Malena

Certified Tutor

As the oldest of 4 children, my siblings and I grew up on a small farm in Alma, Arkansas. Growing up, I was inspired to pursue medicine after watching my mother's journey from a small-town accountant to a family medicine physician. I accepted a full scholarship to Hendrix College, where I created opportunities to study health and health policy in underserved populations in Peru, Nicaragua, and India. Chief among my many extracurricular interests was philanthropy; I led campus-wide efforts to raise a record-breaking $200,000 for the local community during college. I graduated magna cum laude with a major in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and a minor in Spanish.
At Vanderbilt, my interests in patient advocacy and global health flourished. I took part of the leadership of Vanderbilt's student-run free clinic, Shade Tree Clinic, in directing the finance team in grant-writing and other fundraising activities. For my efforts, I was awarded the Shade Tree Clinic Student Leadership Award in 2013. I have additionally served on the leadership boards of Vanderbilt's Association of Women Surgeons chapter and the Student Advisory Committee of the Global Health Alliance.
I conducted research in Ethiopia, where I investigated the potential impact of a simple trauma-training course on medical students and on layperson youth. My other research projects included studying the use of a perioperative mortality rate as a possible measure of safety of surgery and anesthesia in Ethiopia and the use of a trauma registry in Mozambique.
My passion for global health led me to take an academic research year between my 3rd and 4th year of medical school when I was selected to participate in Vanderbilt's Medical Scholars Program. I was selected as a research associate in Harvard Medical School's Program for Global Surgery and Social Change. I spent her research year in Haiti, where I implemented the first time-driven activity-based costing project in a resource-limited setting. My research studied the processes and costs in the emergency department for adult patients who presented with a motor vehicle accident, adults with dyspnea and edema, and pediatric patients with dyspnea and fever. I additionally studied the implementation and use of the South African Triage Scale in Haiti, the effect of observation protocol use on patient outcomes, and the epidemiology of patients presenting with trauma to the emergency department. Along with co-authoring three manuscripts and several abstracts, my research has lead to first-author presentation to an international audience at the International Conference on Emergency Medicine.
I plan on matching into Emergency Medicine. I enjoys spending time with my family, cooking and trying new foods, yoga, hiking, and traveling.