Amy Caldwell, M1
Undergrad: University of Michigan
Home state: Michigan
I worked with the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Foundation Scholars on a project to evaluate a telephone-based intervention assisting a disadvantaged population with renal failure in completing the pre-kidney implantation evaluation process. Often times, the patients facing healthcare disparities not only have complicated health problems, but complicated home, financial and social lives that can all present themselves as obstacles to health care access.
Steve Allen, M2
Undergrad: University of Michigan
Home state: Michigan
Over the summer I studied tumors models of breast cancer, one of which was inflammatory breast cancer, and different drug treatment protocols. Inflammatory breast cancer has a higher incidence in African women and is diagnosed at a much later stage than in the U.S. I have always been interested in cancer research but might now pursue breast cancer in particular.
Dipa Joshi, M4
Undergrad: Yale
Home state: Michigan
I worked on a data set that looked at women seen in the Partnering for the Future Clinic, a high-risk obstetrics clinic that predominantly saw pregnant women with substance abuse or other psychiatric diagnoses. I learned about this opportunity through my exposure to the Ob/Gyn department during the M3 clerkship. Few providers are trained to actually manage such high-risk special populations, and as such I learned just how big a gap there is in this particular area of healthcare.
Krisda Chaiyachati, M4
Undergrad: University of Georgia
Home state: Georgia
At the Codman Square Health Center in Boston, I focused on the cost impact of utilizing community healthcare workers trained to provide diabetes care for socio-economically disadvantaged populations in the city. I learned about a systematic, operations approach to improving healthcare disparities. As a result, I pursued an MPH to help supplement the themes I was experiencing.