Medical Student Scholars

Itzel Jazmín López-Hinojosa graduated cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis in 2017 with a BA in Biochemistry and American Culture Studies. At WashU, Itzel led educational and policy discussions related to health disparities as a peer mental health counselor. In addition, she wrote a thesis exploring the experience of Latinx undergraduates with mental health. After college, Itzel returned to her alma mater, Illinois Math and Science Academy, and served as a residential counselor.

As a 2019 Albert Schweitzer Fellow, Itzel developed healthy eating and exercise curriculum for 3rd and 4th graders, and an empowering and mentorship curriculum for high school girls living in Back of the Yards. At Pritzker, Itzel is the Co-President of the Latino Medical Student Association, a laboratory coordinator for the Community Health Clinic, and the curriculum development chair for the Chicagoland Clinic Consortium. She co-organized both the annual Black and Latina Women in Medicine Forum and the Annual Regional LMSA conference.

This summer Itzel traveled to Peru to provide cervical cancer screenings with REMEDY, a service-learning program. As a Medical Organization for Latino Advancement scholar, she works with Dr. Pilar Ortega to assess a ten-module medical Spanish curriculum for clinical interviews and physical exams using pre- and post- assessments. She is currently working with Dr. Elizabeth Tung to understand the lived experience of Spanish speaking immigrants with violent political rhetoric and its implications on health.

Russell Simons graduated magna cum laude from Boston College with a B.S. in biology and a minor in medical humanities. At Boston College, he was a recipient of the Gabelli Presidential Scholarship, a four-year merit-based award, and served as president of the student body.

As a medical student, Russell is co-coordinator of CommunityHealth Clinic, which provides medical care free-of-charge to uninsured Chicagoans on the city’s west side. He is co-founder and co-leader of Pritzker Humanities & Medicine, which hosts events for medical students that explore the connections between the humanities and clinical caregiving. Following his first year at Pritzker, Russell was a recipient of the University of Chicago Pozen Family Center for Human Rights’ summer internship award. He subsequently worked as a researcher at Human Rights Watch in New York City where he helped investigate human rights abuses related to the opioid epidemic, the development of universal health coverage systems, and HIV/AIDS care for transgender men and women.

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.

Jamila Picart graduated with honors in Psychology and a minor in Biology from the University of Chicago in 2017, where she was selected as a student marshal. Jamila participated in the 3-year Clinical Excellence Scholar Tract (CEST), which is a collaboration between the College and the Bucksbaum Institute. As an undergraduate, Jamila researched the impact of emotion on memory recollection accuracy.

At Pritzker, Jamila is the Physician/Student Volunteer Coordinator for the Maria Shelter Clinic, a student-run clinic that serves homeless women and children on the South Side. She also was the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) Pritzker chapter Vice-President. As Vice-President, she began a dinner series that created spaces for students of color to seek mentorship from faculty of color and helped to plan the 2018 Midwest Regional Medical Education Conference.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Matthew Churpek, Jamila has also conducted epidemiological research to identify differences in characteristics and outcomes of high-risk ward patients evaluated by rapid response teams.

Dr. Picart is currently a surgical resident at University of Michigan Medicine.

Kathryn Thompson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a BS in pre-professional science and theology. As an undergraduate, Kathryn worked as a caretaker for a neighbor with cerebral palsy and was as a mentor-in-faith through the Institute for Church Life. She conducted audiology research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and was a part-time surgical technician. She also performed piano bi-weekly at the Holy Cross House retirement home in South Bend, Indiana.

At Pritzker, Kathryn is a laboratory coordinator for the Community Health Clinic and volunteers as a minister of spiritual care at the hospital. She participated in Pritzker’s annual REMEDY service-learning trip to Peru. Under Dr. Bree Andrews and the Preeme+You project, Kathryn researched parent engagement at the NICU bedside. Under the mentorship of Dr. John Yoon, Kathryn conducts a focus group at Montgomery Place, exploring how seniors process aging through the lens of the Christian faith.

Nicole Dussault graduated summa cum laude and with honors in Economics from Columbia University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. As an undergraduate, Nicole volunteered as an Emergency Department patient advocate for survivors of sexual assault. After graduation, she conducted healthcare economics research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Her work on the financial impact of the Affordable Care Act was featured in Liberty Street Economics.

At Pritzker, Nicole is a Quality Improvement Coordinator for the Maria Shelter Clinic, a founding member of Pritzker TECH, and a part of the University’s Hotspotting team. Nicole and fellow medical students also spearheaded a project to improve patient care for survivors of sexual assault in the University of Chicago ED, working with Drs. Keme Carter and Sonia Oyola. Under Dr. Matthew Churpek, she is also developing a machine learning algorithm to identify infection in hospitalized patients.

Dr. Dussault is currently an internal medicine resident at Duke Health.

Tyrone Johnson graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2015 with a BS in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. He is a former coordinator of the UCLA Mobile Clinic Project, an interdisciplinary street-side free clinic that provides medical and social services to the homeless of West Los Angeles.

As a 2017 Schweitzer Fellow, Ty developed a holistic wellness curriculum for underserved and housing-insecure adults in Chicago’s Uptown. At Pritzker, Ty has served as co-director of the Maria Shelter Clinic, as a board member of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), and as a member of the Identity & Inclusion Committee.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Lolita Alkureishi, Ty has conducted research on methods of improving patient-centered communication in the Electronic Medical Record era. He is also working with Dr. Elizabeth Tung to investigate the impact of community violence on chronic disease in Chicago’s West and South Side neighborhoods.

Dr. Johnson is a Medicine Resident at the University of California, San Francisco.

Nzuekoh Nchinda graduated from Harvard University in 2014 with an AB in Chemistry and a secondary field in Global Health and Health Policy. During college, Nzuekoh served as the National Region II Vice-President of HOSA-Future Health Professionals. Prior to medical school, Nzuekoh performed translational HIV immunology research at the Ragon Institute and served as a medical scribe at Cambridge Health Alliance. She was also a Crisis Services volunteer for Samaritans, Inc.

As a medical student, Nzuekoh is a co-director of Maria Shelter Free Clinic. She is a co-founder and co-leader of Docs and Debates, which hosts documentary viewings and peer-to-peer dialogue on important social issues. She taught third-grade students through South Side Science Scholars and participated in the JOURNEES service-learning trips to rural Mississippi and South Dakota. Under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Moriatis Wolf, Nzuekoh is conducting research on tendinopathy risk factors and treatment decision-making in orthopedic care.

Dr. Nchinda is a Surgery Resident at the University of Washington.

Robert Nolan graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a BS in Chemistry. As a medical student, Bobby has served as a curriculum coordinator for the South Side Science Scholars program, where he helped foster interest in the basic sciences within the Chicago Public School system.

Bobby also served as a co-coordinator of the Washington Park Free clinic, where he was able to incorporate developmental screenings and a program with Reach Out and Read into clinic flow. A Bucksbaum grant helped to support his research this summer, which assessed communication and empathy techniques with patients during conscious procedures.

With the honor and opportunity that this scholarship entails, he hopes to continue to pursue this research while also delving into topics of pre-operative transparency. He also hopes to continue to strengthen Washington Park’s outreach and education programs, as well as to extend support to programs treating PTS within the south side of Chicago.

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.