Dominique, born in New York City as a first-generation Afro-Caribbean American, has observed some of the challenges that underserved communities face in accessing proper medical care here in the United States. Dominique has a passion for serving her community. Most recently, as a Service-Learning Leader at the Rescue Mission Shelter, she provides screenings and health education and continues to deliver free eye exams in the community. She also serves as a mentor for underrepresented groups interested in pursuing medicine. Now as a fourth-year student at SUNY Upstate Medical University, she continues addressing inequalities and disparities in different capacities.

Jesse, born in Accra, Ghana, developed a keen interest in the healthcare profession while visiting his sister in the intensive care unit. Following this, both Jesse and his sister relocated to the United States where he worked as an adjunct instructor at Buffalo State College. During his tenure, he recognized the significance of equipping underrepresented students with the appropriate tools to ensure their preparedness for medical school. Upon his acceptance into medical school, Jesse undertook an innovative research project that focused on increasing diversity in the field of Emergency Medicine. Jesse presented his findings at the SAEM23 conference. Currently, Jesse is the incumbent president of White Coats 4 Black Lives, an organization that strives to elevate awareness of health-cost gaps and inequalities. As a third-year medical student at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Jesse continues to provide disadvantaged students with the necessary resources to achieve success.

As a first-generation college and medical student with Salvadorian roots, Vanessa is very excited to be a fourth-year student at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Vanessa has had various life experiences that informed her of the need for Latinx representation in the medical field. In college, Vanessa volunteered through several programs, including the NYC Cornell Cooperative Extension office, where she visited neighborhoods located in food deserts to teach children about healthy nutrition and exercise, and provided free food to take home with recipes to share with their families. She hopes to become a pediatrician for children who live in medically underserved Latinx communities while implementing public health initiatives to improve the overall health of the community.

Danya migrated to the Bronx from the Dominican Republic at the age of six. Since then, she has become an advocate for Hispanic and Latino communities. She has pursued her passion through community service work, advocacy, and mentorship. As an undergraduate and alumni, she participated in Quisqueya: The Dominican Students Organization, La Asociación Latina, and various alumni organizations at Cornell University. She volunteered in the Emergency Room at Montefiore Hospital and at a family practice in the Bronx, where she was able to use her fluency in Spanish to connect with and educate patients facing a language barrier. Now she is entering her third year at SUNY Upstate Medical University, where she plans to continue serving underrepresented Latinx communities.

Jerlin immigrated from the Dominican Republic to the Bronx at the age of seven, where she witnessed the reluctance of underserved communities to visit doctor’s offices. While working as a scribe with CityMD, she observed how patients came in once their medical conditions had worsened, opting to attempt self-remedies before risking costly medical visits. As a future physician, Jerlin aspires to address and improve patient hesitancy and access to medical care. Her background as a native Spanish speaker has also driven her to provide more accessibility to patients who are not fluent in English. She is now a third-year medical student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

As an immigrant and a person of color growing up in New York City, Romario understands the level of difficulty in accessing health insurance and affordable care for certain communities. Romario worked hard applying to medical school, and through the Medical Scholars Program is now in his fourth year at SUNY Upstate Medical University. To inspire those like him, Romario volunteered often. One of his most treasured experiences was working with children through the Refugee and Immigrant Self-Empowerment (RISE) organization, which offered workshops and various other services for refugees. In the future, he hopes to help remove the barriers to healthcare so that all have access to high-quality medicine.

Luna, with a Dominican heritage, has embraced opportunities to serve locally in New York City and abroad. In Ecuador, she co-organized a 10-day volunteer trip, delivering health and sex education in Spanish and basic English. Closer to home, she volunteered with the South Bronx Community Health Leaders (SBxCHL) at Montefiore Hospital, where she supported recent immigrants by informing them of their medical and legal options. At Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Luna served as the Vice President of the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) and volunteered as a Spanish interpreter for ECHO, a school-run non-profit clinic. This year, she will apply to Family Medicine residency programs with the goal of working in underserved communities. Luna hopes to narrow the gap between the healthcare services people need and those they receive, with a particular focus on providing quality, culturally sensitive care to low-income Hispanic communities, while also educating and advocating for her patients.

As a Black, Puerto Rican Bronx native who recognizes the unfair tribulations that minorities face in healthcare, Robert has worked hard to fight for underrepresented populations. Having started volunteer work at soup kitchens, he has since interned as Program Coordinator for Health Leads, where he worked with Spanish-speaking populations to screen and enroll people in public benefits. As a student at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, he has helped found the chapter of Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP), where he helps to build a diverse, intersectional coalition aimed at advocating for a more equitable healthcare system in the US. Robert is now entering his fourth year at Stony Brook, where he also serves as President of Stony Brook’s Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) and as White Coats for Black Lives Liaison for the Student National Medical Association (SNMA).

Savannah has strong ties to her parents’ communities – her mother immigrated from Liberia and her father was an African American living in Alabama – which have provided her with a unique perspective and driven her to seek experiences working with underserved populations, both here and in Africa. In her volunteer work, Savannah was surprised to learn that, in Kenya, cancer is considered a death sentence due to a lack of resources and late staging. It was a further surprise to her that the situation for black women in the United States is not so different; many articles cite lack of access to services, late staging, and low socioeconomic status as factors resulting in poor outcomes. Savannah has been moved by disparities like these; she has volunteered as a biology teacher for inner-city youth, as a mentor for black students, and as a teacher’s aide for public health programs in Kenya. She has also worked abroad to track and mitigate leprosy cases in Kiribati, an underprivileged pacific country, and volunteered at a free clinic in Rhode Island to help manage patients with chronic disease. She now enters her third year at Albany Medical College and plans to learn how to address the inequities that underrepresented communities face.