As the daughter of a physician, Dr. Priya Raja initially considered other fields for her own career. However, after conducting research in South Africa and studying health care policy in Chicago, she was drawn to UT Southwestern Medical School to achieve her goals.

Dr. Priya Raja

What this award means: I believe that the stories that patients share tell you just as much about how to care for them as a physical exam, labs, or imaging. To me, doctors not only piece together stories, but also shape how the rest of their patients’ lives unfold – how they remember their illness, how their lives change with medical care, and what they experience after they leave the hospital. This award honors that responsibility.

Mentor comment: UT Southwestern is truly privileged to have Priya Raja as one of our future alumni. She stands out for her determined optimism and boundless potential based on her exceptional intellect, creativity, and generous spirit. She is an undeniable gift to our profession. – Dr. Christiana Renner, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine

Background and family: My father works in nuclear medicine and my mother is a homemaker. I grew up in a community of physicians – many family members from my father’s side emigrated from India to retrain in the U.S. as physicians.

What led to your career path: During college, I worked as a case manager at a federally qualified health center in Chicago. On my walk to the clinic, I crossed between communities where the disparity in average life expectancy was seven years. It was evident that addressing social barriers like unemployment, lack of insurance, unstable housing, or food insecurity was just as essential to the healing process as medicine. It became clear to me that advocating for the health of individuals meant learning about the social determinants of health that shape communities.

College: At the University of Chicago, I earned a Bachelor of Arts in public policy studies with honors, specializing in health and human rights. I volunteered with Health Leads, serving as a case manager at federally qualified health centers in low-resource communities. I participated in our school’s Mobile Application Challenge in 2013, and our team won the grand prize for developing an app to improve delivery of discharge instructions in pediatric emergency rooms.

UTSW activities: Through the Schweitzer Fellowship, I counseled on HPV vaccines in low-resource Dallas clinics to improve vaccination rates. I also participated in TEDMED 2016 as a Frontline Scholar and Research Scholar, assisting with program development, and earned the Stanford-ABC News Global Health and Media Fellowship, where I spent a year working in the public information and advocacy unit at the World Health Organization in Southeast Asia and as a digital reporter/associate producer for the medical unit at ABC News.

Future plans: I would like to pursue a fellowship in hematology-oncology and palliative care, working at the intersection of these fields and global health.

About the award: The award, presented to the top medical student in internal medicine, was established by Ross H. and Anne Seymour Hemphill in honor of their son and daughter-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Seymour Hemphill; their daughter and son-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Bernard Gojer; and Anne Hemphill’s parents, E. Clyde and Florine Allen Seymour. Dr. Hemphill and Dr. Gojer are both UTSW Medical School alumni.