Talk to me about: Civic Leadership Capstone, Rich Family Endowment, Alternative Spring Break (ASB), Houston Policy Challenge, Civic Immersion

Major: Health Sciences, Social Policy Analysis

Minor: Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Medical Humanities, Certificate in Civic Leadership 

Hey y’all! My name is Soumya and I’m a senior at Wiess studying health sciences and social policy analysis. My CCL journey began during the COVID-19 pandemic when I was first introduced to social justice and community engagement as a participant in Civic Owlets (now known as Civic Immersion). During my sophomore year, I co-site led a ASB program that focused on exploring disparities in mental health at the intersection of homelessness, incarceration, and racial capitalism. As a part of my civic leadership capstone, I furthered this interest in health disparities by collaborating with the Indian American Cancer Network (IACAN), a Houston-based non-profit, and researchers from MD Anderson to address breast cancer screening disparities in South Asian immigrant communities. These experiences inspired me to pursue a career in medicine with a focus in community health, patient advocacy, and health policy.

Outside of the CCL, I work as a Science and Technology Policy intern at the Baker Institute, field training assistant in Rice EMS, and a mental health researcher at the Veterans Affairs. Please feel free to reach out about anything (CCL programming, civic professionalism as a premed, life at Rice, etc.)! My email is ss220@rice.edu.