Photo: Pat Sargent
More than two dozen high school students exploring careers in medicine, research and public health presented their research at UMass Chan Medical School on Wednesday, April 9, during an event marking their successful completion of the 2025 Pipeline Dreams program.
“I am interested in medicine because I believe medicine is the heart of activism and it affects all scopes of life,” said Nakeisha Moise, a junior at Worcester’s North High School. “The more we invest in health, the more we invest in the advancement of our world.”
Moise was among the winning group of students who researched language barriers between immigrant women and providers and how those differences impact maternal mental health, as well as fetal development and a child’s long-term health.
Photo: Pat Sargent
The Pipeline Dreams Research Expo featured presentations from five student groups in a three-round competition with judges from local organizations, UMass Chan faculty and representatives from the Worcester Public Schools, Together for Kids Coalition, and Quinsigamond Community College.
Olive White, a sophomore at Worcester’s South High Community School helped lead the winning group’s presentation.
“We explored disparities in reproductive health care, access and treatment, and analyzed previous research to highlight the systemic barriers affecting maternal and child health, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions to improve health care,” White said.
The winning team also included Naomi Tessema (Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden); Victoria DeBoise (Worcester’s Claremont Academy); Janell Asante and Valentina Thompson (Abby Kelley Foster Charter School in Worcester); and Alba Sencion (North High). The team was led by teaching assistant Darlene Polanco Molina, a junior from Clark University.
Photo: Pat Sargent
Other projects focused on health equity research topics such as school counselor engagement for adolescents exposed to parental substance use disorder; the impact of low economic status on access to healthy foods during pregnancy; and how speech-brain computer interfaces can impact the mental health and wellbeing of pediatric patients with communication difficulties. Each group was led by a teaching assistant from a local college through internships sponsored by UMass Memorial Health.
The 12-week Pipeline Dreams high school cohort launched in January and included 28 students from a dozen local high schools. Over the course of the program, the students met with scientists, clinicians and college undergraduate teaching assistants. The program is overseen by the UMass Chan Collaborative in Health Equity.
“These students have been working hard, showing up, learning and developing their thoughts and ideas around health equity topics, social drivers of health, and problems that they see in their community, and they want to solve them,” said Cherise Hamblin, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics & gynecology and director of URiM community workforce development and capacity building for the UMass Chan Collaborative in Health Equity.
Dr. Hamblin is the founder and director of Patients R Waiting, Inc., a nonprofit organization that works to increase diversity in medicine and eliminate health disparities. Patients R Waiting, which is co-sponsored by UMass Chan, serves as a longitudinal support system for the students in the cohort beyond the program and into college.
The program is sponsored by UMass Memorial Health, the Greater Worcester Community Foundation and the Schwartz Charitable Foundation.
