatever scholastic and professional community he chooses. And
for these reasons, I give him my highest recommendation.
Sincerely,
Roy Wade, Jr. MD, PhD, MPH
Instructor of Pediatrics
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Department of General Pediatrics
Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania