Anastasia Barros

UConn School of Medicine, Class of 2020

I was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Cheshire, Connecticut. I have a BS in Chemistry and a BA in Psychology from Lehigh University.

As part of Alpha Phi Omega at Lehigh University, I organized and participated in community service events on campus and in the community. I tutored ESOL students at Broughal Middle School, a school in an underserved area of Bethlehem. As a patient navigator at the HEARTS Clinic, I attended monthly clinics and patient appointments while focusing on the social side of medicine.

At the HEARTS Clinic I saw first-hand the social barriers people faced in acquiring adequate health care and, as a result, decided I wanted to focus my medical career on helping my patients overcome those barriers and access the health care they needed. When applying to medical schools, I looked for institutions and programs that trained their students in both medical practice and social engagement. The Urban Service Track at the UConn School of Medicine caught my attention as precisely the type of program I was looking for. Participation in the UST will improve my knowledge of and skill in working in settings with limited resources and with populations who lack adequate health care while allowing me to give back to the community. The UST will help me become the physician I planned and plan to become, one best able to help underserved patients and minimize gaps between populations in healthcare access.