Pooja Uppalapati

UConn School of Medicine

I was born in Hyderabad, India but have grown up in Stamford/Milford Conn. I graduated from UConn in 2012 with a B.S. in biological sciences and took a gap year before medical school. In 2012 I volunteered as a research assistant with the Yale School of Public Health through the CT Women’s Health Project (teen pregnancy prevention) and CARE (obesity prevention). I took a gap year after college partly because I wanted to work directly with people instead of sitting in class. I developed an intense interest in women’s rights and reproductive justice. Although women are not usually thought of as an underserved population, women of all races and cultures face hardships that their male counterparts might not. Many women have trouble gaining access to education, child care, and health care. A huge gap in sexual education and family planning resources can also lead to significant mental, physical, and financial stresses on women and the community. A great way to help women is through societal supports and access to health care. I would love to see women be able to use health care facilities more often for important tests like annual pap smears, STI tests, and mammograms. My time at the YSPH also showed me how important education can be as a preventive measure. Children can learn healthy practices to prevent obesity, and we can decrease the number of teen pregnancies through education and access to family planning. There is a high correlation between health and education and one should never be considered without the other. Hopefully, with UST, I can learn how to turn my ideas into programs and initiatives that eventually give all my patients and the community opportunities to learn how to pursue healthy lifestyles.