Presenters Announced for the 2027 National Conference

← All News

Aequitas Health, the national medical honor society, has announced the presenters selected for its 2027 National Conference, a peer-selected showcase of work serving the communities that need care the most. The conference is asynchronous and online, and it launches on Monday, January 18, 2027 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day).

The presenters were chosen from submissions across the country and reflect the society’s guiding idea, that action, not just achievement, is the highest honor in medicine. Their work reaches uninsured patients, rural communities, people experiencing homelessness, and students entering medicine.

“Every one of these presenters is already doing the work, in free clinics, shelters, schools, and on the street, wherever people actually are. Our conference exists to put that where the whole country can see it, because action, not just achievement, is the highest honor in medicine.”

- Benson Hsu, MD, founder and president

The selected work is grouped into five sections.

Inside the Student-Run Free Clinic

Maya Andrade, Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine - building lasting dermatology know-how at a free clinic so uninsured patients avoid delays and unnecessary referrals. (with Juley Harper, Carol Stegura and Marta Hampton, MD)

Grace Hanson, University of Colorado School of Medicine - a pre-clinic assessment linked, in preliminary data, to sharply lower no-show rates for uninsured patients. (with Brian Wolfe)

Brianna Lau, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science - expanding reproductive health access for uninsured patients inside a student-run free clinic, and a reproducible, culturally tailored breast-health screening model that engaged 67 community members. (with Ani Oganesyan, Joanna Lee, Kristine Burgess, PA-C, Melissa Chen, MD, Crystal Banh, Morgan Perry, Brandon Pum, Abigail Rousseau, Khaliun Dashdeleg, Meredith Fils and Jeffrey Damaschke)

Safoora Murad, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science - making the cost-and-time case for point-of-care testing that speeds care for uninsured patients. (with Jessica Hrnciar, MD, Melissa Chen, MD and Meredith Fills, PA-C)

Elena Wilson, Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine - pairing food-insecurity screening with immediate resources at a free clinic, 100 patients so far. (with Caitlyn Murphy, Daniel Newlands, Michael North and Sean Haley)

Community Outreach Beyond Clinic Walls

Emily Downs, Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine - a school-based period-poverty program that reached 55 students, lifting menstrual-health knowledge and reducing stigma. (with Sierra Stumpff)

Emily Eisenbraun, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine - low-barrier street medicine delivering integrated care in Rapid City. (with Phebie Rossi, M4, Dillon Vanetti, M4 and Jennifer Hasvold, MD)

Rebecca Hofer, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine - multidisciplinary diabetes education for a rural community underserved by specialists. (with Abbey Rieber and Nanci VanPeursem, MD)

Jenny Lee, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science - building the data and referral pathways street medicine needs to serve people experiencing homelessness. (with Jonathan Lo)

Rights, Access, and Navigation

Kyle Brent Labak, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science - helping clinicians turn uneven interpreter use into clearer care for limited-English-proficiency patients.

Rikhil Makwana, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science - a tool that maps where healthcare access breaks down by car and transit, to inform policy. (with Namhee Kim, PhD and Amanda M. Simanek, PhD, MPH)

Claire Pishko, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson - a multilingual guide to patients' rights in immigration custody, filling a gap where few resources exist. (with Krishna Babaria, Swathi Ramkumar and Edgar Melendrez)

Teaching Health Equity

Karan Gowda, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science - an in-person journal club drawing incoming students into the structural determinants of health. (with Melissa Chen, MD)

Krishi Korrapati, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science - bringing alternative medical traditions and the humanities into training to widen what counts as knowledge.

Madelyn Moulton, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science - a required seminar on incarceration and health, taught with lived experience, that 164 students took part in. (with Namhee Kim, PhD, Monideepa Becerra, DrPH and Melissa Chen, MD)

Sierra Nguyen, University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine - pinpointing where medical students' adolescent-health training falls short, to guide curriculum change. (with Lacey Person, MSIII and Sinduja Lakkunarajah, MD)

Equity in the Profession

Grace Hanson, University of Colorado School of Medicine - a 150-student survey toward fairer, more transparent research authorship. (with Ekshika Patel, Elizabeth Cho, Yosef Smadi, Wendy Christensen and Timothy Bernard)

Hope Horn, Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science - widening the pipeline by showing Black youth the full range of healthcare careers.

Emma Shelby, University of Colorado School of Medicine - examining how unequal research access may shape who is competitive for residency. (with Cindy Li, Jun Bai Park Chang, Giovanni Tin, Annika Witt, Steven Summers, Ammar Campwala, Aaron Dye, Jake Rehring, Wendy Christensen, Rachael Tan and Tai Lockspeiser)

Leena Ziane, The Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine at the University of Vermont - student advocacy carrying equity work from the curriculum to state child-health campaigns.

“We built this as a permanent, growing library, not a one-day event. Every year's work stays and builds on the last, so what these students are doing for their communities becomes part of a record that only gets stronger.”

- Benson Hsu, MD, founder and president