The Yale School of Medicine (YSM) Office of Student Research (OSR) is pleased to announce that second-year YSM student Autumn Nobles has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the “Social Justice Scholars” short-term research stipend for research conducted during Summer 2020.
Many highly meritorious applications were received for consideration. The review process involved evaluation by two reviewers who were blinded to the identity of the applicants. Proposals were scored on an NIH scale that considered: relevance to social justice; innovation; and significance, rigor, and likelihood to catalyze change. Nobles’ project, “Social Determinants of Health Screening and Care Coordination Visits among Emergency Room High Utilizers,” was selected based on social justice focus, creativity, and potential to catalyze change in the New Haven community by applying well developed study instruments to a local population. The overall objective of her project is to determine whether care coordination reduces unmet social needs related to health in the population served by the Fair Haven Community Health Center.
OSR recognizes that YSM medical students have a strong and growing interest in health equity and social justice. Many students wish to focus their research in these domains, including structural racism, social determinants, incarceration, access to health care, and public policy, among others. OSR encourages and embraces these efforts.
This year’s award was made possible through the support of a generous donor from the YSM Class of 2006. OSR hopes to expand the Social Justice Scholars program in the coming years.