Tyler Spencer (2018 cohort) founded Grassroots Health after seeing the need for more effective HIV prevention education for young people in Washington, D.C. He adapted a South African soccer-based curriculum and launched the program with 40 college athletes in four middle schools. Since then, Grassroots Health has expanded to reach more than 7,000 young people in more than 50 schools, using sports to engage students in conversations about sexual, mental, and nutritional health.
Stephen Sevalie (2018 cohort) is the Founder and Mental Health Director of Sustainable Health Systems Sierra Leone, a locally driven, nonprofit organization focused on producing evidence that addresses the needs of healthcare service users, managers, and policymakers. It promotes effective collaboration for capacity building to translate research into policy.
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Medha D. Makhlouf (2020 cohort) and Zeina Saliba (2018 cohort) make the case that efforts to speed up the asylum process can unintentionally create additional barriers for people who have experienced significant trauma. They recommend reforms that incorporate trauma-informed practices and better account for the needs of people seeking safety.
Christina Rosenthal (2018 cohort) expanded Determined to Be a Doctor Someday (D.D.S.), a pathway program to expose students to various healthcare careers. The program consistently has “at-capacity” enrollment each year, and graduates have already pursued careers in healthcare.
Jordi Luke (2018 cohort) took the TEDxBrisbane stage to share a powerful story about visibility, identity, belonging and advocacy. His talk was shaped through a collaboration with Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity Juanita Wheeler, who helped Jordi translate their lived experience into a message designed to explore how strategic storytelling can create space for deeper conversations and help shift hearts, minds and systems.
Ginger Ramirez (2017 cohort) helped establish a family medicine residency program in Northern Samar, Philippines, expanding the pipeline of family physicians serving local communities. Deborrah Liao (2018 cohort), a graduate of the program, now trains the next generation of family physicians.
Jonatan Konfino (2018 cohort) led efforts to strengthen maternal and infant healthcare in Quilmes, Argentina, training community health workers to identify pregnant women and babies who had fallen out of care and strengthening the local hospital network and access to specialized services. From 2020 to 2021, Quilmes recorded its lowest infant mortality rates in history, at 8.95 and 8.96 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Kai Kennedy (2018 cohort) was selected by UCSF students to deliver the Last Lecture, responding to the prompt, “If you had but one lecture to give, what would you say?” Drawing on her professional, personal, spiritual and cultural experiences, Kai encouraged students to recognize the power of their own stories and develop storytelling as a skill alongside their clinical practice, helping move toward a healthier world.
James Huang (2018 cohort) and Marx Itabelo Lwabanya (2021 cohort) highlight how the global transition to renewable energy can have unintended consequences for communities where critical minerals are sourced. Their work examines how mining can contribute to unsafe working conditions, health challenges, and displacement, underscoring the need for a clean energy transition that also protects the wellbeing of affected communities.
Sarah Hooper (2018 cohort) advocates for including older adults in medical-legal partnerships, which bring legal advocacy into healthcare to address social and economic factors that can affect health. In her work, Sarah makes the case for medical-legal partnerships focused specifically on older adults, highlighting how connecting healthcare and legal support can better address the needs of an often-overlooked population.