Alexandra Hill-Ricciuti

UConn School of Medicine

I was raised on a farm in Warren, CT, a small town in Litchfield County with more cows than people. I studied Animal Science at Cornell (BS 2016) and then pursued an MPH in Epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (MPH 2018). I also studied in Columbia’s Post-Bac program part time from 2019-2022.

During my undergrad at Cornell, I was a volunteer in a mobile medical clinic in Lima, Peru; I also founded my school’s Dance Marathon, Big Red THON. During my MPH at Columbia, I did research in the Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, studying the epidemiology of healthcare associated infections and applying big data to help with outbreak investigations. After my MPH, I began working in biotech, applying my epidemiology background to help launch novel cell therapies for hematological malignancies. Through this role, I was selected for a month-long service opportunity in Lesotho and South Africa, working directly with NGOs focused on addressing cancer disparities in the region.

What attracted me to UConn School of Medicine is its commitment to community and putting its curriculum into practice to enact health equity. This is best exemplified by the UST/AS program, which allows students to work directly with underserved and indigent patients thereby exposing them to healthcare disparities that exist in our backyard. As an epidemiologist by training, this was especially appealing to me; I hope to put public health into practice and by understanding and addressing the socioeconomic and cultural factors that may be affecting my patients’ health, I can become a more empathetic and effective future clinician.