Hello! My name is Sarah Siddiqui, and I am a recipient of the William J. Keefe Congressional Fellowship award. I am studying in the University of Pittsburgh’s Guaranteed Admissions Program (GAP) for Medical School. I am a Sociology major with a certificate in Global Health and a minor in Chemistry. I just completed my first year of undergrad, and I’m very excited for my next 7 years at Pitt.

While at Pitt this past year, I have had the opportunity to become involved in several extracurricular opportunities to explore my interest in health equity. I am currently the Vice President of Pitt’s chapter of a menstrual equity nonprofit organization entitled PERIOD: The Menstrual Movement. Throughout the past 4 years, I have worked with various chapters of this nonprofit organization to increase menstrual health equity and accessibility by working with Pennsylvania legislators on health policy endeavors on local to national scales. 

I have further been able to promote health equity and accessibility on campus through my involvement with Pitt’s Student Government Board (SGB). This past year, I served as a member of First Year Council on SGB. Currently, I serve as the Wellness Committee Chair on SGB in which I pursue health policy initiatives on an institutional level. 

I am very passionate about promoting service, advocacy, and policy in order to reduce health disparities. As someone with an interest in both medicine and policy, I am eager to further explore the intersection of the disciplines. In the future, I aim to pursue medical school to practice as a physician which will enable me to explore my passion for health advocacy and direct service within healthcare. As medicine is a profession of service, I aim to use my medical degree to serve those in need. In addition to serving patients as a physician, I aim to explore other dimensions of healthcare, such as health policy. By advancing health policy endeavors alongside my service as a physician, I can make broad level improvements that can impact the greatest number of individuals. 

This summer, I will be working as a Congressional intern in the U.S. Senate, and I am excited to be interning in Senator Bob Casey’s office in Washington, D.C. Having lived in Pennsylvania for most of my life, I am very eager to serve as an intern for a senator from Pennsylvania in order to explore the issues that the constituents in the Commonwealth face. With Senator Casey’s service on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, interning in his office will provide me with the ideal opportunity to explore health policy.  

Interning in the Senate will enable me to explore policy and public service in an immersive environment. Moreover, I will have the opportunity to learn the inner workings of health policy in Congress to use this knowledge to reduce health disparities. I am confident that my experiences with this internship will provide me with invaluable knowledge and skills which I will use in my work in the field of healthcare service and policy.  

I am very excited to begin my internship, and I am extremely grateful for Senator Casey’s office and the William J. Keefe Congressional Fellowship committee for providing me with this opportunity.