Alumna Promotes Access/Equity in Health Care

Jennifer Chinchilla, an SFSU Biology alum, was a pioneering SFSU SEPAL Spectrum Scientist, promoting the interest of middle school girls of color in biomedical science at both Giannini and Everett Middle Schools during her two years with the program as an undergraduate biology major.

Over the years, she has been doing many great things since finishing her BS Physiology from SFSU. She is a 2022 MD Candidate at Michigan State College of Human Medicine on the Leadership in Underserved Medicine Track. Last year, she was President of her school’s Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) and is now Policy Chair for the LMSA Midwest Region.

She was also involved involved in a quality improvement research project that focuses on evaluating physician perspectives and knowledge on using interpreter services. Since there are people that don’t know how to speak English fluently, strengthening the physician-interpreter relationship can further improve patient care and health equity, especially Limited English Proficiency (LEP) groups. You can read more about her involvement in this research study here.

These are just the many efforts she is involved in to promote access, equity, and social justice in health care as an emerging leader in her profession, with many more triumphs to come.