Rachel received her BA in Biological Sciences with a medical anthropology minor in History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science and Medicine (HIPS) from the University of Chicago in 2012. She then spent two years doing translational neuroscience research at the NIH via the Post-Baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) program. There she integrated her bench research with a developing passion for health disparities as a fellow in the NIH Academy, engaging in academic study as well as community outreach with women with mental illness living in transitional housing in Baltimore. After entering medical school in 2014, Rachel spent six weeks in the rural western region of Ghana doing formative qualitative research on maternal and early child health. During a research year supported by the Dean’s Leadership in Health and Science Scholarship (DLHSS) at the David Geffen School of Medicine, she participated in the evaluation of AOT-LA as an ethnographer. She learned about the power of mixed methods research in evaluating the care of individuals living with mental illness and other health vulnerabilities. After the completion of medical school Rachel pursued a career in cardiology, and continues to apply insights from her year with the CSM team to her work on cardiovascular health disparities.