Medical Student Scholars

Meehir Dixit graduated with highest honors, Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Omega, and Senior Marshal distinctions from Brown University with a degree in Public Health. As an undergraduate, he co-directed Connect for Health, an organization connecting patients with community-based resources to address social determinants of health and was a head teaching assistant for an introductory health policy course. During his gap year, Meehir continued research he began as an undergraduate at Brown’s Center for Advancing Health Policy, where he worked on projects related to private equity in primary care, Medicare Advantage, and pay-for-performance in care for patients with end-stage renal disease. Meehir’s work as a primary and co-author has been published in multiple clinical and health policy journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and the Annals of Internal Medicine. As a medical student, he co-directs the SEVA free clinic and Internal Medicine Interest Group, serves on the Curriculum Review Committee and the board of the Health Policy Interest Group, and continues his health services research. Beyond medical school, Meehir hopes to pursue a career centered around clinical medicine, health services research, and health policy, becoming a policy advocate surrounding access, cost, and quality of care, especially for vulnerable populations.

Dominique Jones is a recent graduate of Harvard Medical School’s Master of Science program in Media, Medicine, and Health. With a foundation in classical ballet and a B.A. in Human Health and Dance and Movement Studies from Emory University, she is passionate about integrating the arts and movement into her medical education. During her graduate studies, Dominique created a dance film that depicts the embodied experience of postpartum depression in Black women, offering a novel approach to share stories about perinatal mental health. Her previous research examined how PTSD and stress affect Black women throughout their pregnancies, as well as how motherhood influences the professional and personal lives of ballet dancers. Passionate about maternal mental health and the arts, she hopes to pursue a clinical career that uses humanism and art to serve Black women through pregnancy and beyond.

Ali Al-Saleem is an Arab-American, first-generation, low-income student from Anaheim, California. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and Society and Global Health. Ali aspires to build a career that integrates clinical medicine, advocacy for marginalized groups, research, and medical education. As an undergraduate, he served as a caseworker and clinical navigator with UCLA’s Mobile Clinic Project, a street-side clinic providing free acute and primary care to unhoused individuals across Los Angeles County. His research experiences span clinical trials on investigational drugs for fatigue among breast cancer survivors and emphysema among people living with HIV, a community-based nature intervention for youth with Adverse Childhood Experiences, and quality improvement initiatives within the Pediatrics Department at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. Passionate about supporting marginalized youth, Ali also helped design a trauma-informed curriculum for a summer camp serving over 150 youth from Los Angeles County. To strengthen his clinical foundation, Ali worked for two years as an Emergency Department scribe and shadowed multiple inpatient and outpatient services at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center. As a medical student, Ali now co-leads the school’s chapter of Chicago Street Medicine, which delivers free healthcare to people experiencing homelessness. Ali is also the co-leader of several affinity and interest groups, including  the Internal Medicine Interest Group, the First-Generation, Low-Income Affinity Group, and the Middle Eastern and North African Affinity Group.

Jai Daniels graduated from The University of Chicago with a degree in Biological Sciences, specializing in Global and Public Health. She is passionate about equitable aging, addressing health disparities, and exploring the social determinants of health. Her research and clinical interests include neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, as well as gender and racial disparities in patient experiences. After graduating, Jai became a Clinical Research Coordinator at UCM’s Department of Hospitalist Medicine, where she investigated how physicians allocate their time and the quality of their interactions with patients through an NIH Diversity Supplement Grant. She also worked as a Neurology and Dementia Research Assistant, examining gaps in the recognition and diagnosis of Frontotemporal Dementia related to gender and sex.

Khari Derrick graduated from Wesleyan University in 2022, where he took full advantage of an interdisciplinary liberal arts education. He majored in Government & Politics, minored in Chemistry, and produced his senior thesis within the school’s film department, all while following a pre-medical track. After graduating, Khari moved back home to Harlem to work as a medical assistant for an understaffed urgent care center serving many low-income and chronically ill patients in his community. Outside of his urgent care work, Khari regularly attended his neighborhood district’s Health and Human Services committee meetings to learn about the complexities of health policymaking. Khari’s research experience includes working with pediatric developmental psychiatrists to investigate a program for increasing access to therapy for underserved patients diagnosed with ADHD.

Keianna Moyer earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Public Health from Georgia State University through the competitive 4+1 BSPH/MPH program, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Passionate about addressing health disparities, she has engaged in extensive research on maternal health, racial trauma, and public health equity. Keianna has presented her work at national conferences, including the American Public Health Association, APA Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race, and the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.

Beyond research, Keianna has hands-on experience in healthcare as an Emergency Department Technician at Piedmont Eastside Medical Center and a Patient Care Technician at WellStar Atlanta Medical Center and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She has also served as a Maternal Health Equity Intern at the Center for Black Women’s Wellness and contributed to various community health initiatives.

Keianna’s motivation to becoming a physician is rooted in her dedication to health advocacy, research, and clinical care which underscores her commitment to improving healthcare access and outcomes for historically marginalized communities. 

Andrew Travis graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago with a degree in Biological Sciences.  Andrew hopes to pursue a career combining clinical medicine, public health, and community-based research.  While an undergraduate in the College at the University of Chicago, Andrew led the creation of a community health resource project in the South Side neighborhood of Woodlawn in partnership with several local community-based organizations. This longitudinal project is still ongoing, now in its third generation of student and community leaders. Andrew also worked in HIV community-based research at the Chicago Center for HIV Elimination, served as a teaching assistant in five introductory biology classes in the College, worked with his local health department on lead safety, volunteered as an event supervisor for Science Olympiad, worked as an intern and tech in an oral surgery practice, and worked with a political advocacy group on environmental health. As a medical student, Andrew co-leads the school’s chapter of Chicago Street Medicine (providing healthcare to the unhoused), serves as a Student Representative on the Curriculum Review Committee, co-leads the Internal Medicine Interest Group, is continuing his HIV research, and is the site director for SHARE (a group providing sex-ed to a local high school).

Jacob A. Fries is 2021 cum laude graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where he received a B.S. in Environmental Sciences with a supplemental major in Latinx Studies. He spent his first gap year as a Health Corps Fellow through the Washington AIDS Partnership in Washington DC, where he worked in HIV prevention, sexual health education, and human-centered design initiatives at the Latin American Youth Center. Jacob then came to Chicago where he worked as a clinical research coordinator at Northwestern Medicine, primarily focusing on the national REACH palliative care study. At Pritzker, Jacob serves as a co-leader of the Geriatrics Interest Group, is a member of LMSA and serves as the LMSA Admissions Liaisons, and is the Faculty Recruitment Coordinator at CommunityHealth Clinic. He is also involved in research with Dr. Harita Shah looking at HIV prevalence and PrEP utilization in Latinx populations across Cook County, IL. Jacob is looking forward to using his time in medical school to further understand the impacts of community-based health interventions and engage with issues surrounding end-of-life care and shared decision making.

Priscilla Stephanie Molina is a 2020 cum laude graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received a B.S. in Psychobiology and completed minors in Latin American Studies and Public Health. Upon graduation, Priscilla went on to work as a Health Equity Navigator in Southern California’s largest FQHC, AltaMed Health Services, where her work involved addressing the social determinant needs of patients living with diabetes. She then served as a key intern lead in AltaMed’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Simultaneously, Priscilla co-led Spanish-speaking family support groups at a local mental health advocacy organization, NAMI. She ended her third gap year working as a medical scribe, behavior interventionist & an Assistant Resident Director at UCLA. At Pritzker, Priscilla currently serves as one of the student coordinators for Community Health Clinic, one of Chicago’s largest free clinics, and as the undergraduate mentorship co-chair for Pritzker’s chapter of the Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA). She is also co-chairing the Family Medicine Interest Group and is a member of the team engaging in Pritzker’s chapter of REMEDY, a not-for-profit, nationwide medical student organization dedicated to addressing international health disparities through education and recycling of unused medical equipment. Priscilla looks forward to using her time in medical school to further expand her leadership skills, solidify her passion for community and mental health, and engage in issues surrounding migrant and youth health.

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.