Jacqueline | Applied Mathematics; International and Public Affairs (Policy and Governance)
Biography
Jackie is passionate about making education more accessible and equitable for students at Brown and in the Providence community. She serves as a student representative on the College Curriculum Committee (CCC), a Math Teaching Assistant, and Treasurer for PLME’s Child Health Advocacy Program (CHAP). She has been involved in research to improve physician education and confidence in prescribing PrEP, a preventative HIV medication, particularly for LGBTQ youth. Outside academics, she is a club tennis captain, avid music enthusiast, and loves exploring new foods with friends.
The flexibility of the Open Curriculum and the PLME program has allowed me to explore my interests in healthcare policy and medical education. I have thoroughly enjoyed my classes in US public policy and the history of our education system, which have helped me contextualize the biases embedded in medical training. I believe that understanding these historical and systemic factors will allow me to be a much stronger advocate for patients. This spring, I am excited to study abroad in Copenhagen, where I will learn about the Danish welfare healthcare system from a comparative perspective.
As a former competitive tennis player, I have both witnessed and experienced the impact injuries can have on a person. I have also become an avid WNBA fan and noticed the prevalence of ACL injuries, particularly in women’s sports. Female athletes are 2 to 8 times more likely to tear their ACLs than male athletes, yet most medical studies still consist of mostly male participants. Among female athletes, ACL injuries are also more likely to occur during certain stages of the menstrual cycle, but it took until 2025 for FIFA to fund a major research study into this area. At a time where women’s bodies are increasingly legislated and regulated, I believe sports are a celebration of resilience.
Learning Korean has always been a lifelong goal of mine. Without the PLME program, I am confident that taking a language class that meets every day would have been very difficult, so I am very grateful for the time and space for this elective. Within a semester, I was able to communicate the basics, and after a year, I was fortunate enough to participate in a language immersion program in Korea. Through the process of learning a new language, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the importance of accessible and accurate medical translation. At Brown, I continued taking Korean for four semesters, and I plan to remain a lifelong learner of the language.
Through PLME, we had the opportunity to attend many Whole Patient events. These are dinners where our entire class, Meiklejohns (upperclassman peer advisors), and PLME Deans share a meal and hear from both a physician and their patient about their meaningful, long-term relationship. We heard from a pediatric sickle cell specialist, transplant urology surgeon, and many more. Hearing these experiences was deeply moving and fostered a shared commitment to becoming physicians who prioritize patients’ overall health and lived experience rather than just the treatment of a clinical disease. These conversations highlight the human side of medicine, which can be too easily lost within the day to day bureaucracy. It did not dehumanize nor romanticize the profession, just show it as it is: a privilege.