Orozco Scott, a second-year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, received the Latino Medical Student Association Northeast Regional Conference, Dr. Emilio Carrillo Award for Excellence in Research for her project on the PROGRESS cohort
Orozco Scott, a second-year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, received the Latino Medical Student Association Northeast Regional Conference, Dr. Emilio Carrillo Award for Excellence in Research for her project on the PROGRESS cohort: Postpartum Depression and Respiratory Outcomes. The research was conducted under the mentorship of Dr. Maria Rosa and Dr. Leon Hsu. A short Spotlight Interview:
What is your position? What year are you and when do you graduate?
I am a second year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who was selected to work on a summer research project with the PROGRESS cohort through our Global Health Program. I intend to graduate in 2023.
Tell us about your research.
As I was born and raised in Los Angeles and grew up with asthma, I was personally interested in studying respiratory health in urban environments. I am also passionate about evidence driven public health solutions and through my work as a case-manager at a children’s hospital have found there to be a devastating lack of resources for the health and wellness of parents from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. That is why I chose to look at the association between maternal postpartum depression and respiratory outcomes in their offspring. The idea was to build upon a body of knowledge that supports taking care of the health of parents as tied to the health of their children.
Environmental health research will be a crucial tool in helping our society navigate rapidly changing global climates. Climate change brings not only mass migrations but also requires that we find excellent ways to care for our populations under rapidly changing environmental circumstances.
Paloma Orozco Scott
What excites you about environmental health research today?
Environmental health research will be a crucial tool in helping our society navigate rapidly changing global climates. Climate change brings not only mass migrations but also requires that we find excellent ways to care for our populations under rapidly changing environmental circumstances. I am excited by working trans-nationally on environmental health research to better understand how to direct resources and policy towards those that are most in need and where those interventions will make the greatest impact. From this research project I hope to continue learning about the causal mechanisms between maternal anxiety and depression and future respiratory outcomes for their children.
Can you share any interesting experiences/anecdotes about your work with Maria and Leon, or PROGRESS in general?
The COVID-19 pandemic greatly changed my summer research project, as initially I was slated to visit Mexico City and assist with data collection and home visits. This summer I worked closely with Maria and Leon, all via zoom. They were incredibly understanding, kind, and supportive with me as I learned how to use RStudio to run analysis on my data. While coding was something I had never planned to learn Maria and Leon helped me through every step and I am so grateful for having learned this new skill.
What do you want to do when you graduate?
Coming to medical school I had planned to work in primary care, either as a Family Physician or Internal Medicine. I love the challenge of the generalist, to hold the entire body system and its interactions in mind when meeting with a patient in front of you. During my time at Sinai I’ve worked closely with nephrologists and am passionate about the advances in dialysis treatment and access for underserved or excluded populations, such as the unhoused or uninsured. I know that whatever field I end up in it will be something where I am able to work closely with my patients and provide their health care over many years of their lives.
How did you choose Mount Sinai?
I was accepted to the FlexMed program in 2016, which guaranteed my position in the Med School class of 2023. I was able to study Ethnic Studies, Chicanx Studies, and Performance Studies during my undergrad and took a year to pursue a Master’s of Arts in American Studies where I researched and wrote on new ways of approaching medical ethics. Sinai is the perfect school for me as I am deeply supported and encouraged here to pursue a range of activities from the humanities to activism, and I found that the Global Health Department here provided me with the opportunity to research a topic that is personally important to me but more broadly related to global health justice and population level buen vivir.