2020-21 Graduate Students
Leila Azari
Leila Azari is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where she majored in Medicine, Health, and Society. Her research focuses on exploring the topic of structural competency and the structural factors affecting the health of immigrant populations. While in the M.A. program, she will work with Professor Juleigh Petty.
Gabrielle Dyson
Gabrielle Dyson is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where she majored in Medicine, Health, and Society and double minored in Studio Art and Human and Organizational Development. Her current research focuses on the representation of race in dermatology education during medical school. While in the M.A. program, she will work with Professor Aimi Hamraie.
Lauren Elcan
Lauren Elcan is a graduate of Princeton University where she majored in Cultural Anthropology with a certificate in American Studies and a focus on global health. Her research centers on rural white populations in the United States and their attitudes towards healthcare, such as the Affordable Care Act, vaccines, and medical technologies, forming identities within American Society and why individuals act against their own self-interest. While in the MA program, she will work with Professor Johnathan Metzl.
William Fesmire
Witt Fesmire is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, where he majored in English with Honors and Medicine, Health, & Society. His research interests include the creation, maintenance, and evolution of the public understanding of health. Currently, his research focuses on how news media has contributed to the public understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic. While in the M.A. program, he will work with Professor Danielle Picard.
Rachel Gross
Rachel is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where she majored in Medicine, Health, and Society and minored in Anthropology. Her current research focuses on structural competency, specifically on food access and food insecurity as structural barriers to health. While in the M.A. program, she will work with Dr. JuLeigh Petty.
Ryan Hale
Ryan is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where he majored in Medicine, Health, and Society and European History. His research will focus on healthcare policy and how it influences the spread and containment of COVID-19. While in the M.A. program, he will work with Professor Tara McKay.
Elijah Hamilton
Elijah is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where he majored in Medicine, Health, and Society. His current research interests include racial disparities in maternal death rates in the United States. While in the M.A. program, he will work with Professor Lauren Gaydosh.
Natalie Jones
Natalie is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where she majored in Medicine, Health, and Society. Her current research interest focuses on the healthcare experiences of geriatric patients in the Emergency Department, specifically looking at what patient-oriented outcomes matter most among the aging population. While in the M.A. program, she will work with Professor Lauren Gaydosh.
Sarah Marriott
Sarah is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where she majored in Medicine, Health, and Society and Spanish. Her current research focuses on structural vulnerability and its potential operationalization in public health. She plans to complete a practicum with Dignidad Obrera, a grassroots organization in Nashville striving to reduce wage theft and workplace injury among Latinx laborers in the city. While in the M.A program, she will work under the guidance of Dr. JuLeigh Petty.
Andre Mintze
Andre Mintze is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where he majored in Medicine, Health, and Society with a minor in Cinema Media Arts. His current research focuses on the structural vulnerability surrounding the NCAA having student-athletes play sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. While in the MHS 4+1 program, he will work with Professor JuLeigh Petty.
Madison Noall
Madison is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where she majored in Medicine, Health, and Society. She is currently a research assistant in Dr. Jennifer Urbano-Blackford’s Developmental Affective Neuroscience Lab. Madison’s research interests include anxiety and anxiety neurocircuitry, as well as the role of interdisciplinarity in the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders. While in the M.A. program, she will be working under the guidance of Dr. Laura Stark.
Enna Pehadzic
Katie Phillips
Katie is graduate of Vanderbilt University where she majored in Medicine, Health and Society and Economics and minored in Spanish. Her current research focuses on the intersection of health policy and economics in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. While in the M.A. program, she will work with Professor Tara McKay.
Olivia Post
Olivia is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where she majored in Psychology, Spanish, and Medicine, Health, and Society. She has broad interests in the field of mental health, and is currently working to formulate research centered around college mental health narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic. While in the M.A. program, she will work with Dr. Danielle Picard.
Christina Rosca
Christina is a graduate of Vanderbilt University where she graduated with highest honors in Neuroscience. Her current areas of interest in research include health disparities, visual and cognitive science, and mental health. While in the M.A. program, she will work with Dr. Hector Myers.
Kimberly (Cecile) Saleh
Cecile is a graduate of North Carolina State University where she majored in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Integrative Physiology and Neurobiology. She also has a minor in Philosophy and a minor in Health, Medicine, and Human Values. Her research uses a biomedical ethics lens for assessing health disparities, and making practical changes in health policy. While in the M.A. program, she will work with Dr. Derek Griffith.