Rachel Parks (she/her) is originally from Hamilton, New York. She is a student in the MD/PhD program in Anthropology. She completed her PhD in June 2024. Her dissertation was titled “Translating Pain, Communicating Care: Representing Expertise, Kinship, and Disability Through the Distress and Discomfort Assessment Tool.” In terms of her research, she is interested in themes of disability, expertise, communication, and medical decision-making. She also uses photoethnography in her research. Rachel is planning to complete her medical residency training in combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics.