Hi! My name is Aisha Kokan and I am currently a senior at Harvard University. Growing up, I remember one of my family members having all sorts of seemingly random health problems that the doctors could not figure out. Eventually, after a multitude of blood work and CT scans, he was diagnosed with cancer. While this diagnosis was somewhat of a relief for our family, as we now knew the cause of his pain, this ended up being an extremely difficult burden that we now had to face. Cancer treatment is not only physically exhausting, but also financially devastating. But what struck me most wasn't just the diagnosis itself—it was how long it took to get there, and how many barriers stood in the way of timely, accessible care.
This experience opened my eyes to a troubling reality: healthcare outcomes in America are often determined not by the quality of our medical knowledge, but by factors that have nothing to do with medicine—factors like socioeconomic status, insurance coverage, geographic location, and even implicit bias in clinical settings. My family member's delayed diagnosis wasn't an isolated incident; it was a symptom of systemic inequities that affect millions of Americans every day.
My goal is to contribute to a future where no family has to watch a loved one suffer through a preventable delay in diagnosis, and where quality healthcare is a right, not a privilege determined by circumstance.
This experience opened my eyes to a troubling reality: healthcare outcomes in America are often determined not by the quality of our medical knowledge, but by factors that have nothing to do with medicine—factors like socioeconomic status, insurance coverage, geographic location, and even implicit bias in clinical settings. My family member's delayed diagnosis wasn't an isolated incident; it was a symptom of systemic inequities that affect millions of Americans every day.
My goal is to contribute to a future where no family has to watch a loved one suffer through a preventable delay in diagnosis, and where quality healthcare is a right, not a privilege determined by circumstance.