Medical Students awarded the i4Kids 2022 Medical Student Scholarship!
i4Kids and Dean Anantha Shekhar are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2022 i4Kids Medical Student Scholarship. Each awardee will receive $1,000 and be offered a mentorship opportunity with i4Kids faculty.
Congratulations to our awardees!
Courtney Baldwin of Pittsburgh, PA is a 1st year medical student. She graduated cum laude from Case Western Reserve University with a degree in Nutritional Biochemistry & Metabolism and Art History in 2021. She is the Health Policy and Advocacy Chair for the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Student National Medical Association chapter and loves volunteering with the Homewood Home Visits. She plans on going into pediatrics and is interested in a number of subspecialties including, hematology/oncology, emergency medicine, and endocrinology.
Julia DiNicola of Pittsburgh, PA is a 1st year medical student. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2020 with minors in Chemistry and Medicine, Literature, & Culture. For her gap year, she worked in a lab researching gene therapy for sickle cell disease at the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. She intends to go into pediatrics and is excited to explore different subspecialties.
Vito Galati of Fairless Hills, PA is a 2nd year medical student. He is a proud first-generation college graduate and is the first in his family to enter the medical field. He graduated with a B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh in 2019 with a minor in Chemistry. He intends to go into Pediatrics and is excited to explore possible subspecialties.
Olivia Legan of Los Angeles, CA is a 3rd year medical student and first in her family to enter the medical field. She graduated with her B.A. in Psychology and Spanish from Kenyon College in 2017, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She then worked at Columbia University Head Start, advocating for undocumented families and their young children. She completed Bryn Mawr College's Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program in 2019. While at Pitt Med, Olivia has researched parent education in the pediatric CICU and the impact of infant ACEs on health in middle childhood. She will be applying to Pediatrics residency this year and is excited for a career anchored in child advocacy and health equity.
Arjun Mittal of Canonsburg, PA is a 1st year medical student. He is a first generation medical student and graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Molecular Biology and minors in chemistry and computer science from the University of Pittsburgh in 2020, followed by a gap year of bioinformatics research at the NIH. He loves volunteering with kids and playing with his niece and intends to go into pediatric oncology.
Chiazam Omenyi of Ellicott City, MD is a 1st year medical student. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2018 with a degree in Biology and minors in Chemistry and Cognitive Science. Before coming to medical school, she worked in community-based clinical research. She loves volunteering for the Light of Life Soup Kitchen and intends to go into pediatrics with a possible subspecialty in adolescent medicine.
Adriana Racki of Middlebury, CT is a 1st year medical student and the first in her family to enter medicine. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with an Honors Biological Sciences degree from the University of Connecticut. She received her master's degree in 2019 from the University of Pittsburgh in the Biomedical Sciences. During her gap years she worked in a Cardiology Outpatient Practice in an underserved area, volunteered in the Cuddlers Program at Magee-Womens Hospital, and completed research in the Cell Biology Department at the University of Pittsburgh investigating neurodegenerative diseases. She intends to pursue a career in pediatrics with an interest in specializing in neonatology.
Paul Rodriguez Jr. of Hialeah, FL is a 1st year medical student and the first in his family to pursue a career in the medical field. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Economics and a minor in Chemistry from the University of Florida in 2021. He loves translating with SALUD at the Birmingham Free Clinic as well as coaching youth basketball. He is currently exploring which pediatric subspecialty he would like to pursue.
Ashley Whited of Carrolltown, PA is a second year medical student and a first-generation college graduate. She graduated the University of Pittsburgh in 2018 with degrees in Neuroscience and Psychology, and later graduated with a Masters of Biomedical Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2019. She has a passion for patient advocacy and is pursuing a career in pediatric rare disease, hoping to bring more awareness to the community.