T.H. Chan School of Medicine students will help U.S. asylum seekers secure medical evaluations; promote civic engagement among Southeast Asian youth; and support local refugee organizations thanks to this year’s Mick Huppert Community Health Scholar Awards. Named in honor of the late UMass Chan faculty member Mick Huppert, MPH, the award is given to students interested in family medicine who embrace community health practice and are committed to patient advocacy and eventually presenting or publishing their outcomes. The following three projects by second-year medical students were chosen:
Brain injury and intimate partner violence among U.S. asylum seekers: assessing barriers to brain injury evaluation
Recipient: Elizabeth Irvin
Mentor: Lucy Candib, MD, professor emeritus of family medicine & community health
Irvin came up with the idea for her project while working as a medical scribe for Dr. Candib. She plans to assess barriers that might prevent U.S. asylum seekers fleeing intimate partner violence from receiving brain injury evaluation.
“Asylum seekers are commonly diagnosed with PTSD because of trauma, but clinicians might miss a chance to diagnose them with traumatic brain injuries like hypoxia, secondary to abuse,” said Irvin. “What might be treated as a psychological problem may also be neurological.”
Irvin credits her upbringing as the reason for her community focus.
“I come from a family of community-oriented, dedicated, hardworking farmers—that’s where I get my inspiration,” said Irvin. “I see medicine as a chance to bridge the gap between helping individual people and helping communities and societies. When you empower individuals to be their healthiest, safest selves, you empower community as well.”
Encouraging civic engagement in Southeast Asian youth
Recipient: Minhtam Tran
Mentor: Heather-Lyn Haley, PhD, assistant professor of family medicine & community health
Tran’s experience growing up in a predominantly white community in Portland, Oregon, inspired her to get engaged in politics and seek out community members who thought about identity and advocacy in similar ways.
“I think voter engagement and civic engagement is important in the context of health. Being politically engaged and understanding community engagement, whether it’s health care legislation or otherwise, can build a healthier lifestyle,” Tran said.
Working with the Southeast Asian Coalition in Worcester, Tran will use award funds to incentivize young volunteers.
“Being able to compensate individuals who participate in our project is important because I want them to feel valued for their time,” Tran said.
Partnerships with community organizations to further the work with the Worcester refugee and immigrant communities
Recipients: William Lemnios and Erik G. Bratland
Mentor: Olga Valdman, MD’09, assistant professor of family medicine & community health
Lemnios and Bratland are both passionate about helping refugees, so much so that the roommates unknowingly both sought the mentorship of Dr. Valdman, who co-founded the African Community Education (ACE) to help refugees while she was a UMass Chan medical student.
“I was just telling Will one night in the kitchen about a meeting I scheduled with a doctor,” said Bratland. “He said, ‘I’m meeting with her on Thursday.’ It was funny. Now, she’s our faculty mentor for this project.”
Bratland and Lemnios are working with organizations such as the ACE and UHAI for Health Inc. to efficiently match them with volunteers.
“We’re going to start with capacity building. We’re hoping to engage Refugee Health Interest Group students and similar organizations,” said Lemnios. “This award is a great kickstart for us to get supplies and give peace of mind to organizations and stakeholders.”
Bratland and Lemnios are co-leaders of the Refugee Health Interest Group, led by Valdman.
