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Improving the patient-physician relationship
through teaching and research
The Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence supports four new medical students a year as Bucksbaum Student Scholars.
Dara graduated summa cum laude and with election to Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania in 2009 with a BA in Biological Basis of Behavior and Hispanic Studies. Following graduation, Dara worked in consulting for three years at Bain & Company. As a medical student, Dara has conducted research with Vineet Aurora on the relationship between patient satisfaction and communication among their providers.
Daniel Ahn graduated from the University of Chicago in 2018 with a B.S. in biology and a minor in human rights. In 2017, Daniel was a recipient of a summer internship award from the University of Chicago Pozen Family Center for Human Rights. He worked as a researcher at the Hastings Center in Garrison, New York, on access to dialysis among undocumented immigrants with end-stage renal disease.
As a 2019-20 Schweitzer Fellow, Daniel is running a year-long program on gender justice and immigrant youth empowerment for young men of color at the HANA Center. At Pritzker, Daniel serves as president of the Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association and helped organize the University of Chicago’s inaugural Asians in Medicine conference in May 2018, which brought more than 70 medical students and faculty from Chicago. He also served as a mentor for HPREP and participated in the JOURNEES trips to Mississippi and South Dakota.
Under the mentorship of Dr. Milda Saunders, Daniel has conducted research on factors associated with the quality and frequency end-of-life care planning among African American hemodialysis patients.
Hasenin Al-Kahersan, graduated with highest distinction and election to Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan in 2013 with a BS in Cell & Molecular Biology and Arabic & Islamic Studies. As a medical student, he has researched the pathophysiology of cataracts with Eric Beyer, MD/PhD. He has also helped to analyze Simfield, a cost-effective glaucoma-screening tool. After his first year, Hasenin travelled to Germany and Poland as a Medical Fellow with the Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics, examining both physician involvement in Nazi crimes and issues in contemporary medical ethics.
Dr. Al-Khersan is an Ophthalmology Resident at the University of Miami Beascon Palmer in Miami, FL.
Abena Appah-Sampong graduated with honors from the University of Chicago in 2016 with a BA in Public Policy and Biology. As an undergraduate, Abena volunteered childcare and tutoring services at the Maria Shelter. After college, Abena completed a public interest fellowship at the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, where she worked to build infrastructure implementing the health system’s strategic plan and conducted analyses advocating for the addition of bilingual nursing staff.
As a medical student, Abena is the co-director of the Maria Shelter clinic and serves on the Wellness committee. She co-organized a conference for Black and Latina Women in Medicine in the Chicagoland area and was also as a mentor for HPREP, a healthcare pipeline program for underrepresented minorities. She is also working with Dr. Neda Laiteerpong to forecast future racial disparities in diabetes complications using simulation modeling.
Dr. Appah-Sampong is currently a surgical resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Mikhayla Armstrong graduated from Williams College in 2019 with a B.A. degree in Biology with Honors and a concentration in Africana Studies. Her passion for research began in college when she was an Allison Davis Research Fellow. Upon graduating, she continued conducting research as a clinical research assistant in ophthalmology at Boston Children’s Hospital. During this time she also volunteered as a Big Sister and served as a co-leader of the Health Disparities and Inclusion group.
At Pritzker, Mikhayla was elected by her class as the AAMC representative. She is on the OUTPatient (for LGBTQ+ people in medicine) board and the Ophthalmology Interest Group board. She also serves as one of the i2i (identity and inclusion) representatives for OUTPatient and SNMA. She is currently exploring her research interests, through projects in ophthalmology and otolaryngology.
Steven graduated from Stanford University in 2012 with a BS in Biology with distinction. In medical school, he has developed an ongoing IRB-approved clinical trial on treating leukemia patients. Currently, Steven is the co-president for the Latino Medical Student Association, the local coordinator for ASAP, a youth substance abuse prevention program, and president of the Oncology interest group.
Isaiah Brown graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2019 with a B.S. in Neuroscience. In 2018, Isaiah was the recipient of a summer internship award from the University of Southern California Summer Program in Diabetes and Obesity Research. This experience sparked his interest in health disparities research, which led Isaiah to become a post-baccalaureate fellow at the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). At the NIMHD, Isaiah was primarily involved in research focused on identifying the relationships between health access and health seeking behaviors to explain the disparities among those living with chronic diseases, such as Type 2 Diabetes.
At Pritzker, Isaiah serves as the Co-President of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and as the Director of Operations for the Health Professions Recruitment and Exposure Program (HPREP). He also serves as the Quality Improvement Co-Chair of the Washington Park Free Clinic and as a member of the Choosing Wisely STARS in which he hopes to promote health care value in medical education.
Juliana Byanyima graduated from Cornell University with a BA in Biological Sciences and minor in Health Equity. In college, she was a research assistant in the Life History lab where she studied the role of developmental context and early life stress on brain development. During her gap years, Juliana worked at the Center for Studies of Addiction at Penn, where she coordinated neuroimaging studies on alcohol and opioid use disorder. At Pritzker, Juliana was elected by her class as a Wellness representative and is a member of the mental health subcommittee. She is the Social Media Chair for the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), the i2i (Identity and Inclusion) representative for the Wellness Committee, and a mentor for the Health Professions Recruitment & Exposure Program (HPREP) at Pritzker. Juliana is eager to explore her interests in interdisciplinary care, psychiatry and oncology, and mental health advocacy.
Kristen Chalmers graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth College in 2017 with a B.A. in Anthropology and a minor in Neuroscience. Following graduation, she spent three years conducting qualitative research on emergency department design at Build Health International and adolescent diabetes care at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She also began volunteering as a rape hotline crisis counselor with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, where she now works as a staff counselor and shift supervisor.
At Pritzker, Kristen is the co-chair of Physician Advocates for Survivors of Sexual Assault and the Emergency Medicine Interest Group. She is also collaborating with fellow medical students on a project to identify disparities and improve care for survivors of sexual assault in Chicago-area emergency departments with Drs. Keme Cater, Sonia Oyola, and Jeanne Farnan. Under Dr. Julie Chor, she is also working on a qualitative research project aiming to develop trauma-informed abortion care principles for survivors of sexual assault, interpersonal violence, and adverse childhood experiences.
Mark Chee graduated from Duke University with a B.S. in Chemistry and minors in Biology and Global Health. Mark is the Patient Satisfaction and Quality Improvement Co-Chair at the Bridgeport Free Clinic, a student-run clinic that serves an Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community on the South Side of Chicago. He also served as the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association’s National Conference Co-Chair, helping to plan the 2016. Mark has worked on health policy and medical education issues as Pritzker’s representative in both the Illinois State Medical Society and Chicago Medical Society Medical Student Sections as well as the Association of American Medical Colleges Organization of Student Representatives.
Under the mentorship of Dr. Vineet Arora, Mark is conducting research about the barriers and facilitators of generic prescribing among providers and how effective messaging about generics can promote generic prescribing.
Dr. Chee is an Internal Medicine Resident at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA.