PROJECT: A culturally-sensitive and culturally-relevant mental health education curriculum that combines a focus on nutrition, sleep, and regular physical activity with traditional Chinese medicine for youth in the San Gabriel Valley.

Michelle Ko is currently completing her MD/MPH degree at UCLA. Growing up in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley, an Asian ethnic enclave, as the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Ko learned of the importance of culturally sensitive and competent healthcare from a young age.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology from Harvard College and completed a Fulbright grant teaching English to elementary school students in Taiwan. Through her own educational experiences and from her later experiences teaching grade school students in various settings, Ko saw how education systems, and their resources can play critical roles in perpetuating or disrupting cycles of health inequity amongst young people.

Ko aspires to become a physician who will collaborate interdisciplinarily in public health through research and collaboration to increase cultural sensitivity and considerations for patient care and to further expand access to health education and care.