Champions of Health Awards Scholars
Let Our Extraordinary Scholars Inspire You
NMF scholars are emerging leaders committed to advancing health equity in the communities that need them most. During our annual Champions of Health Awards celebrations, we feature some of the many scholars who are already making a difference during their educational journeys.
2022 Bay Area Champions of Health
Chelsie Anderson
2021 NMF National Alumni Council Scholarship Program
Chelsie Anderson
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
2021 NMF National Alumni Council Scholarship
Chelsie Anderson is a fourth-year medical student at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical School. She obtained a Bachelor of Science in Physiology at San Francisco State University (SFSU) in 2013 and graduated with a Master of Science in Global Health from the UCSF Institute of Global Health Science in July 2021. She received honors for all her upper division medical and surgical acting internships; she also maintained a 4.0 GPA in her master’s program. She has held multiple leadership positions in her previous work experience, global health work, and academic involvements. Her mentorship for students from backgrounds underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) began in 2013 when she was a mentor for the SFSU Biology Undergraduate Mentorship Program; she remains in contact with her original mentees, one of which is applying to medical school this cycle. Anderson continues to actively contribute to community efforts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic; while she aided in testing vulnerable community members early in the pandemic, she has since joined efforts to vaccinate the same populations who have experienced historical lack of access to health care. In addition to her outreach work, she is passionate about surgery and medical education. She serves as program director for the UCSF Surgical Near Peer Tutoring Program which supports medical students of all levels in their success in surgical rotations, research, and education.
Lauro (Nate) Avalos
2021 United Health Foundation Scholar
Lauro (Nate) Avalos
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
2021 United Health Foundation Scholar
Lauro Avalos is a fourth-year medical student at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. His hometown is Hawaiian Gardens, CA. His paternal family is from Zacatecas, Mexico, and his maternal family is Tejano mixed with Mexican and Native descent—he was largely raised as Chicano. He is a California State University San Marcos and UCSF post-baccalaureate graduate. Throughout grade school and college, he was a multi-sport athlete—swimming, soccer, cross country, and track and field. Avalos has also conducted research primarily in the neurosciences at many institutions—Scripps Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Hospital, San Francisco General Hospital, University of Cambridge (UK) and currently a researcher at UCSF within the neurosurgery & neuroradiology departments focusing on neurooncology as a fourth-year medical student. Prior to medical school, he has worked as a case manager at a free community clinic in Baltimore, as a scribe in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood, and as a faculty member at a private middle and high school that primarily served children with special educational needs. Now, most of his teaching is geared towards medical education from teaching high schoolers about medicine, to college students on the medical admissions test (MCAT) and teaching first-year and third-year medical students on foundational and clinical knowledge sections. His current community work includes helping create a diabetes management care cascade at a free community clinic in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood alongside other community members and undergraduate students from San Francisco State University. This is one of his passions as it the group primarily serves San Francisco’s Latinx community members.
Francisco Gomez Alvarado
2021 United Health Foundation Scholar
Francisco Gomez Alvarado
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
2021 United Health Foundation Scholar
A second-year medical student at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, Francisco Gomez Alvarado is committed to research, community partnerships, and advocating for improvements in services offered to underserved communities. From his involvement as a teacher and teaching assistant in an underserved community before medical school, Gomez Alvarado understands the need for comprehensive pipeline programs to improve the lack of diverse representation in the professional world. He participates in the provision of health and psychiatric evaluations for asylum applicants where his native fluency in Spanish allows him to connect with clients in a way few other students can. Gomez Alvarado works extensively with the other inter-professional programs at UCSF to bring cultural and academic events to life. Some of these include medical interpreting workshops and teaching a biweekly medical Spanish lunchtime session. He will undertake clinical rotations in his hometown of Fresno, CA as part of the San Joaquin Valley PRIME program. Francisco is active in planning outreach in the community with a particular interest in underserved regions and community colleges. A highlight being a health care forum he organized with Fresno City College in Spring, 2021. He mentors several students of Latin American heritage from the Fresno and Merced areas of the San Joaquin Valley, with the hopes of providing them with assistance on their path to becoming physicians.
Myles Holloway
California State University, Sacramento
2021 Drs. Ludlow & Ruth Creary Family Foundation Scholarship
Myles Holloway
California State University, Sacramento
2021 Drs. Ludlow & Ruth Creary Family Foundation Scholarship
Myles Holloway graduated from Culver City High School and attends California State University (CSU) Sacramento. He has completed the Sports Medicine Pathway at Culver City High School. He plans to major in kinesiology at CSU Sacramento. He volunteered at New Mount Calvary Baptist Church and Imagine LA nonprofit feeding the unhoused and providing food, toiletries, and toys to the community. He also volunteered as a Camp Coach at Van Ness Recreation Park. He has played varsity football at St John Bosco High School and Culver City High School as a wide receiver and cornerback. He received the Offensive Player of the Year award from St. John Bosco High School and Student Athlete Award (maintaining above a 3.5 grade point average all four years) at Culver City High School. He was on the Honor Roll and on the Principal’s List at St. John Bosco and Culver City High School. He also received Certificate of Excellence in Chemistry and Sports Medicine at St. John Bosco High School. He is a member of the National Society of High School Scholars. He was also nominated by Congress of Future Medical Leaders Award Excellence from Culver City High School. He was a part of Young Black Scholars program completing their first Young Investors Program. Finally, he is a lifetime member of the California Scholarship Federation at Culver City High School.
Ruth Laverde
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
2021 United Health Foundation Scholar
Ruth Laverde
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
2021 United Health Foundation Scholar
Ruth Laverde is a fourth-year, first-generation medical student interested in pediatric surgery who is currently on a research year at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia, as well as working with Kids OR, an international non-governmental organization, and at the Long-term Infant-to-Adult Follow-up and Evaluation Program (LIFE Clinic) at UCSF. Laverde is interested in the intersectionality of socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and health care access. While earning her Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry at Florida International University (FIU), she evaluated oral health care access within the local Hispanic community under FIU’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine’s Green Family Foundation Neighborhood Health Education Learning Program (NeighborhoodHELP) where she found an interest in quality improvement and community engagement. As an undergraduate she volunteered as a patient navigator at a safety net clinic in downtown Miami. As a medical student, she is part of the Latino Medical Student Association and volunteers her spare time at a local youth center. During her medical school career, she has spent time developing medical Spanish curriculum under guidance of faculty and the national Medical Spanish Taskforce. She continues to mentor pre-health students in hopes of increasing diversity within the healthcare system. Laverde wishes to reduce barriers to health equity by integrating her interest in health disparities and community outreach research. Her previous project involves a three-pronged effort (education, outreach, and data analysis) to reduce the number of unused opioid medication prescribed for post-operative pain management, youth engagement in sex education at a local community center afterschool program and, most recently, addressing social determinants of health at a pediatric surgery clinic. She is applying to general surgery with hopes to become a pediatric surgeon practicing in local and international low resource settings.
Jesslyn Magee
2021 Victor Grifols Roura Scholarship
Jesslyn Magee
University of California, Davis School of Medicine
2021 Victor Grifols Roura Scholarship
Jesslyn Magee is a third-year medical student in the ARC (Accelerated Research Careers)-MD program at UC Davis School of Medicine. She is 2015 magna cum laude graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana with a B.S in Biology. She is also a 2017 graduate of the Keck Graduate Institute where she graduated with a Master of Science in applied life sciences with a focus in pharmaceutical discovery and development. She is currently interested in tech applications for medical and health care delivery innovation and advancement. During her time at UC Davis School of Medicine, she has been extensively involved in research to develop standardized protocols to support computer-vision based tools to advance the clinical assessment and treatment of vitiligo. Furthermore, she has explored applications of mathematical modeling to execute models for dermal absorption and drug delivery. She is currently interested in pursuing internal medicine as a specialty and soon would like to contribute to technology explorations as it relates to internal medicine, drug discovery and health care delivery. Outside of medicine, she is interested in learning more about how data science can be used to close health and education disparities. As a medical student, Magee has served as a fundraising chair and event coordinator of her local Student National Medical Association chapter. She also serves on the admissions committee at her medical school. In her spare time, she enjoys playing golf, reading, cooking, and spending time with family.
Monica Stretten
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
2021 Mary Ball Carrera Scholarship
Monica Stretten
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
Mary Ball Carerra Scholars
Monica Stretten is a fourth-year medical student at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She earned her bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 2015, majoring in Native American studies and romance languages. She also earned a certificate in global health and completed a capstone project on indigenous birth care. As an undergraduate, she served as co-president of the Dartmouth Powwow Committee and of Native Americans at Dartmouth. She was the two-time recipient of the Charles Eastman Award for excellent service and dedication to the Native community. She also received the Dean’s Plate Award upon graduation for excellent leadership and service to the Dartmouth community. After college, she completed a pre-medical post-baccalaureate program at Mills College in Oakland, California. At Mills, she worked as a tutor and teaching assistant in general chemistry. In medical school, Stretten founded and was the inaugural president of the UCSF chapter of the Association of Native American Medical Students. She is applying to residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology, a field in which she aspires to advocate for Indigenous and other historically disenfranchised communities. Her areas of interest include eliminating health disparities, reproductive justice, and transgender health.
2021 Atlanta Champions of Health
Jeffrey Anderson
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
2021 Dr. Joe L. Hargrove Scholarship
Jeffrey Anderson
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Dr. Joe L. Hargrove Scholarship Award Scholar 2021
A third-year medical student at The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Jeffrey Anderson has a commitment and appreciation for diversity, volunteering and mentoring. Anderson graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in 2017 where he earned a BBA in business management with a minor in biology. As a member of the Central Arkansas football team, he volunteered in all of the team’s community outreach endeavors including monthly elementary school visits to read to students, volunteering at food distribution centers during the holidays, as well as working at the team’s annual youth summer camp. During this time, Anderson also served as the president of Young Men of Valor, a group whose focus is to promote education, discipline, and excellence in young men aged 12-18 who predominantly come from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds. As a medical student, Anderson became the medical student representative for the Edith Irby Jones chapter of the Student National Medical Association. In this role he has implemented, managed and organized numerous events on and off-campus. He serves as a panelist at the UAMS Diversity Day, conducts mock interviews for premedical students at the Minority Association for Premedical Students, served as a counselor in the UAMS Premedical Summer Scholars program, and is an integral part in the UAMS White Coat for Black Lives movement. As a husband and father of three young children, Anderson plans to give back to others when he achieves his goal of becoming a surgeon.
Adrienne Carter
Meharry Medical College
2021-22 Johnson & Johnson Alliance for Inclusion in Medicine Scholarship
Adrienne Carter
Meharry Medical College
2021-22 Johnson & Johnson Alliance for Inclusion in Medicine Scholar
Adrienne Carter’s road to medical school has been anything but traditional. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in Sociology. As a sociology student, she has always been interested in the depths of social inequality, an interest which has guided her passion for medicine. She served as an AmeriCorps Health Fellow at a federally qualified primary care clinic in her hometown of Oakland, California in an effort to become more knowledgeable about issues facing her local community. With this knowledge, she identified food insecurity as a major structural issue and spearheaded an effort to create a partnership between the medical clinic and the Alameda County food bank. Afterwards, she was hired as a community health worker where she case-managed high-risk, medically complex patients within the primary care setting, leading interdisciplinary case conferences, creating care plans, and providing health education. Her passion for medical science continued to grow and eventually lead her to Meharry Medical College. She is currently conducting research alongside her mentor from Stanford University School of Medicine’s Pathology Department. As a medical student, she is able to better understand how tightly linked social inequities are to health outcomes. She believes it is imperative that physicians inform themselves of barriers to health for patients and is motivated to expand upon these understandings by transitioning her passion into research. As a physician, she will work towards continuing the effort to improve health outcomes and health equity for patients.
Fanta Kallé
Edwards Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
2021 Primary Care Leadership Program Scholar - GE Foundation
Fanta Kallé
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
2021 Primary Care Leadership Program Scholar
2nd Year Medical Student
Growing up in Guinea, West Africa strongly influenced Fanta Kallé’s interest in medicine. There, she experienced firsthand the lack of quality care and personal financial limitations that resulted in many avoidable tragedies. Kallé immigrated from Guinea, West Africa to Delaware, where she received her AAS in Biological Sciences from Delaware Tech. She then earned her Bachelor of Science in cell and molecular biology in 2014 from University of Delaware, and, two years later, pursued a Master of Science in biomedical sciences at Rutgers RWJ. Kallé sought out opportunities to grow, participating in biomedical research as an intern and thesis researcher, publishing manuscripts and presenting at biomedical conferences, and shadowing various doctors. She also volunteered at Habitat for Humanity including ReStores, at the Abidiakor Fashion to sponsor an elementary school in Sierra Leone, at Numerous Child Life Care, and organized blood and food drives. Through these myriad services, she developed compassion, interpersonal and communication skills, leadership qualities, professionalism, cultural competency, and the ability to persevere. Now, Kallé is a rising second year student at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine pursing a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree, motivated by scientific curiosity and a moral obligation to give back to her community. Her career goal is to become an expert in her field which will help her bring affordable, equitable medical aid and education to those who are in need regardless of their socioeconomic status, location or cultural barriers.
Darren Turner
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
2021 NMF/NMA Florida Scholarship Fund Scholar
Darren Turner
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
NMF/NMA Florida Scholarship Fund Scholar 2021
A fourth-year medical student at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Darren Turner has demonstrated a commitment to teaching, research, and community service. Growing up as an African American male, he was exposed to individual and institutionalized racism and healthcare inequality. He attended the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University (FAU), earning his Bachelor of Art in biological chemistry, Magna Cum Laude. While at FAU, he gained teaching experience via a position as a teaching assistant for three chemistry classes. He became interested in research while serving as an intern at the Scripps Research Institute, for which he received the Honors College Summer Science Scholarship. In medical school, he further pursued his interest in teaching with a position as the head teaching assistant of the Medical Students as Teachers (MSAT) program. His leadership and teamwork skills have resulted in serving on student government leadership positions at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine (UMMSM), including chairing the committee to organize Cultural Awareness, and as the Executive Vice President of the student government executive board. He has published multiple papers in medical school, including two systematic reviews, multiple case reports, and one paper in translational research. He has demonstrated his commitment to community service through his two-year term as a volunteer station manager for the Initial Health Assessment station for the Mitchell Wolfson Sr. D.O.C.S. program at UMMSM. He believes that to improve healthcare disparities, the doctor-patient relationship must be strengthened by being aware of biases and practicing cultural competency. He hopes that in his medical career, he can be a leader in his field, a motivator of underrepresented individuals, and a teacher of cultural competency to increase the effectiveness of healthcare and mitigate healthcare disparities.
2021 Chicago Champions of Health
Oluwafemisayo "Femi" Akinnagbe
University of Minnesota graduate
Resident Physician
Femi Akinnagbe
A graduate of University of Minnesota, Femi Akinnagbe has an abiding and lifelong commitment to diversity and equity both within and outside of medicine. In high school he was very active in his youth group, routinely helping at soup kitchens and with fundraisers for the homeless. Having been a recipient of such aid as a child, he continued to work to give back to his community by organizing clothing drives for battered women and toy drives for children. He also volunteered both here in the US and abroad with HOPE Worldwide, an international peace keeping organization whose vision is “bring home and change to the lives of the world’s most poor, sick, and suffering”. With HOPE, he helped tutor children in inner city Boston, build an orphanage in Jamaica, and teach English literacy to street children in the Philippines. As an undergraduate student he spent a summer volunteering in rural communities in Africa helping to teach HIV/AIDS education. In medical school, Dr. Akinnagbe continued his passion for equity in access by teaching free meditation and yoga classes in under-resourced neighborhoods in North Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was also a member of the University of Minnesota Gold Humanism Society and as well Student National Medical Association (SNMA). Currently, he is a resident at UCLA-Harbor Family Medicine.
Jerry Graham, Jr.
Wayne State University School of Medicine
2021 Johnson & Johnson/NMF Alliance for Inclusion in Medicine (AIM) Scholarship Program
Mr. Willie James Williams Scholarship
Jerry Graham, Jr.
Wayne State University School of Medicine
3rd Year MD Candidate
Jerry Graham Jr. is a third-year medical student from Detroit, MI, at the Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM). He is a product of the Detroit Public Schools district. He graduated from Renaissance High School in 2012 and continued his education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, earning his B.Sc. in Microbiology and Spanish. Outside of academics, he advocates for marginalized communities, in addition to African American communities, for improved health outcomes, equity, and justice. Currently, he serves as the Vice President of Internal Affairs for the Black Medical Association (WSUSOM’s Student National Medical Association chapter) and co-coordinator of the Internal Medicine Interest Group. He also sits on the Peer Support Advisory Board for the SOM and continues community building as the Red Learning Community Coordinator for the Class of 2024. For continued service to the Detroit Community, Mr. Graham serves as the Patient Coordinator for the SOM’s Student-Run Free Clinic. This past year, he was the recipient of the Dr. Silas Norman Jr. and Dr. Ralph Wadley scholarships as well. His short term goals include learning more about health policy and health disparities while finding opportunities for research in Internal Medicine. His current long-term career goals include practicing as an internist (possibly with pursuit of a sub-specialty in either oncology, infectious disease or cardiology) and further pursuit within academics to serve as a dean at one of his home institutions one day.
Elizabeth "Liz" Martin
Wayne State University School of Medicine
2020 Dr. Herman and Shirley Gray Family Scholarship
Elizabeth "Liz" Martin
Wayne State University School of Medicine
2020 Dr. Herman and Shirley Gray Family Scholarship
Elizabeth Martin is a fourth-year medical student at the Wayne State University. She has a particular interest in public health, pediatrics, psychiatry and health policies— all within the scope of addressing inequities in healthcare. After earning her Bachelor of Science from the University of Notre Dame, she has continued to pursue experience in health policy and leadership through her work with the American Medical Association. As a primary author on a resolution, she led a team of 7 to write a proposed policy advocating for increased firearm safety in homes to reduce accidental child deaths. The resolution was adopted into official AMA policy in 2018. Martin has also gained an understanding of the social determinants of health through her work as a community health worker at Kids’ Health Connections. She worked on a lead-exposure-elimination project, aiming to increase lead-screening rates in Medicaid-eligible children across Detroit. When the pandemic emerged, she had to shift to supporting families’ immediate needs, including sharing information on food banks, coordinating food delivery, assisting with WIC program applications, and offering infant care essentials. Establishing this rapport with families over the phone, and taking time to talk about well-being, led her to recognize how much the pandemic had been disproportionately affecting underserved communities and how pivotal mental health was to a person’s quality of life— a realization that has been a motivator to normalize mental healthcare in underserved communities and communities of color. Beyond residency, she plans to attend a fellowship in child psychiatry, and strives to become a compassionate, empathetic, and clinically competent psychiatrist who is able to connect with and effectively treat patients of all backgrounds.
Aurelio Muzaurieta
University of Michigan
2021 Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)/Darrell G. Kirch, MD Scholarship
Aurelio Muzaurieta
University of Michigan
3rd Year MD Candidate
Aurelio Muzaurieta is third-year medical student at the University of Michigan. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, he graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 2017 where he majored in Romance Languages and Literatures and minored in Global Health Policy, Latin American Studies, and Mandarin Chinese. Fully fluent in Spanish, French, Portuguese and Mandarin, he is passionate about serving non-English speaking patients. As an undergraduate, he volunteered as a multilingual interpreter at Massachusetts General Hospital, rowed varsity crew for the Crimson, and led hiking trips for Harvard’s Outdoor Program. He conducted field research on the Zika virus in Brazil during the 2016 Olympics, where he engaged in community efforts to eradicate mosquitoes and spread awareness to vulnerable populations about tropical disease risks. After undergrad, Mr. Muzaurieta pursued a fully-funded master’s degree in Economics and Management from Peking University in Beijing. His thesis explored the optimization of health systems for patient empowerment and biomedical innovation through a comparative analysis of American, British, and Chinese healthcare. During his first year of medical school, he served as an admissions ambassador and active member of the Galen’s Medical Society, LANAMA (Latin American and Native American Medical Association) and OutMD (LGBT student organization). During the COVID-19 pandemic, he partnered with students at Harvard Medical School to create Portuguese language materials for the COVID-19 Health Literacy Project. He conducted a research project on the efficacy of structured prehabilitation programs on patient-reported outcomes after surgery. He currently serves as student director for the Medicine in Mandarin elective course. He hopes to pursue a career that combines clinical practice with health systems management in ways that benefit underserved communities in the United States and globally.
Coralie Pardo, MD
Graduate of Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
Emergency Medicine Specialist
Coralie Pardo, MD
Graduate of Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
Emergency Medicine Specialist
A graduate of Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center, Coralie Pardo is passionate about working with underserved populations who are disproportionately affected by limited access to healthcare, aggressive disease processes, chronic health care conditions, and poor health outcomes. In medical school, she had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural year of the Health Equity & Social Justice Leadership (HE&SJL) elective at Rush Medical College. This course taught her how to learn and practice medicine through a health equity lens. She learned the importance of taking the time to learn about a community’s history and hearing from that community before proposing outside ideas. In addition to creating a strong foundation in identifying manifestations of health inequity, she was able to assist in piloting a social needs screener-referral program in an urban primary care office. After the completion of the elective at the end of her first year, she was invited to serve as the student co-coordinator for the course, which has developed into a 4-year program. Her continued participation in the HE&SJL program has reinforced her motivation for pursuing medicine. It has given her an opportunity to see first-hand how caring and compassionate physicians integrate social medicine and health equity education into their practices. Her 10-year career goal is to become an Emergency Physician that has a focus on social medicine and to maintain her participation in educational and volunteer experiences that involve mentorship, community engagement, and equity work. She plans to practice medicine in a hospital that serves underserved patient populations and that displays an active investment in its community.
Alexander Papadogiannis
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science
2020 NMF Primary Care Leadership Program – GE Foundation
Alexander Papadogiannis
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science
3rd Year MD Candidate
Alexander Papadogiannis is a third-year medical student at Rosalind Franklin University’s Chicago Medical School (CMS). Before matriculating, Mr. Papadogiannis worked as a nursing assistant at Astoria Place, a nursing home in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood. He also volunteered as a Spanish interpreter at CommunityHealth – a multicultural clinic for underinsured patients. These experiences inspired him to pursue a career in medicine. As a medical student, he has been working with the school’s LatinX association, Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA), helping to organize various cultural events including, “Taking Back Cinco”. He was recently elected president of LMSA and plans to work closely with the local Hispanic community in neighboring Waukegan. He plans on fulfilling a residency in Family Medicine and hopes to one day serve as a Spanish speaking provider for underserved communities.
2021 Los Angeles Champions of Health
Courtnie Brown
2020 Victor Grifols Roura Scholarship
Courtnie Brown
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
2020 Victor Grifols Roura Scholarship
“I grew up in an underserved community and was exposed to a spectrum of disparities ranging from education to health. As one who experienced such inequities, I internalized my duty to become an agent of change for those who grew up in similar settings. My community brought to light the ways I could use the opportunities I was granted in pursuing higher education to become an advocate for those around me.”
Miguel Gonzalez
2020 Zimmer Biomet/NMF Orthopaedic Scholarship
Miguel Gonzalez
University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine
2020 Zimmer Biomet/NMF Orthopaedic Scholarship
“To me it is essential to give back to the community in which you reside. As a physician, I believe that the obligation to serve the community in which I eventually practice will be as strong as my obligation to provide comfort to the patients who seek my care. This is not a new mindset for me.”
Maisie Hoang (Colley)
2020 NMF Primary Care Leadership Program – GE Foundation
Maisie Hoang (Colley)
Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California
2020 NMF Primary Care Leadership Program (PCLP) – GE Foundation
“My background from the medically underserved area and underprivileged population has taught me to effectively relate to and care for people from a diversity of statuses and stages in life. I believe that all people deserve the best quality care, and I have been acting on that belief through volunteering and shadowing experience both in Vietnam and here in the U.S.”
L’Oreal Kennedy
2020 Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)/Darrell G. Kirch, MD Scholarship
L’Oreal Kennedy, DNP, CNM, ARNP, CBEC, CN-BP
University of Washington School of Medicine
2020 Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)/Darrell G. Kirch, MD Scholarship
“Increasing access to skilled clinicians committed to health equity is key. As a physician, I will be propelled by my lived experiences and education and work to confront the myriad of complexities encouraging disparities in health care by maintaining a social justice lens and centering issues of inequity in my care.”
Vu Pham
2020 NMF Primary Care Leadership Program – GE Foundation
Vu Pham
University of California, Riverside School of Medicine
2020 NMF Primary Care Leadership Program (PCLP) – GE Foundation
“Compassion is a fundamental aspect of serving an underserved community, however I think this can be shown in two ways: sympathy and empathy. Sympathy can sound like you’re doing the good work just to do good work, but the fact that good work is being done in the first place is incredible. However, I think what strikes empathy stronger than sympathy is having a commonality with the people that you’re serving.”
Juan Ramirez
2020 NMF Primary Care Leadership Program – GE Foundation
Juan Ramirez
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
2020 NMF Primary Care Leadership Program – GE Foundation
“Many of my neighbors would opt out of seeking medical care due to language barriers or the difficulty of culturally connecting to practitioners. Community friends would go years without proper health screenings. This reflection angered me, yet ignited a fire; this is what propels my desire to provide high quality, culturally competent care to the
community that raised me.”
2021 New York Champions of Health
Aderinsola Aderonmu
2020 Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Scholarship
Aderinsola Aderonmu
Drexel University
2020 Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation Scholarship
“There needs to be a total upheaval in health care delivery that focuses on more than just providing medical care. More physicians need to understand how the social determinants of health for each of our patients determines the outcomes of treatment protocols. It is my hope that these vital changes will empower patient decision making and ultimately, prevent some of the untimely deaths that I have had to experience in my own lifetime.”
Christina Agudelo
2020 Genentech/NMF Diversity Innovation Fellowship Program
Christina Agudelo
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Genentech/NMF Diversity Innovation Fellowship Program
“It has been a privilege to study and train at an institution that serves predominantly Black and low-income patient populations, and it is in this way that I hope to spend my career. I want to spend my career learning about the health needs of my community and using my talent for and love of research to effect gradual and lasting change.”
Orrin Belden
2020 Dr. James Curtis Scholarship
Orrin S. Belden, MD
Weill Cornell Medical College
Dr. James Curtis Scholarship
“I was able to see firsthand on clinical rotations how important a diverse physician workforce was in treating a diverse patient population.”
Jesslyn Magee
2021 Victor Grifols Roura Scholarship
Jesslyn Magee
University of California, Davis School of Medicine
2021 Victor Grifols Roura Scholarship
Jesslyn Magee is a third-year medical student in the ARC (Accelerated Research Careers)-MD program at UC Davis School of Medicine. She is 2015 magna cum laude graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana with a B.S in Biology. She is also a 2017 graduate of the Keck Graduate Institute where she graduated with a Master of Science in applied life sciences with a focus in pharmaceutical discovery and development. She is currently interested in tech applications for medical and health care delivery innovation and advancement. During her time at UC Davis School of Medicine, she has been extensively involved in research to develop standardized protocols to support computer-vision based tools to advance the clinical assessment and treatment of vitiligo. Furthermore, she has explored applications of mathematical modeling to execute models for dermal absorption and drug delivery. She is currently interested in pursuing internal medicine as a specialty and soon would like to contribute to technology explorations as it relates to internal medicine, drug discovery and health care delivery. Outside of medicine, she is interested in learning more about how data science can be used to close health and education disparities. As a medical student, Magee has served as a fundraising chair and event coordinator of her local Student National Medical Association chapter. She also serves on the admissions committee at her medical school. In her spare time, she enjoys playing golf, reading, cooking, and spending time with family.
Elise Mike
2020 David Kearney McDonogh Scholarship in Ophthalmology/ENT
Elise V. Mike, MS
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
2020 David Kearney McDonogh Scholarship in Ophthalmology/ENT
“Just as no appliance can be repaired until one determines which part is broken, my purpose within medicine is not realized unless I am improving the way it is practiced.”
Jeffrey Okewunmi
2020 Genentech/NMF Diversity Innovation Fellowship Program
Jeffrey Okewunmi
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Genentech/NMF Diversity Innovation Fellowship Program
“Before medical school, I had only ever met one Black male physician and since arriving at Mount Sinai, that number has risen exponentially. Through these connections, I’ve felt both nurtured and inspired to continue on my journey. Just like I’ve been inspired, I hope to inspire a future generation of Black male physicians.”