On November 15, 2024, Dwight Hall’s Alumni Mentorship & Career Development Task Force hosted “Centering Community Engagement in Health Care Careers,” a panel for students and community members interested in the intersection between social justice and medicine and curious about careers in community-centered health care.
The panel featured three Yale community members spanning various professions. Dr. Aniyizhai Annamalai is the Medical Director of the Yale Adult Refugee Clinic, which partners with Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services to provide newly arrived refugees in New Haven access to health care. She also serves as the Medical Director of the Wellness Center at Connecticut Mental Health Center, a primary care clinic that provides medical care for people with serious mental illness. Dr. Annamalai has served as an internist and psychiatrist for the last 15 years, integrating physical and mental health care for vulnerable populations.
Madeline Kerner ’07 is leading work to support parents raising young children with ADHD as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Luminary Impact Fund, a philanthropic venture capital group that focuses on mental wellness in children and families. Prior to this role, she was CEO and Co-Founder of Matriculate and National Director of Outreach and Development and Founding Chicago Executive Director for Peer Health Exchange, a health education organization that trains college students to teach a comprehensive health curriculum in public schools. Madeline currently serves on the Dwight Hall at Yale Board of Directors.
Darius Mostaghimi ’25 M.D. is a fourth-year student at the Yale School of Medicine. He is a Clinical Advisor at HAVEN Free Clinic, where he manages primary care teams for low-income individuals without insurance. In the future, Darius plans to practice in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.
The panelists were led in discussion by Kristen Meola ’26, Alumni Engagement Coordinator on Dwight Hall’s 2024 Student Executive Committee. Kristen began by acknowledging the anxieties many students have about pursuing service-oriented careers.
“There are a lot of careers that have very cut and dry trajectories, but careers in public service and the social sector are a little fuzzier and less clear-cut,” she observed. “In some ways, that is really beautiful, because there are so many opportunities to engage. On the other hand, it sometimes can cause stress and anxiety for students.”
Madeline explained how she never would have anticipated her current career trajectory. She had studied history at Yale, yet upon graduating realized she was not sure where she wanted to go next. “I wanted to do something where I felt like I could contribute to what I care about,” Madeline explained.
During her senior year, Madeline happened to attend a talk given by Yale alumna Louise Langheier ’03 (a former Coordinator on Dwight Hall’s Student Executive Committee) about her new organization Peer Health Exchange. Inspired, Madeline emailed Louise and became quickly involved with the work of the community health organization.
“Follow the paths of people who you meet and feel some connection with and whose values [are the ones] you want to be working on. I think those [opportunities] can exist in interesting and unexpected places,” Madeline concluded.
When Kristen asked about the most rewarding aspects of working in health care, Dr. Annamalai’s response was simple: it is rewarding simply to help the people around you. “You just feel good when a patient feels better,” she explained. “If somebody has a lot of social challenges and you can get their hemoglobin a1c—which is a screening test for diabetes—that is a success…I cannot think of any one accomplishment per se, but just seeing these ‘help milestones’ is an achievement.”
On the other hand, Dr. Annamalai also highlighted some of the challenges that come with serving patients from vulnerable and marginalized populations, including a feeling of hopelessness when confronted with a large and inefficient healthcare system. “The system, as we all know, is not really set up for those who cannot navigate it on their own. Especially in primary care and mental health…there is nobody to connect [underserved populations] to resources.”
Despite the inequities in the current healthcare system, Darius emphasized the power that everyone—including students—have to make a positive difference. Even when the agency afforded to a student seems small, it can have major impacts on a patient’s wellbeing.
Darius described how he would consistently check in on a patient who had been struggling with mental health and could not get out of bed, but also could not get effective treatment due to stigma in her community. “I just followed up with this person for a few weeks, setting her small goals and giving her authority… Eventually, we got her to a point where she was able to do some of the daily activities that she wanted to do. It was so small in terms of what I was putting in, but it was such a big difference for this individual.”
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For those interested in exploring careers in community health, Dwight Hall offers several fellowship opportunities, including Dwight Hall Community Mental Health Fellows and Community Response Fellows. Further, Yale’s Office of Career Strategy hosts office hours at Dwight Hall every other Friday to discuss career opportunities dedicated to the common good. The final office hours of the fall 2024 semester will occur on December 6th from 2 to 4:30 pm.
The work of Dwight Hall’s Alumni Mentorship & Career Development Task Force, which organized this event, embodies the Grow pillar of Dwight Hall’s Engage, Grow, and Advance program delivery model, illuminating pathways to public service careers through interactive panels, workshops, and networking opportunities.
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