Each year the Hartford Business Journal announces the winners of its prestigious Health Care Heroes Awards from across the state who are outstanding leaders in the health care industry and the epitome of a ‘hero.’
One of the 2024 Health Care Heroes honored on Nov. 7 was Nivedha Natchiappan, a soon-to-be future doctor and graduate this May of UConn School of Medicine.
Natchiappan is a part of the student-powered UConn Health Leaders (UCHL) leadership team, a volunteer organization that trains pre-health students to screen patients for and address social determinants of health (SDoH), which are social risk factors linked to health outcomes (i.e., food insecurity).
The Hartford Business Journal recently did this Q & A interview with Natchiappan:
Q. What have been your significant contributions to your organization in the past year?
A. I’ve been extremely fortunate for the opportunities I’ve received through UCHL. I’ve personally trained over 100 volunteers who have gone on to screen more than 10,000 patients across Connecticut for SDoH barriers. I also created a gynecologic oncology project aimed at identifying and addressing SDoH needs in newly diagnosed cancer patients. This has been especially meaningful because these patients not only have a higher burden of unmet social needs, but SDoH barriers also make it harder to complete their therapy. The hope is to ease the burden patients face while giving them the best chance to complete their cancer treatments.
Q. Tell us about a challenge in your job that you were able to overcome.
A. The biggest challenge is seeing patient needs and feeling helpless, whether it’s talking with a family who ran out of food as a UCHL volunteer, or sitting with a patient who can’t afford their insulin as a medical student. To overcome requires creativity, commitment and knowledge of your community’s resources.
Q. What’s your next major goal and/or challenge?
A. The next stop on my professional journey is residency, where I hope to continue this work. Additionally, several of my UCHL pre-health mentees — many of whom are first-generation in medicine — have applied to medical school, so another major goal of mine is to celebrate their acceptances in the upcoming months.
Q. Residence?
A. Avon.
Q. Favorite way to relax?
A. Spending time with friends and family.
Q. Hobbies?
A. Knitting, losing to my little brother in basketball, (mild) hiking.
Q. Favorite movie?
A. “Cars 2.”
Q. Currently reading?
A. “Educated,” by Tara Westover.
Q. Favorite cause?
A. Health equity.
Q. Fun fact about you?
A. I won’t eat chocolate unless it’s in cake or ice cream form.
