Samhita Gurrala

UConn School of Medicine

I was born in Burlington, Massachusetts but moved to Grafton, Massachusetts when I was five and have lived there since. I attended University of Connecticut at Storrs and earned a B.S. in nutritional science and a B.A. in women’s, gender and sexuality studies.

As an undergraduate, I volunteered on numerous occasions, including with the Collegiate Health Service Corps, UConn Community Outreach, and the Seed to Plant Program in New York City. I have served as a summer clinical volunteer at the Akwaaba Free Clinic in Worcester, Massachusetts, and, in the Winter of 2018/19, I had the opportunity, thanks to the Atlantis Fellowship, to shadow Portuguese doctors as they worked in the OB/GYN and ENT departments.

I have been interested in joining the Urban Service Track/AHEC Scholars (UST/AS) Program since attending some of the program’s events as an undergraduate, where we discussed topics about which I was then ignorant. As a medical student, I believe joining the UST/AS Program will help me become a more understanding physician, able to provide excellent, unbiased health care for those who need it most. Our society faces numerous problems that result in certain populations, especially rural and urban underserved populations, suffering much more than others. I believe that access to health care is a basic human right, and I, fortunate as I am to pursue a career in medicine, want to make it a practical one; I can best do this by supplementing my medical education with education on our healthcare system’s systemic issues. I’m particularly passionate about caring for women of color and the LGBTQ+ community, which have been historically failed by health care. I am confident that joining the UST/AS Program will allow me grow as a medical student beyond what other programs would allow.