Health Workforce

Mary Ajwang '17 and Brigit Carter '17 facilitated a legal empowerment training for 124 health workers at Kawempe National Referral Hospital, where 84% of maternal deaths from 2016–2021 were deemed preventable. In partnership with Barefoot Law and the Uganda Law Society, the training equipped frontline workers with essential knowledge of their legal rights, documentation practices, and access to emergency legal aid—addressing a critical gap in support for providers facing systemic challenges.

Before becoming an Associate Academic Dean of Rural Health at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Permian Basin, Adrian Billings ’19 established a two-year rural training track there for family medicine residents to train in a rural, underserved environment so they feel equipped to practice there.

Focusing on holistic admissions practices, Toyese Oyeyemi ’17 wrote about the rising number of applicants to U.S. medical schools from historically underrepresented groups. He says that as the health workforce and education continue to change, medical educators, students and advocates should continue to search for novel strategies to ensure that the health workforce is representative of the patients they serve.

Maria Portela ’17 published research comparing the representation of the four largest Latino subpopulation groups in the health workforce with that group’s representation in the US workforce. She said precise data is needed to understand the story of who is falling through the cracks and to be able to make thoughtful and effective policy recommendations.

Christina Rosenthal ’18 founded Determined to be a Doctor Someday (D.D.S.), an initiative designed to expose students to various healthcare disciplines and give them the necessary resources to become healthcare professionals.