October Student of the Month

Scholarship: Science Post Graduate Scholarship
School: Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Degree: Quantitative Methods
GPA: 3.8

Community Service

• UCSD ANAMS Community Outreach Coordinator
• Youth Wellness Kits project
• Native Doc 4 A Day
• Dream the Impossible Youth Conference Speaker
• Organized diverse book drive for San Diego pediatric clinics
• Boys and Girls Club of the Kumeyaay Nation Volunteer
• Designed and facilitated three mental wellness sessions on topics related to identity, art, nature, and resiliency
• Harvested tule reed in Mission Trails Regional Park with BGC staff in order to build traditional tule-boats with BGC kids.
• Volunteer facilitator at Youth Gathering of Native Americans (GONA)
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Pathway Innovation Program
• Received 1 of 6 national grants awarded by Johnson & Johnson through the AAP towards underrepresented in medicine programming
• Co-designed a virtual conference for Native undergraduate/medical students to increase interest and mentorship in pediatric health professional careers
  • Designed and analyzed pre/post surveys to evaluate impact of the conference
• UCSD Student Run Free Clinic, Women’s Health Manager
• Managed supply inventory, referrals and patient scheduling in the Downtown Women’s Clinic
• Assisted in patient care including history taking, physical exam, delivering biopsies, and coordinating prescriptions
• Horizons for Homeless Children
• Lead activities and supervised children in a weekly two-hour shift at the Portis Family Home in Boston, MA.

Brianna Irons is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, a rising fourth year medical student at UC San Diego. Prior to medical school, Brianna studied Health and Human Biology at Brown University. Now at UC San Diego’s Program in Medical Education (PRIME)-Health Equity, Brianna is a part of a five year MD/Master’s program committed to training physicians to meet the needs of under-resourced communities. Through support from PRIME and Native Forward, she is currently pursuing her Masters in Public Health at Harvard T.H. Chan’s School of Public Health between her third and fourth years of medical school. While in Boston, she has made connections with Boston Children’s Hospital’s Indigenous Health Program and is conducting her practicum through this partnership, evaluating the impact of pediatric emergency preparedness curriculum for the Cheyenne River Health System. Brianna is an advocate for Native youth wellness and representation in the health sciences workforce. She is Vice Char of the American Medical Association’s Medical Student Section – Committee on American Indian Affairs. Brianna has served for two years as the West Coast Representative for the National Association of Native American Medical Students (ANAMS), and served for three years as Community Outreach Coordinator for ANAMS at UC San Diego. Brianna is also on the steering committee of the nation’s first state-funded American Indian and Alaska Native medical education program at UC San Diego, Transforming Indigenous Doctoring Education (TIDE). Brianna hopes to make meaningful change for Indigenous youth as a future pediatrician and advocate. She hopes to empower IHS, Tribal and Urban Indian Healthcare systems through community-based participatory research and quality improvement initiatives, particularly as they pertain to improving child and adolescent health. 

Want to be our next Student of the Month? Apply here!