Centering Community Engagement in Health Care Careers

Location: Dwight Hall Library, 67 High St

Register here!

How does equitable community engagement advance public health? How can medical professionals improve global health outcomes and reduce health disparities by empowering marginalized communities? Join a panel of health care leaders as they share how thoughtful community involvement changes lives. Attendees will also learn about pathways to community-engaged health care careers. 

Lunch will be provided!

Meet the panelists:

Aniyizhai Annamalai M.B.B.S., M.D.

Dr. Annamalai is the medical director of the Yale Adult Refugee Clinic that partners with the local refugee resettlement agency to provide health care for all newly arrived refugees in New Haven, Connecticut. She is also the medical director of the Wellness Center, a primary care clinic that provides medical care for people with serious mental illness.

Her academic interest is in integrating physical and mental health care for vulnerable populations, including refugees and those with serious mental illness. She has been providing direct clinical services for these populations for the last 15 years as both an internist and psychiatrist.

She has received several awards recognizing her service to these populations. As an educator, she has edited ‘Refugee Health Care’, and authored ‘Medical Management of Psychotropic Side Effects’. Both are clinical reference books for clinicians and students. She is a member of the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry and a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Refugee Health Care Providers.

In her role as a physician for these vulnerable populations, she interfaces with community organizations like IRIS, the local refugee resettlement agency, and social service agencies for mentally ill people.

Madeline Kerner ’07

Madeline is leading work to support parents raising young children with ADHD as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Luminary Impact Fund.

Madeline last served as CEO & Co-Founder of Matriculate, a national college access organization, supporting high-achieving, low-income juniors and seniors navigate the college process and attend colleges where they will thrive. During this time, Matriculate supported more than 15,000 students nationally. In 2021, results of a randomized control trial show that the Matriculate model was highly effective, with Matriculate students 25% more likely than a control group to attend the top 80 colleges and universities and to persist at statistically significant higher rates.

Prior to Matriculate, Madeline served as Director of Strategic Initiatives for America Achieves, a national education nonprofit, and Director of Operations at Amplify, an education technology business. Previously, Madeline worked as National Director of Outreach and Development and Founding Chicago Executive Director for Peer Health Exchange (PHE), a health education organization that gives teens the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy decisions by training college students to teach a comprehensive health curriculum in public schools. Madeline graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in History.

Madeline serves on the Board of Dwight Hall at Yale and Matriculate and resides in Brooklyn with her family.

Darius Mostaghimi ’25 M.D.

Darius is a fourth-year Yale School of Medicine student from Madison, Connecticut. He is a Clinical Advisor at HAVEN Free Clinic, where he manages primary care teams for low-income individuals without insurance. He is planning to practice in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics.