WEBVTT

0
00:00:00.490 --> 00:00:00.769
Hi,

1
00:00:00.850 --> 00:00:02.319
my name is Dishita Agarwal.

2
00:00:02.369 --> 00:00:03.130
I'm from Greensboro,

3
00:00:03.170 --> 00:00:03.880
North Carolina,

4
00:00:03.890 --> 00:00:06.079
and I'm a rising sophomore at Duke University.

5
00:00:07.789 --> 00:00:08.859
When I was 2 years old,

6
00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:10.590
I had my first cardiac arrest.

7
00:00:10.680 --> 00:00:12.800
I was in the ICU for a few months and then

8
00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:16.299
I was diagnosed with a rare cardiac and muscular condition.

9
00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:17.879
Throughout my whole life,

10
00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:19.920
I've had multiple hospitalizations,

11
00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:20.790
surgeries,

12
00:00:20.959 --> 00:00:21.600
treatments,

13
00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:22.680
cardiac arrests,

14
00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:23.920
doctor's appointments,

15
00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.659
and many more diagnoses coming up every few years.

16
00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:28.879
Still through it all,

17
00:00:28.959 --> 00:00:33.060
I was pretty fortunate to have a relatively normal life on the outside and

18
00:00:33.450 --> 00:00:36.900
invest most of my energy towards my education with my family's support.

19
00:00:37.889 --> 00:00:41.270
I've always felt from a young age that it's my responsibility

20
00:00:41.270 --> 00:00:44.909
to use my education to give back to the medical community.

21
00:00:45.529 --> 00:00:47.409
It all started when I was just a kid,

22
00:00:47.610 --> 00:00:51.330
finding DIY health hacks and reading up on medical literature

23
00:00:51.330 --> 00:00:53.680
and then bringing that all to my doctor's appointments,

24
00:00:53.729 --> 00:00:56.490
which ended up startling all the adults around me.

25
00:00:57.250 --> 00:01:00.939
Then in high school it turned into cold emailing the state health department

26
00:01:00.939 --> 00:01:02.419
because I was upset with how the

27
00:01:02.419 --> 00:01:04.790
school system supports students with disabilities.

28
00:01:04.980 --> 00:01:08.620
And then that turned into a whole statewide outreach program where I reached out

29
00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:10.379
to a bunch of disabled students and

30
00:01:10.379 --> 00:01:12.639
students with chronic illnesses across the state

31
00:01:12.889 --> 00:01:13.599
to ask them

32
00:01:13.949 --> 00:01:17.110
how the school health system was supporting them or harming them.

33
00:01:17.580 --> 00:01:19.940
I joined a national research network where I've worked

34
00:01:19.940 --> 00:01:22.220
with a bunch of doctors across the nation.

35
00:01:22.650 --> 00:01:25.790
To write research letters on Medicaid and children's health

36
00:01:25.790 --> 00:01:28.589
and pediatric medicine and how we can support it

37
00:01:28.769 --> 00:01:29.680
and reform it.

38
00:01:31.150 --> 00:01:31.550
Now,

39
00:01:31.589 --> 00:01:35.349
even though most of my professional endeavors surround business and tech,

40
00:01:35.589 --> 00:01:38.529
I always make sure to prioritize these questions.

41
00:01:39.069 --> 00:01:41.599
How do we center humans in our decisions?

42
00:01:41.949 --> 00:01:46.169
How do we see our decisions out to their human consequence before we make them?

43
00:01:47.050 --> 00:01:48.279
What would little Dishita,

44
00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:51.300
who was sitting alone in a hospital bed at 8 years old,

45
00:01:51.639 --> 00:01:53.620
want of the people she works with now?

46
00:01:54.889 --> 00:01:58.470
Every person becomes a vulnerable patient once in their lifetime.

47
00:01:59.129 --> 00:02:03.709
How do I make sure that patient perspective is at the front of everything I do now?

48
00:02:04.800 --> 00:02:07.459
The legacy I want to leave behind is twofold.

49
00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:08.050
First,

50
00:02:08.160 --> 00:02:11.740
I want every person to be able to define and express their pain.

51
00:02:12.360 --> 00:02:13.440
Whether it's stigma,

52
00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:14.759
institutional barriers,

53
00:02:14.880 --> 00:02:16.119
medical gaslighting,

54
00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:18.059
or language inaccessibility.

55
00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:20.710
The first roadblock to healthcare is

56
00:02:20.710 --> 00:02:23.429
patients not believing in themselves or ignoring

57
00:02:23.429 --> 00:02:27.610
their own experiences because they don't have the tools to define them properly.

58
00:02:28.149 --> 00:02:28.559
Second,

59
00:02:28.789 --> 00:02:29.339
patients,

60
00:02:29.630 --> 00:02:30.789
especially child patients,

61
00:02:30.910 --> 00:02:32.389
are natural entrepreneurs.

62
00:02:32.710 --> 00:02:34.029
They're highly intelligent,

63
00:02:34.229 --> 00:02:34.970
highly creative,

64
00:02:35.270 --> 00:02:36.350
highly intuitive.

65
00:02:36.889 --> 00:02:41.229
They've been thrown the world's hardest challenges and they still come out on top.

66
00:02:41.529 --> 00:02:43.809
They should be able to use those skills for their own

67
00:02:43.809 --> 00:02:47.399
benefit instead of having to fight for basic safety and resources.

68
00:02:47.660 --> 00:02:49.789
That's what I want to show in my work

69
00:02:50.169 --> 00:02:52.350
and what I want to make more accessible for everyone.