Alumni
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Subhash Gutti
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Subhash’s path to service began in his small hometown of Pikeville, Kentucky, and has been constantly evolving ever since. During his middle school and high school years, he spent most of his summers volunteering full-time with a local hospital, where he began to observe firsthand the health disparities and related social determinants that impacted his rural community. Although he had spent his entire youth growing up in the Appalachian town, this experience presented him with new perspective and a greater self-awareness of privilege. Impassioned by the anecdotes and encounters that accompanied the work, Subhash dedicated most of his summers to working in healthcare, gaining experience in patient care and pharmacy. Following this initial venture, he began expanding to other fields of service throughout high school, organizing community donation projects to benefit homeless shelters and a child abuse prevention organization.
Upon his arrival to Nashville, Subhash’s eyes were widened to the incredible diversity of service opportunities, both on and off campus. He was able to combine his interest in healthcare with international humanitarian efforts by working with the student organization, Project C.U.R.E. This organization processes donated medical supplies arriving from throughout the Southeast U.S., and then ships useable supplies to under-resourced healthcare facilities in developing countries around the world. During his years of involvement, Subhash has served as President, Vice President, and Programming Coordinator of this organization, and has had the opportunity to work closely with and guide many of his peers at Vanderbilt. Additionally, Subhash worked with Siloam Family Health Center, a clinic that serves the refugee and immigrant population of Nashville. Here, he interacted with patients and clinicians from diverse backgrounds, learned more about the patients’ unique social contexts, admitted qualifying patient applicants, and provided health insurance advising.
After his Sophomore year, Subhash had his most profound service experience – a 12-week summer project with the Neighborhood Health Downtown Clinic, an organization that provides free care and medication to the local homeless population. During his project, Subhash documented the priorities and experiences of homeless patients within the clinic, as well as street populations who are not accessing any form of healthcare. Additionally, he taught nutrition classes, assisted with rehabilitation counseling, navigated patients to appointments, helped prepare a drive for disease screening, aided in the pharmacy, and recruited non-patients to seek care at the clinic. Following this summer project, Subhash continued to serve at the Downtown Clinic during his Junior year, and has used research findings to advocate for the self-identified priorities of the homeless population in meetings with field experts and authorities at both the regional and national scale. Subhash is incredibly grateful for this experience, as it allowed him to connect with a new and inspiring population, gain practical experience, and solidify his ultimate career aspirations. He believes his experiences with the Ingram Scholarship Program have been invaluable, fostering both his own personal growth and his ability to impact the lives of others.