Ryan Carrera

UConn School of Dental Medicine

I was born in Rockville, Maryland and raised in both Silver Spring, Maryland and Burtonsville, Maryland. In 2019, I graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science degree in nutritional sciences.

I have volunteer experience helping young people from underserved populations make the stressful transition from high school to college, and promoting early awareness about college for middle school students from New York and Connecticut. I’ve also had the pleasure of feeding homeless individuals through several organizations, which experiences opened my eyes to the necessity of improving access to healthcare for many of America’s underserved communities.

While I want to devote my career to serving those who lack the resources to support themselves, I believe that I should serve the underserved before graduation, as well as after. The Urban Service Track/AHEC Scholars Program will give me the opportunity to connect with people and to improve their healthcare, all while working and learning with a compassionate group of professionals from a variety of healthcare disciplines. This interdisciplinary education opportunity will prepare me to overcome the challenges I will face in improving dental care for those in need, even those apparently insuperable cultural barriers separating a dentist from his patient.