Medical Student Scholars

Elizabeth graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College in 2005 with an AB in Economics, a Certificate in Health Policy and election to Phi Beta Kappa. Following her graduation, Elizabeth worked as an associate consultant at Bain & Company and in the Emergency Department of the University of Virginia Health Center.

As a medical student, under the mentorship of William Meadow, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics and Co-Section Chief of Neonatology, and Neethi Pinto, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Elizabeth has conducted research on the accuracy of care team prognoses regarding patient outcomes after hospitalization in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Elizabeth has served as the co-coordinator of the Washington Park Children’s Free Clinic, a student-run clinic for underserved children. She also serves as a member of the Pre-Clinical Curricular Review Committee, charged with reviewing the first two years of the medical school curriculum.

Dr. Rhinesmith is a pediatrician at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Jasmine Rios graduated from Yale University in 2021 with a B.A. in History of Science and Medicine. She continued her studies at the Yale School of Public Health, where she received an M.P.H. in Social and Behavioral Sciences in 2022 with a concentration in US Health Justice. Her graduate research focused on health disparities in breastfeeding and nutrition through community-based participatory research. Jasmine’s work in public health outreach sought to address community distrust in healthcare and the social determinants of chronic disease management.

At Pritzker, Jasmine serves as a class representative for the Identity and Inclusion (i2i) Steering Committee and the Community Service Chair for the Latino Medical Student Association. She is the Education and Community Outreach Coordinator for the newly established Southside Free Clinic. In this role, she also serves as a liaison and member of the South Side Community Health Advocate Leadership Program. Jasmine is excited to further explore the relationship between community and health, with a current research interest in comprehensive care.

Alex graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 2009 with an ScB in Neuroscience. Following his graduation, Alex coordinated the construction of a community clinic in Bamako, Mali.

As a medical student, Alex researched the extent of false fluency in the health care setting as part of the Health Care Disparities course, and he has continued to explore potential solutions related to the lack of translation services. He also has conducted research with Benjamin Van Voorhees, MD, MPH, on the economic feasibility of an online adolescent depression prevention intervention.

Over the course of his first year, Alex helped conceive of a children’s illustrated book — combining information on the flu with artistic illustrations — to expand health literacy for children. He and his fellow students received a grant from the University of Chicago’s Arts/Science Initiative to fund the book’s initial publication and distribution.

Alex spent the 2013-14 academic year abroad in London where he completed a masters of science in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Alex conducted research on the effectiveness of interventions during humanitarian crises.

Dr. Ruby is an Emergency Medicine physician in El Segundo, CA.

Maria completed her undergraduate studies Washington University in St. Louis, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Biology. In college, she developed her passion for working with Latinx communities through her work at Casa de Salud and at Nurses for Newborns. After graduation, María spent a year in Guatemala working with an NGO that promotes health and educational equity for individuals with disabilities. She then embarked her Global Health Corps fellowship at Community Pediatric Programs of Montefiore in the South Bronx, where she worked to facilitate access to medical care and legal services for children and immigrants.

In medical school, Maria was the Chair of the Dean’s Council, serving a liaison between school leadership and the student body. She also served as co-president of the Latinx Medical Student Association. In this role, she supported various COVID-19 relief efforts for Spanish speaking communities in Chicago, and launched an anti-racism reading program for incoming first year medical students. Under the mentorship of Dr. Julie Chor, she is conducting an interview study to understand the experiences of LGBTQ individuals with the first pelvic exam. To honor her service, María was selected as the 2020 Valerie Bowman Jarrett Scholar in Medical Education.

Robert graduated from Yale University with a BA in the History of Science, History of Medicine. Following his graduation, he was selected as a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Public Policy Fellow in Washington, D.C., where he served in the U.S. Senate in the office of Senator Barack Obama and in the health policy office of Senator Ted Kennedy. After completing the fellowship, he began work as a health policy analyst for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States.

As a medical student, Robert is the co-coordinator of Community Health Clinic, a volunteer-run clinic on Chicago’s west side. He also serves as the Admissions Chair for the Student National Medical Association, and sits on the Pritzker Dean’s Council as class representative to the Association of American Medical Colleges. Under the mentorship of Monica Peek, MD, MPH, he completed his research paper “Shared Decision-Making Preferences and Behaviors of Hispanic and non-Hispanic White Patients with Diabetes,” which earned Honorable Mention for Excellence in the Pritzker Summer Research Program.

Dr. Sanchez is an attending physician at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

Camron Shirkhodaie graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University in 2019 with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and Medicine, Health and Society and a minor in Chemistry.

At Prtizker, Camron was the co-director of Maria Shelter Free Clinic, where he, along with the rest of free clinic leadership, were able to implement telemedicine to continue seeing patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Camron was also a part of Reach Out and Read, Students for a National Health Program, and Middle Eastern and North African Student Association.

Under the mentorship of Dr. John Blair, Camron conducted research on outcomes of and risk factors associated with patients with concomitant deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism who receive catheter-directed therapy.

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.

Frazer Tessema graduated from Yale University in 2017 with a BA in History as a premedical student. In college, Frazer researched behavioral psychology at the Yale Decision Neuroscience Lab and translational medicine at the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center.

From 2017-2020, Frazer worked as a research assistant at the Harvard Program On Regulation, Therapeutics, And Law (PORTAL) at Brigham & Women’s Hospital publishing peer-reviewed papers focused on finding solutions to lower prescription drug prices, improving access to pharmaceuticals, and reforming regulatory practice to better patients’ lives. He co-authored 13 papers, including a law review article on the causes of high generic drug prices. From 2017-2020, Frazer also served as a hospice volunteer in the Boston metro-area, playing requested piano music for end-of-life patients. At UChicago, Frazer researches the pathophysiology of microvascular dysfunction in heart failure and health policy initiatives related to sickle cell anemia. Frazer also continues ongoing research with PORTAL.

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.

Ashley graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010 with a B.S. in Public Health, and minors in Mathematics and Chemistry. She spent two years working as a CDC public health associate in infectious disease epidemiology at the New Mexico Department of Health. As a 2013 Schweitzer Fellow, Ashley designed and implemented the first ever overdose prevention program at Cook County Jail. Under the mentorship of John Schneider, a Bucksbaum Faculty Scholar, Ashley has conducted research on the social networks of injection drug users in an HIV outbreak in Athens, Greece.

Dr. Tsang is a family medicine physician in San Francisco, CA.