2025 Copello Health Advocacy Fellowship

Dr. Adily N. Elmi is a second-year resident physician at University Hospitals/Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. He earned his medical degree from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and his MPH with a focus on environmental health from Indiana University-Bloomington. Dr. Elmi is deeply committed to environmental justice, as evidenced by his master’s thesis on the East Chicago Lead Crisis, which highlighted the often-overlooked impact of lead toxicity. His experience during this crisis underscored the importance of advocating for marginalized communities through grassroots civic engagement. Dr. Elmi’s professional interests encompass refugee health, enhancing healthcare access in underserved areas, and conducting research in gastroenterology. He currently volunteers with Building Hope in the City, focusing on refugee resettlement in Cleveland, OH. With a profound passion for gastroenterology, he aspires to pursue a fellowship following residency. Recognizing that individual success is inseparable from resilient communities, Dr. Elmi is dedicated to advancing this principle through advocacy at both national and international levels.

Noa Erlitzki is an MD/PhD student in the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. She is a graduate of Georgia State University, from which she received her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in 2018 and her Master of Science in Biophysical Chemistry in 2019. Prior to embarking on her career as a physician-scientist, Noa was a professionally trained ballet dancer and spent time at both the Perm State Choreographic School and the Novosibirsk State Ballet College in Russia. Now, as an MD/PhD student, her research integrates across biochemistry, epigenetics, and innovative biotechnologies, and is informed by her clinical interests in gastroenterology and immunology. Noa’s foray into advocacy began in 2020 with writing letters to voters and has continued to grow since then. In the years that followed, Noa has been increasingly involved with Doctors for America, helping to establish the Pennsylvania chapter, engaging in collaborative GOTV efforts, and developing her advocacy skillset through her engagement with DFA-led initiatives.

Hailey is a third-year MD/MPH student at Tufts University School of Medicine. She is originally from Charlottesville, VA and attended college at Emory University, where she first developed her drive to address social inequities and engage in advocacy work through her work co-leading the Emory Helpline and her sociology research in ethnoracial health disparities. Since starting her medical education at Tufts, she has centered her experiences around policy and advocacy through the Tufts Health Justice Scholars Program, the American Medical Association, Massachusetts Medical Society, research with Children’s HealthWatch, Socially Responsible Surgery, and Doctors for America. Outside of medical school, she spends her time singing, going to concerts, exploring coffeeshops, and spending time by the water. She is excited to further her work with DFA as a Copello Fellow and continue to grow her advocacy skills and experiences with this incredible cohort!

Jacques Halabi is a gastroenterology fellow at University Hospitals/Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He obtained his Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine degrees at the American University of Beirut. He then completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, during which he studied the effect of Zika virus on the male and female reproductive tract. Following a short career in pathology, Jacques ultimately pursued a residency in internal medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. During this time, he developed a passion for health policy and advocacy and caring for under-resourced patient populations. He is especially interested in promoting increased access to care. In his free time, Jacques enjoys skiing, running and playing soccer.

Dr. Kerr received her medical degree from the University of Utah School of Medicine after receiving her PhD in neurophysiology from the University of Virginia. She was an undergraduate at Yale University, graduating in 1977. After medical school, she completed her Pediatric and Neurology (Child/Adolescent) residencies at the University of Utah. She has been a physician at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Salt Lake City and the University of Utah Health Sciences Center in the Division of Pediatric Neurology. Interests were quality improvement for our division as part of a five year grant from the NIH. She is especially interested in neuromuscular disease and headache. She is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of Utah. She was a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah in the Division of Pediatric Neurology at Primary Children’s Hospital. She is very interested in helping families of children with special health care needs negotiate primary and subspecialty care. She was a Co-director of the Headache Clinic at Primary Children’s Hospital and the Neuromuscular Clinic at Shriners Hospital. She is on the Clinical and Scientific Advisory Boards of the Board of Directors of the Cornelia de Lange Syndrome Foundation.  She has been a writer for 15 years for the Medical Home Portal (medicalhomeportal.org).

Dr. Shreya Mandava is a PGY-1 Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Resident Physician at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. She is a recent graduate of the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, VA. She developed a passion for health policy and advocacy during medical school and engaged in leadership roles at the local, state, and national level, including as a Region Chair in the American Medical Association (AMA) Medical Student Section and on the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) Board of Directors. Shreya has advocated upon and engaged with legislators on a wide variety of topics including improving access to care for vulnerable populations, pharmaceutical affordability, and Medicaid reimbursement rates. She has also cultivated an interest in physician wellbeing and burnout reduction and served as a founding member and inaugural Chair for the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation Medical Student Coalition. Her career goals are to provide high-quality, equitable surgical care while influencing policy and legislation affecting both patients and the physician workforce. Outside of medicine, Shreya enjoys spin cycling, listening to audiobooks/podcasts, thrifting, hiking, and traveling.

Olivia is currently a Chief Resident in Internal Medicine at Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center where she completed her internal medicine residency in May 2024. She completed her M.D. degree at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan in June 2021. Olivia completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in May 2017. She is interested in pulmonology, critical care, social determinants of health, social and environmental justice, and the intersections of public and environmental health. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors, watching Cleveland sports, listening to music, and spending time with her family and friends!

Natalie Robiou is a pediatrician working at FQHCs in Philadelphia, PA. She completed her Bachelors of Science in Biological Sciences with a minor in Environmental Studies at Fordham University and received her medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. She went on to her pediatric training at Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University/Nemours Children’s Hospital where she was awarded the Resident Humanitarian Award presented to a graduating resident who demonstrates outstanding service to others. Her professional interests include refugee and immigrant care, health advocacy, weight management and access to reproductive health.

M. Elle Saine, MD, PhD, MA is an Infectious Diseases fellow physician in the Physician Scientist Training Pathway at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Saine’s research uses a theory-based approach to explore how stigma informs healthcare policy, barriers in access to healthcare, and health equity. As part of this investigation, Dr. Saine studies the intersection of infectious disease epidemics, such as viral hepatitis (hepatitis B and C) and HIV/AIDS, and the opioid epidemic. She is particularly interested in developing novel mixed-methods approaches within pharmacoepidemiology. Her dissertation research employed a patient-centered mixed-methods approach to investigate the role of disease-related stigma as a barrier in access to healthcare among patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Her postdoctoral work builds on this research to evaluate stigma as a barrier in access to care for patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV), with specific focus on structural stigmas. Clinically, Dr. Saine is particularly passionate about caring for patients with HIV and viral hepatitis, and has a specific interest in ID/addiction medicine. Dr. Saine received her MA in Skeletal Biology from NYU (2012), where she trained in forensic anthropology and human rights work with the New York Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF). She received her PhD in Epidemiology in 2019 from the University of Pennsylvania and her MD from the Perelman School of Medicine in 2021. She completed residency in Internal Medicine at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 2023. She is the former Student Council Chair for the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology. She currently is serving in her second term on the House Staff Governing Council Executive Board for UPHS Graduate Medical Education as the Communications and IT Liaison.

Whitney Stuard Sambhariya MD, PhD is a first-year Ophthalmology resident at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Throughout her years she has continually worked to break down barriers to healthcare and advance equity through both policy and research. She is currently a member of the American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation Board of Directors, a group that oversees efforts to promote public health as well as a Maryland Medical Society Alternate Delegate to the AMA. Of note, she has served on the Dallas County Medical Society Board of Directors, and the Society of Student-Run Free Clinics Board of Trustees. She has served on the Mayor’s Committee on Persons with Disabilities Fort Worth, RFS Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, MSS Committee on Disability Affairs, MedChi Council on Inclusion, Diversity, Empowerment, and Advocacy, Baltimore Committee on Public Health, Medchi Subcommittee on Public Health, and founded UTSW’s Disability Working Group. She recently received the Excellence in Promoting Diversity and Inclusion from the Award AMA-MSS and was awarded the AMA Foundation Leadership Development Institute. Part of the work she did to receive this award was writing policy and editorials advocating for a review of the current FDA policy that prevents men who have sex with men from donating corneal tissue for transplant, which is not founded in scientific evidence. A few of her projects over the years included creating a STEM Education and Empowerment course as a Schweitzer Graduate Fellow to promote STEM for young girls. She also began a Disability Advocacy in Healthcare elective that enrolled medical students from across the United States to learn about how to best serve their patients with disabilities no matter their subspecialty. She has been invited to speak about advocacy and outreach at events such as Physicians of the Future Summit, AMA Foundation, National Honors Societies, and others. She has also helped found the Brother Bills Helping Hands clinic, which was awarded the 2023 McGovern Award, and worked to establish care in an underserved population of Dallas. She further worked to help establish the Paul Quinn College Primary Care Project at UTSW and provided medical information sessions and learning to students. She served as the director of our Hep B Free Project, the largest student-run Hepatitis screening program in the nation, where she co-authored and won a $10,000 Hepatitis B United Grant and APAMSA Chapter Award in 2018. In 2016, their team was recognized by the White House for chronic viral hepatitis screening and for raising awareness. She continued this passion for justice in access to medical care for hepatitis by writing policies on access to hepatitis C treatment for the Texas Medical Association and the American Medical Association. With this advocacy and the work of many others, the law in Texas was changed in 2022 to allow easier access to hepatitis C treatment. Overall, Dr. Sambhariya has written over nearly 40 policies or reports for medical societies and is continually involved in advocacy activities. Dr. Sambhariya, as a resident, continues this passion for advocacy through her continual involvement at the local, state, and national levels.

Anusha Singh, BS in Neuroscience, is a second-year medical student at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, starring in the new MSNBC documentary Periodical, which features her advocacy work. She founded Period OSU in 2018 to drive menstrual equity policy change in Ohio. Since then, Anusha has spearheaded grassroots campaigns to repeal tampon taxes in Ohio and Michigan and secured $5 million for free period products in all Ohio schools, creating the largest funded period program in the country. Anusha co-led the first grassroots #NationalPeriodDay campaign in 2019, mobilizing tens of thousands of youth across all 50 states, to rally and pressure lawmakers to prioritize the passage of menstrual equity legislation. Her campaign influenced five presidential candidates to tweet in support of this issue, making her campaign a 2nd trending topic on Twitter. She has led policy boot camps nationwide, empowering youth activists to champion menstrual equity legislation and similarly drive policy change in their states. Her advocacy has gained national and international recognition, including a TEDx talk, testimonies before D.C. lawmakers, and presentations at the Mexico Gender Equity Conference and USC Own It Summit. Her research on menstrual justice was published in the Harvard Medical School Primary Care Review. In 2023, Anusha was elected as the Midwest Regional Alternate Delegate for the American Medical Association (AMA) and leads the Physician Action Network chapter at OSUCOM in Ohio. She authored a resolution for free period products in Ohio schools and organized an Ohio-wide medical student lobby day on various advocacy issues. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Hill, Columbus Dispatch, The New York Times, NBC4, and Newsweek.

Dani Sychowski is a medical student at Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is an active member of the Community Health and Prevention impact area’s gun violence prevention subcommittee and has been involved in gun violence prevention advocacy for the last few years at the local and national levels. Dani is also passionate about bringing Stop The Bleed training to her community, helping to train over 100 people during medical school. Currently, her career goals are to be an emergency medicine physician and to incorporate advocacy at every step along the way. She enjoys Star Wars, visiting the ocean to look for shark teeth, and baking.

Colin Wilson is from Youngstown, Ohio. He attended The University of Akron, where he obtained hid Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering. He then obtained his Masters of Science in Biomedical Engineering at Cleveland State University. He currently attends Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Cleveland Campus and recently completed his third year of Medical School. Colin completed his clinical rotations at Cleveland Clinic Akron General, where he served on their First Generation Medical Professional Committee and oversaw their mentorship program. Colin is involved with their Rural and Urban Scholars Pathway at OUHCOM, a program dedicated to preparing medical students for careers serving underserved patient populations in rural and urban settings. Through advocacy, Colin has been involved as a student organizer for Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights around the passage of Ohio’s Constitutional Amendment to protect Reproductive Rights in the state. He is also involved with Gun Violence research with Akron Children’s Hospital and hopes to continue his advocacy in these spaces. Some of his other hobbies include cooking, sports, music, spending time outdoors with friends, traveling, mentorship, and trying new things! Currently, Colin is unsure of what specialty of medicine he would like to pursue after medical school, but is leaning towards Family Medicine.