Shruti Kumar, one of the inaugural GFF sponsorship recipients, just completed the bachelor’s degree portion of her six-year BA/MD program at the University of Missouri—Kansas City (UMKC) and earned her white coat, as she enters medical school. For the past two years, Shruti has been committed to two organizations that make a difference in Kansas City-area lives and have added to her academic medical training with hands-on experience. The first is Sojourner Health Clinic, a UMKC-student-run, free, mobile health clinic for underserved and underrepresented populations. The clinic sets up each Sunday in the downtown area to see patients.
To learn how involved students innovatively construct the clinic, watch the video below (which also features Shruti):
Shruti has participated in the clinic, as well as been the organization’s public relations representative; she is now stepping into a new role as the clinic’s junior financial chair. She has also been involved with the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association, which hosts annual health fairs. Through this organization, Shruti gained confidence in working with upper-year medical students and patients, and she has even had the opportunity to serve as a Hindi interpreter on occasion. She tells us that classes have been challenging, as expected, but that she’s kept “chugging along” due, in large measure, to all the support she’s gotten from family, friends, and folks like the GFF who have unwavering faith in her.