UCSF Medical Student Honored with U.S. Public Health Service Award
Wylie Liu, Executive Director, Center for Community Engagement; Dr. Leigh Kimberg, Director, Program Director, PRIME-US program; Kyle Lakatos; Aisha Queen-Johnson, Administrative Program Director, PRIME-US program.
Kyle Lakatos, a third-year UCSF medical student, recently received the U.S. Public Health Service 2022 Excellence in Public Health Award in recognition of his commitment to advocacy, community engagement, and promoting health and health care equity in partnership with marginalized and underserved populations.
The U.S. Public Health Service presents this national award annually to visionary medical students who are advancing health promotion and the public health of all Americans.
Mr. Lakatos matriculated into the UCSF School of Medicine in July 2019 and was selected to participate in the Program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved (PRIME-US). While on a rotation at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, he co-founded the ECHO (Engaging Communities in Health Outcomes) initiative to build a collaborative and more equitable partnership with the communities being cared for. This multi-faceted initiative involved coordinating with 32 stakeholders to build a health-promoting, culturally-directed collaboration model.
As the Co-Chair of the Association of Native American Medical Students (ANAMS) and a member of the Native American Health Alliance (NAHA), he has grown support for Native American and Indigenous students at UCSF via a combination of organizing various cultural celebrations, and most recently through fostering campus and community partnerships to generate a higher education pathway program for K-12 Native American and Indigenous students. He previously coordinated the Native Health elective for UCSF students, recruiting a diverse group of speakers from across the nation. Through his leadership, Lakatos initiated the annual Native at UCSF Retreat, which brought together Native leaders and allies to celebrate Indigenous culture and sovereignty. In its second iteration, titled, “Soil and the Land on Which We Stand,” the conference further expanded its focus to explore environmental justice and the critically important relationship between Indigenous sovereignty and the health of our planet.
In nominating Lakatos for this award, John Davis, PhD, MD, Associate Dean for Curriculum and Interim Associate Dean for Students, noted, “Kyle has contributed generously and with leadership to organizations and activities for the benefit of his peers, for underrepresented students in medicine and science, and for vulnerable and marginalized people in the broader community. He embodies the character, achievements, direction, and ability to motivate and organize others that exemplifies excellence in public health.”
“Mr. Lakatos is poised to become a physician leader who will not only provide high quality care for patients from under-resourced communities but also effect change in the fundamental structural conditions in society that produce health inequities,” said Leigh Kimberg, MD, Program Director for the PRIME-US program.
