2026 Copello Health Advocacy Fellowship

Inas Abuali is a hematologist and oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Alexandria in Egypt in 2008, and later immigrated to the United States where she completed a residency in internal medicine at Saint Agnes Healthcare in Baltimore, Maryland, followed by a hematology and oncology fellowship at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. 

She is a dedicated physician-advocate, committed to providing equitable and accessible patient care, training future generations of physicians, and serving her community. 

Saramarie Azzun is a second-year medical student at the University of Oklahoma (OU) College of Medicine – Tulsa. Born and raised in Oklahoma, she is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants and is passionate about advancing health equity and improving care for underserved communities. At OU-Tulsa, she serves as Vice President of her chapter Student National Medical Association and President of the Black Student Association. She is a current fellow member of the Girls Leading Our World (GLOW) Global Cohort through Women Empowering Nations, where she collaborates with women leaders to gain leadership skills. Saramarie is a current Albert Schweitzer Fellow, where she co-leads a culinary medicine project focused on nutrition education for patients recovering from substance use disorders. This past year, she was selected as an Emerging Leader Institute Scholar through the American Academy of Family Physicians, where she will be developing a community-based project to gain leadership skills and drive equity-focused change within healthcare systems. Outside of medicine, Saramarie is a competitive rock climber, 5K runner, and committed mentor to pre-medical and medical students across the country.

Tina Bharani is a clinical fellow in minimally invasive and bariatric surgery at the University of Iowa. Dr. Bharani obtained her medical school education from Weill-Cornell Qatar, where she was among the top 1% of students in her graduating class. She then went on to complete her general surgery training at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by the Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, where she graduated from in June 2025. Between her residency years, she took a dedicated academic year to pursue her passion for metabolic surgery and nutrition and completed a Clinical Nutrition Fellowship at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston. Dr. Bharani has carried out rigorous historical and political analysis on the history of nutrition labeling. Her work established the importance of nutrition labeling policies on public health and was awarded with the Congressman Moakley history grant by Suffolk University. Dr. Bharani’s recent research efforts have focused on quality improvement by evaluating trends and outcomes in metabolic surgery. Her research has won numerous awards including the New Practitioner Award by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, Clinical Excellence in Research by the New England Surgical Society, Emerging Physician Leader Award by HealthCare Without Harm, and the Ansel Adams Research Fellowship by the University of Arizona. Outside of medicine, Tina loves to play table tennis, cook, read and write poetry, hike, and spend time with her family.

Jared Boyce is originally from Melville, NY. He is an MD-PhD Candidate in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UWSMPH). He earned his B.A. in Neuroscience from Dartmouth College, where he also minored in the Anthropology of Global Health. He earned his ScM in Medical Sciences from Brown University. 

Jared is interested in becoming a child psychiatrist, specifically focused on refugee/asylee and minority children, and global mental health. After learning about his grandmother’s traumatic upbringing, Jared began to wonder whether this played a role in her vascular dementia diagnosis. This ignited his interest in becoming a physician-scientist and studying childhood trauma. His research interests lie at the nexus of molecular neurobiology and social determinants of health – specifically, he is interested in studying the neurobiological and epigenetic mechanisms involved in early life trauma and comorbidities with psychiatric and chronic diseases. Understanding these mechanisms may lead to novel therapeutic interventions early in life that can lessen the morbidity and mortality associated with chronic diseases both early and later in life.

Beyond the patient’s bedside and lab bench, Jared advocates for children and immigrant’s rights and health through the American Medical Association, Wisconsin Medical Society, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics, Physicians for Human Rights, and Doctors for America. He accomplishes this by blending medicine and neurobiology. 

Joel Dumonsau is a second-year medical student at Creighton University School of Medicine in
Omaha, Nebraska. Originally from Superior, Wisconsin, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political
Science from the University of Minnesota before working in the U.S. Senate, on multiple political campaigns, and in executive communications. His experiences in advocacy and public service continue to inform his commitment to advancing health equity and justice through
medicine.

At Creighton, Joel serves as president of Phi Rho Sigma and is actively involved in the American Medical Association, where he holds leadership roles as both chapter and region policy chair and serves on several Medical Student Section committees. He is also deeply engaged in student-led free clinics, working with marginalized patients including immigrants, unhoused individuals, new mothers, and the uninsured—efforts that have strengthened his dedication to systemic change in healthcare delivery.

Joel is involved in clinical research focused on gynecologic cancers and palliative care for patients with life-limiting diagnoses. In his free time, he enjoys supporting FC Barcelona, singing choral music, traveling, visiting national parks, and participating in canine sports with his
Jack Russell Terrier, Jett.

Following graduation, Joel plans to pursue an internal medicine residency and a fellowship in hematology-oncology.

Rosemary Falama was born and raised in Botswana to parents from Sierra Leone who sought refuge there amid political instability and civil unrest. She is a graduate of the inaugural class at the University of Botswana—the country’s first medical school—and holds a postgraduate diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Rosemary is currently a rising second year internal medicine resident at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon, where she is part of the Global Health Pathway. She works with underserved populations, caring for her community’s most vulnerable individuals, many of whom face complex medical needs compounded by adverse social determinants of health.

During her residency training, she explored solutions to improving community health of incarcerated populations through advocacy. Her clinical and public health experience spans urban and remote settings across Botswana, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United States. Additionally, she contributed to an award-winning COVID-19 crowdsourcing initiative through the London School of Hygiene that supported global pandemic response efforts, and participated in a humanitarian mission assessing health system needs in war-torn Ukraine to help prioritize limited health resources. Her postgraduate research has focused on palliative care access in under-resourced communities and on Nodding syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that devastates a rural population’s health and economy. Across her work, Rosemary is driven by a commitment to global health equity, medical education, and system-level innovation for marginalized communities which have been proposed to international audiences.

Outside of medicine, Rosemary enjoys Anime, ice baths, hot yoga, nature walks, and international travel. She lives in Portland with her son, Seth—and their two affectionate indoor cats, Ocean and Zen.

Akul Gupta is an incoming medical student at the A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona. He graduated from the University of South Florida with his Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences and a minor in Public Service and Leadership. His professional interests include developing community-based interventions in rural areas, making health knowledge more accessible through plain-language mediums of communication, and improving humanitarian systems for the delivery of care in conflict zones. Most recently, Akul has served as a legislative intern in the United States Congress, youth delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, and advocacy intern at Physicians for Human Rights.

Anmol Gupta is a combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics (Med-Peds) resident physician at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. He graduated with his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in 2024, during which time he developed a passion for improving healthcare access and affordability for uninsured/under-insured and justice-involved populations.

Anmol earned his Master of Public Policy from McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy in 2023, during which time he served as a policy advisor to the Canadian Human Rights Commission on the issue of veteran homelessness. During his medical training, he volunteered his time with Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, building campaigns to promote global and equitable vaccine access during the pandemic. Outside his clinical and policy work, Anmol is a violinist, avid trail runner, and travel enthusiast.

Dr. Jasskiran Kaur is a third-year Internal Medicine resident at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. She earned her medical degree from the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences. Dr. Kaur is passionate about advancing health equity through policy, community engagement, and organized medicine.

As a first-generation immigrant and future oncologist, she is particularly focused on addressing healthcare disparities including the disproportionate breast cancer mortality among African American women, the rising cost of prescription drugs, and barriers to healthcare access and preventive services.

She has held leadership roles within the American Medical Association and the Ohio State Medical Association, where she successfully championed state-level resolutions on climate change and reproductive health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Kaur co-founded the UTCOM Cares project to support frontline healthcare workers with essential services. She continues to mentor future physician-advocates and hopes to bridge academic medicine with grassroots advocacy to drive sustainable, systemic change.

S. Hillary Kim-Vences, MD, MPH is a medicine-pediatrics trained hospitalist and postdoctoral research fellow at Baylor College of Medicine. Her research interests include increasing data representation for marginalized patient populations, utilizing data to drive evidence-based policy, and helping translate best practices to clinical settings. She is particularly interested in hospital-based interventions for opioid use disorders (OUD) and reducing disparities in OUD treatment access. She is currently enrolled in school full-time working toward a PhD in epidemiology and a certificate in health data science. Outside of work, you may find her yelling at her kids’ sports events or running loops around her neighborhood.

Denise Ocampo is a third-year medical student at the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine with professional aspirations in cardiology. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science with a minor in Chemistry from Northern Arizona University, where she was awarded the President’s Prize, the university’s highest undergraduate honor. She currently serves as a regional Vice Chair, regional Alternate Delegate and as the Vice Chair of the Committee on Health Justice within the American Medical Association’s Medical Student Section. As the former vice president of her LMSA chapter, Denise has centered her efforts on improving access to care for marginalized communities and learning ways to achieve health equity. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Medical Organization for Latino Advancement. In her free time, Denise enjoys learning Spanish, reading, and exploring topics in law and policy to deepen her understanding of the systems that shape healthcare. She aspires to become a trusted and skilled physician advocate in both clinical and advocacy arenas.

Kreena Patel, MD, MPH is a Board Certified family physician who is passionate about improving healthcare in the United States. She grew up in the Chicago area, attended medical school at Northwestern University, and completed her Family Medicine residency at The University of Arizona-Phoenix. She currently works as a full time primary care physician at a Federally Qualified Health Care Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

She is passionate about caring for patients of all ages, practicing evidence-based, high-quality medicine, and working to improve health equity. She speaks medical Spanish fluently. 

Additionally, she has a background in public health and is passionate about caring for underserved patient populations, both in the medical office and outside of it. In her free time, she loves to cook and share the joys of food with friends and family. You can also find her out and about, exploring Atlanta with her fiancé and their dog, Bruschetta.

Madhury (Didi) Ray, MD, MPH, CEM is an innovator in public health emergency management working at the intersection of medicine, data, health equity, and public health at the New York City Health Department. As both the inaugural Paul Farmer Fellow in Anti-Racism and Preventive Medicine and Director of Data and Analytics in the Division of Environmental Health, Dr. Ray focuses her work on climate change’s impact on human health.

Her previous projects integrate diverse disciplines, from inventing a novel, participatory method to define disaster risk to standing up NYC’s first COVID-19 mass vaccination sites to designing NYC’s first hyperlocal emergency response. Her interdisciplinary approach to innovation began when she graduated as a triple major in Russian, Mathematics, and Premedicine from the Pennsylvania State University Schreyer Honors College, followed by a medical degree from Drexel University and a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School with a specialization in Global Health and a concentration in Humanitarian Studies. Additionally, Dr. Ray is a Certified Emergency Manager. Dr. Ray counts her time as a Fulbright Scholar in Ukraine during the Orange Revolution as one of her most formative experiences. She is currently a Visiting Scientist at Yale University and a Leader of the International Center for Conflict Resolution (IC4CR). She is one of 2021’s 40 Under 40 Rising Leaders in Public Health and a winner of Pandemic Response Institute’s Innovation Grand Challenge.

Dr. Ray is extremely proud to announce her most recent accomplishment – mom to Sailesh and Gayatri!

Shela Sridhar is an internal medicine and pediatrics trained physician working as a hospitalist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital. Shela completed a Global Health Service Delivery Fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital where she worked on health system strengthening initiatives including improving communication between nurses and physicians in Rwanda through the implementation of Pediatric Early Warning scores as well as formalized malnutrition rounds to decrease hospital length of stay. Since her  fellowship, she has joined the faculty at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in their Department of Global Health Equity. Shela partnered with i4life, an organization in Zambia focused on community-based nutrition and primary care to optimize data systems to measure clinic outcomes and address gaps in care delivery. Currently, she serves as the Regional Advisor for South Asia with the NCDI Poverty Network, increasing access to care for adults and children with severe, chronic illness. 

In addition to her focus on health equity around the world, Shela co-directs the Harvard Medical School student-run Asylum Clinic and has partnered with an NGO to assess medical care in immigration detention centers and provide policy recommendations to improve care in the United States. Through implementation science research, she hopes to create equal access to and quality of care around the world. Shela co-created and taught a course on decoloniality on global health, focused on the practical application of these concepts. She is particularly interested in how to operationalize concepts of health equity and effectively implement policies and protocols rooted in evidence with a focus on the protection of and health justice for vulnerable populations.

Dr. Stephanie Toth-Manikowski is the National Senior Medical Director at Healthmap Solutions, a leading kidney population health management company. In this role, she works with clinical leadership to optimize care coordination efforts, ensure Healthmap’s members are well-informed about their kidney disease and related medical conditions, and helps spearhead clinical innovation and health equity initiatives.

In addition to her leadership role at Healthmap, Dr. Toth-Manikowski continues to practice nephrology part-time at Alivio Medical Center, a federally qualified health center in Chicago, where she remains committed to serving underserved communities.

Dr. Toth-Manikowski earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard College and completed medical school at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She then completed a residency and chief residency in Internal Medicine at Boston Medical Center, Boston’s health safety net hospital. Her advanced training in nephrology and a Master of Health Science were completed at Johns Hopkins and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Joey Whelihan (he/him) is an Adolescent Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an affiliate trainee at PolicyLab at CHOP.

Dr. Whelihan’s professional interests are in adolescent medicine, LGBTQ+ health, and advocating for health equity through health policy and medical education. Specifically, he is interested in mitigating health disparities for LGBTQ+ youth by improving health care access, delivery and quality. Dr. Whelihan has worked on a national and local level though his involvement with the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Additionally, he has given national presentations about mitigating implicit bias in health care and advocacy for LGBTQ+ patients and has been nationally recognized for his work with pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV.

Dr. Whelihan earned a Bachelor in Science in Biochemistry and Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience and a medical degree from the University of Florida in 2017 and 2021, respectively. He now lives in Philadelphia with his partner and dog.