Keywords: Health Equity, Policy, Medicine

Motivation: As an aspiring physician, I know that I’ll be able to make positive changes in the health of our most marginalized communities. However, there are many limitations in healthcare that do not allow physicians to create long-term sustainable change. Obtaining a Master of Public Policy would allow me to explore the possibilities of making legislative changes that would prevent many of the health disparities that our patients encounter.

Objectives: My goal in pursuing the Master of Public Policy was to understand how policymakers think about healthcare and learn how I can apply my medical knowledge to create policies that have positive and long-lasting benefits for our marginalized communities.

Activities: During the first year of my Master of Public Policy, I took multiple courses on Econometrics, Statistics, Race Inequality, Non-Profit Organizations, and Nutrition to gain foundational knowledge. Next year, I will work on a project with a client who works on policies centered around health equity to help them tackle a policy issue.

Lessons Learned: Prior to starting the Master of Public Policy, I thought that I would be learning more about our legislative process and organizations working on exciting new projects. Although there were some aspects of the program that touched upon this, I was surprised that most of our first year was centered around econometrics and statistics. However, I recognized that these topics were foundational to understanding how the real world functions. I also did not expect there to be multiple group assignments. Although it was challenging to coordinate schedules as a dual degree student, these assignments helped me get to know my classmates better and learn from their experiences working in the real world.

Summary: Overall, the Master of Public Policy has provided me with a unique perspective on what is happening outside of the healthcare walls. Although this year was a great foundational start, I’m looking forward to the second year of the program, where I will get to work with a real organization to help them with one of their policy tasks. I can see myself applying the knowledge I’ve gained to help underserved communities by tackling the source of some disparities that cause them to have negative health outcomes. As I work with organizations, I hope to continue learning about how physicians can support their efforts so that we can address the inequities in our healthcare system together.