Patrick Lau

UConn School of Medicine, Class of 2021

I was born and raised in Farmington, Connecticut.  I received a BS in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Connecticut in 2016.  I also received a MPH from the University of Connecticut in 2017.

In undergrad, I was the Program Director for Food Recovery, for which I led the collection and distribution of surplus food to be donated to the Covenant Soup Kitchen in Willimantic. I also volunteered with the Windham Hospital Paramedics. Currently, I volunteer as a driver for the Farmington Senior Center and as an Undergraduate Coordinator for the Migrant Farm Worker Clinics. I also work at the Institute for Community Research in Hartford as a research assistant in the HIV Community Viral Load Study.

In college I took a number of classes on public health, which led to my interest in the subject. I quickly realized that public health and medicine are deeply imbricated, yet their connection is not readily grasped by the public. There are, for example, many social determinants of health that disproportionately affect urban, underserved populations. I applied to the Urban Service Track to be in the vanguard of health practitioners learning about and helping these populations. The UST provides a unique educational opportunity to make me a maximally competent physician, capable of providing care to all populations. Armed with new knowledge and training from the UST, I hope to join with fellow health professionals from other disciplines to minimize health care disparities.