Virginia Commonwealth University
Annual Report 2020-2021
The next generation
As a senior health sciences major who plans to pursue a master’s in public health, Victoria Chege has taken a number of classes that highlight health disparities. With each passing discussion, Chege became increasingly interested in the barriers to health care access and social determinants of health.
As a senior health sciences major who plans to pursue a master’s in public health, Victoria Chege has taken a number of classes that highlight health disparities. With each passing discussion, Chege became increasingly interested in the barriers to health care access and social determinants of health.
She began working as a research assistant in her major’s cardiovascular lab where she studies how housing, residential areas, socioeconomic status, and race can all influence cardiovascular health and risk factors.
And, when the Office of Health Equity—VCU’s hub for health equity education and training, research, and patient services—announced the formation of a student advisory committee, Chege immediately signed up.
The committee includes undergraduate, graduate, and medical students who offer input on the training sessions and encourage their classmates to complete the online learning modules. Chege, for instance, has asked professors to include the modules as extra credit activities, and is speaking to members of pre-health clubs about what the modules offer.
When the Office of Health Equity announced this fall that they were seeking a student liaison for the History and Health Steering Committee, Chege again jumped at the chance.
[We recognize] the role VCU played and how we can change that now.
“Richmond has a broad history of how different housing laws and racial policies, and they affect the health of the Richmond community today,” she said. “VCU has played a role in that and has caused adverse health effects for the community over time. Their big thing is recognizing the role VCU played and how we can change that now.”
Chege is the only undergraduate on the Health and History Steering Committee, and said it’s interesting to see the collaboration that happens behind the scenes to bring events, training sessions, and speakers to life.
“I’m meeting people from a lot of different departments and I’m seeing positions I didn’t realize existed,” she said. “I’m learning about the research they’re doing and I’m able to expand my focus and the kinds of fields I want to go into.”