UofL News talked with fourth-year UofL medical student Sierra Shockley about her commitment to addressing health disparities as a Health and Social Justice Scholar (HSJS). Recently selected by the American Lung Association to represent the organization at Respiratory Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., Shockley met with legislators to address disparities in lung health. Her ongoing advocacy work as a HSJS gave her the chance to not only represent the American Lung Association, but also the University of Louisville.

UofL News: Tell us about your involvement with the Health and Social Justice Scholar (HSJS) program.

Shockley: The mission of this program focuses on addressing health care disparities and promoting equity within underserved populations, which aligns perfectly with my deep-rooted commitment to give back to every community I have the privilege of serving.

What truly excites me about this program is its emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, fostering partnerships between students from various professional and doctoral programs, all working together to tackle the most pressing health inequities. Participating in this program has also challenged me to reflect on my role as a future physician, not just in treating patients but in advocating for systemic change.

UofL News: Why is it so important to address health disparities?

Shockley:  Health disparities are not just medical problems—they are societal and reflect deep-rooted inequalities that need to be confronted if we are to create a more just and equitable health care system. It’s about making sure that healthcare is fair and accessible to all, no matter where people live or who they are.

It’s a stark reality that something as simple as a zip code can determine a person’s health outcomes, with life expectancy sometimes varying by more than ten years within just a 20-30-mile locational difference. This geographic inequality is just one example of how pervasive and alarming health disparities are. For instance, people of certain racial or ethnic backgrounds are more likely to face higher rates of morbidity and mortality for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma, simply because of the systemic barriers that exist in their communities.

UofL Health: How can health equity be advanced through community participatory research?

Shockley: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) involves engaging the communities affected by health disparities in every step of the process, from identifying the problems to developing solutions. CBPR allows for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to tackling disparities, creating interventions that are both culturally relevant and practically applicable. This approach also helps ensure that the research is actionable, impactful, and sustainable while fostering a sense of trust and ownership within the community as they see that their voices and lived experiences are being valued in the research process.

UofL News: Tell me about your experience in Washington D.C. What was your biggest takeaway?

Shockley: My experience standing for the University of Louisville in Washington D.C. was both inspiring and transformative. The biggest takeaway was the profound impact that storytelling and personal narratives can have when advocating for change. While data and research are crucial, it’s often the emotional and human aspects of a story that resonate most with lawmakers.

This experience also highlighted the power of collaboration—whether it’s with fellow advocates, policymakers, or health care professionals. By working together, we were able to amplify our voices and drive home the importance of lung health on a broader scale.

UofL News: How do you plan to use your research/knowledge about health disparities in your medical career/practice?

Shockley: I am fortunate to be working with Dr. Scott Bickel and Dr. Rose Hawkins on a project analyzing the impact of urban greening on asthma exacerbations and related health outcomes. By studying how urban green spaces can mitigate asthma symptoms and improve respiratory health, I am gaining valuable insight into how environmental justice is tied to health equity, and this knowledge will undoubtedly influence how I approach patient care.

As a future surgeon, knowing many underserved communities face significant barriers to accessing surgical care, I hope to focus part of my career on bridging that gap. Whether through global health initiatives, public health programs, or working with underserved populations locally, I aim to be an advocate for systemic change, ensuring that the communities I serve have access to the resources and infrastructure necessary to lead healthier lives.

Tasha Golden, School of Public Health and Information Sciences

A doctoral student in the School of Public Health and Information Sciences, Tasha Golden works with the Youth Violence Prevention Research Center and the Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky. Golden’s community-oriented research at the intersection of art and public health is informed by her career history. As the frontwoman and songwriter for the band Ellery, her songs have been heard on the radio and in major motion pictures, TV dramas and Starbucks.

Golden’s prose and poetry have been published in “Ploughshares,” “Pleaides” and “Ethos Review,” among others, and her debut book of poems, “Once You Had Hands” (Humanist Press), was a finalist for the 2016 Ohioana Book Award. Her critique of gender inequities in the juvenile justice system appears in the Spring 2017 issue of peer-reviewed journal “Reflections.” Golden’s background as artist, entrepreneur and researcher often leads to new and unique networks, and allows her to draw connections among disparate ideas and initiatives. She continues to write and record, and has led trauma-informed creative writing workshops for incarcerated teen women since 2012.��

John Luttrell, School of Nursing

John Luttrell obtained a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from Murray State University in 2005, and a bachelor of science in nursing from the University of Louisville in 2013. While he was a student at UofL, he served as the academic affairs liaison on the Nursing Student Council, and received the Helen C. Marshall Award for Outstanding Leadership.

While working as a trauma nurse at University of Louisville Hospital in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit from 2013-2016, Luttrell completed the one-year nurse residency program, often served as the charge nurse during his scheduled shifts, and served as a clinical capstone preceptor for nursing students at the UofL School of Nursing. Luttrell is a full-time PhD student in the School of Nursing, where he holds a position as a graduate research assistant. His research interests focus on health disparities among homeless adolescents and engaging with community organizations to provide services to homeless youth.

Devin McBride, School of Medicine

Originally from Ithaca, New York, Devin McBride received a bachelor of science in economics from Syracuse University in 2008. She graduated with a degree of distinction after completing a thesis project on the impact of mega-multi mall development on local communities. While earning a second bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, she was involved in multiple research projects including biomedical research, which first sparked her interest in medicine. After moving to Louisville in 2012, McBride began working in the emergency room as a scribe and volunteered with the Kentucky Waterway Alliance. She has been involved in numerous other research projects in Louisville, and presented posters at the Kentucky Academy of Science Annual Meeting and Research!Louisville.

Currently, McBride is a student director at the Family Community Clinic, is co-president of the student LGBTQ group HSC Pride, and is involved in health-care politics as a member of Students for a National Health Plan. She plans to research health disparities in the LGBTQ community.

Morgan Pearson, School of Dentistry

A native of Louisville, Morgan D. Pearson is a second-year student in the School of Dentistry. As a child, Pearson experienced a traumatic injury, resulting from an automobile accident that required her to have multiple surgeries. Because of the expert and compassionate care she received, she decided early on that she wanted a career in the health sciences field, ultimately choosing dentistry. Pearson is a 2015 graduate of Murray State University, where she earned a bachelor of science in biology with minors in music and chemistry. She attended UofL’s Summer Medical and Dental ����ֱ�� Program (SMDEP) and MCAT/DAT workshop before deciding on a career in dentistry over medicine.

Pearson has had a heart for service since she was a child. From age 11 through 17, she volunteered at the VA Medical Center in various capacities. After going away to college, she volunteered at the VA during summer breaks. At Murray State University, Pearson mentored and tutored incoming freshmen to ensure their success. As a dentist, Pearson will focus on community dentistry, continuing to serve those who are disadvantaged because of their inability to pay or to access care.

From applications received from doctoral students in the Schools of Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing and Public Health and Information Sciences, scholars are selected based on their commitment to social justice and health equity. They will engage in a three-year program designed to help them learn techniques for working interprofessionally and with community members to improve the overall health of local residents. Scholars will develop projects that include community-based research conducted along with a faculty mentor and a report prepared for scholarly publication. In addition, they participate in community service projects and attend monthly discussions.

UofL’s HSC is administered by the HSC Office of Diversity and Inclusion and directed by Katie Leslie, PhD.

Prior to entering the PhD program at UofL, she worked as a medical laboratory technologist for the State of North Carolina, UNC Healthcare and the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. She also has experience working for an international health non-profit organization, developing fundraising activities for the organization to provide medical and social services for Chinese orphans with special needs. Kuo is a second-year PhD student in the epidemiology department of the School of Public Health and Information Sciences.

She took time out of her schedule to talk to UofL News about what motivates her and what her goals are as a Health and Social Justice Scholar.��

UofL News: What motivated you to invest in health and social justice?

Diana Kuo: Ever since my time as a grad student in my master’s program I was interested in epidemiology, but also international health. A lot of international health courses I took had a human rights perspective with health, so my background has been fluctuating. After I graduated from the master’s program, I worked for an international health organization in a fundraising office for our operations in China where we helped handicapped orphans. Once I left that career I went into the medical field as a medical technologist helping to diagnose diseases. Inherent in me has always been the idea that the health and wellbeing of everyone in our community is important. That sent be back to pursue my PhD. One of my main topics of interest in epidemiology is social epidemiology, which melds a lot of different disciplines to understand this bigger picture of health and why it is different in different populations.

UofL News: What is one experience that drives you to make a difference?

Kuo: My most significant experience was in my MPH program in which I did an internship with a student-run organization. We went to Uganda to catalog services offered by NGOs, MPOs, private clinics and local hospitals for HIV and AIDS patients and their friends and family who were affected. While I was there we worked with a local brother-and-sister-run orphanage. In Uganda there is no such thing as a state-run orphanage system, so it’s basically people taking in children from the street. A lot of those children are orphans because their parents died of AIDS and none of the family members want to – or can – help out. One of the days we were there we went around talking to children who had not yet gone to seek someone to help them. They were still living on the streets. A lot of them were hiding in the sewer drains. I think that was one of the most up-front and eye-opening events I ever experienced.

UofL News: What would you like to accomplish as a Health and Social Justice Scholar?

Kuo: It will depend on how we collaborate to figure out what would be the best project to help the community, but I think there are a lot of issues that are not directly related to health but contribute to whether people have healthy lives. One of the main things is to get the idea of public health out to the community and affect policy change in the city. Although I don’t know when or if we will achieve this, I hope it will be within my lifetime.

Introduced in the spring of 2016, the Health and Social Justice Scholars Program engages professional students with local communities and faculty mentors to bring about changes to benefit underserved populations in the Louisville area. Read about fellow scholars in this program, and .��

Green is a second-year student in the UofL School of Dentistry. UofL News had the chance to talk to her about her motivation and her goals.��

UofL News: What motivated you to invest in health and social justice?

Ashton Green: I’ve always been very aware that the best way to be useful in society is to serve those around you. I have also always had an interest in the field of health care. In my initiative to address local health care disparities, I think my target area would deal primarily with cigarette smokers because in Kentucky smoking is a huge issue.  Part of my motivation for choosing to focus on smoking also stems from my family. Some of my mother’s side of the family is from Kentucky and we have lost several relatives due to lung cancer and esophageal cancer. Smoking and diseases that stem from it are very personal to me and I want to come up with a resource that I feel the greater community can easily use and learn from. Hopefully this knowledge can contribute to cultural change. The impact might be small at first, but I feel that if you target one area you have the ability to focus on it and expand it to make greater change later.

UofL News: Explain one experience that drives you to make a difference.

Green: Upon first moving here I wasn’t quite aware of how intense the problem of smoking is. One time while walking home from school I passed by the hospital. As I walked by, I saw patients in hospital gowns and some carrying IV poles standing outside smoking cigarettes. As you can imagine, this was such a confusing sight, but in that moment I realized people must not be aware of how detrimental smoking actually is. I was definitely shocked that day. I remember calling my mom about it and saying, ‘You won’t believe what I just saw.’ That was pretty eye-opening.

UofL News: What would you like to accomplish as a Health and Social Justice Scholar?

�Ұ�����:��I want to create something that is sustainable long after I graduate. I have a few ideas I would like to speak with my mentor about and get the ball rolling. I definitely want to address smoking cessation and create a resource that will last long after I’m gone, because the point is to make permanent, positive change if you can. I have some ideas that I am really excited about.

Editor’s note: UofL News also had the opportunity to talk to Health and Social Justice Scholar Mallika Sabharwal. .��

About the Health and Social Justice Scholars program

Introduced in the spring of 2016, the Health and Social Justice Scholars Program engages professional students with local communities and faculty mentors to bring about changes to benefit underserved populations in the Louisville area.��For more information, visit .

Before starting medical school, she worked at the Chicago Department of Public Health through the CDC’s Public Health Associate Program. In Chicago, Sabharwal worked in the school-based sexually transmitted disease program, which educated and tested high school students on the south and west sides of the city. She is a second-year student in the UofL School of Medicine and serves as public health coordinator for the national American Medical Student Association.

UofL News had the opportunity to talk to Sabharwal about what motivates her and her objectives as a Health and Social Justice Scholar.��

UofL News: What motivated you to invest in health and social justice?

Sabharwal: My family and I immigrated to Florida from India. My dad struggled with mental health disorders and we lived in a rural area so he didn’t always have access to the care he needed. There also were linguistic and cultural barriers besides economic barriers. Seeing him struggle with medical care and how it affected my family motivates me to improve health care access for everyone.

UofL News: Describe one experience that drives you to make a difference.

�������󲹰��ɲ���:��When I was an undergrad, I volunteered at a student-run clinic. We often would see patients who were underinsured or homeless – underserved populations. I found it ironic that in health care you learn so much about people yet they are just there for a medication. We can give them a prescription for that medication, but there are so many underlying barriers that affect their health. I feel like I am in a position to address those other barriers.

I remember one woman specifically. I was doing intake on her, just going through the motions, and when I came to address, she said, ‘I am homeless.’ I was just … ‘sorry.’ I didn’t even know how to react. She needed a blood pressure medication refill. As a physician, I feel like I can give you your blood pressure medication, but I can also refer you to public housing or a social worker who can help you find housing besides just giving you the blood pressure medication.

UofL News: What would you like to accomplish as a Health and Social Justice Scholar?

Sabharwal:  I would like to build a skill set that allows me to better articulate on issues of health disparity and health inequity. I also hope to create a project that the community can adopt and sustain beyond the program.

About the Health and Social Justice Scholars program

Introduced in the spring of 2016, the Health and Social Justice Scholars Program engages professional students with local communities and faculty mentors to bring about changes to benefit underserved populations in the Louisville area. The students will participate in public service projects and mentored scholarship to learn techniques for working interprofessionally and with community members to combat issues such as youth violence, public water safety and depression in adolescents in West Louisville and other disadvantaged communities.

Health and Social Justice Scholars are selected during the second year of their professional program at the UofL Health Sciences Center and are expected to remain scholars for three years. They receive annual financial support of $10,000 toward educational expenses.��

For more information, visit .