DeShala McDuffie

Name: DeShala McDuffie

Title of Program: Racial Disparities in Public Health

E-mail Address: desmmcdu@vols.utk.edu

Hometown: Clarksville, Tennessee

Year: Sophomore

Anticipated Graduation Date: May 2024

Description of Program: 
My program creates an interdisciplinary program that combines crucial aspects of different departments to maximize my potential as a future doctor in a broken healthcare system. The coursework that I will be taking in the Department of Sociology is specifically focused on Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. This area describes race and ethnicity as a social structure and will provide me with a broader interpretation of a multicultural world regarding furthering social justice and transformative change. Through the Department of Psychology, the courses I will take will spark awareness in the diversity of behaviors and experiences of different individuals and how those phenomena can affect their everyday lives. Public Health provides the effort to promote optimal health for all communities and positively influence public policy to favor everyone. Africana studies will introduce and provide exposure to a higher critical understanding of African Americans’ experience in America within all of its dimensions.
The combination of these programs will provide me with a strong foundation in the social sciences along with the natural sciences to help me embody a well-rounded physician in the future. 

Departmental Emphases: Psychology, Sociology, Public Health, and Africana Studies

Faculty Mentor(s): Natasha Ellis

Plans After Graduation (career, graduate/professional school, etc.): 
After I graduate, I plan to continue my academic career by attending medical school. There, I will specialize in Pediatrics with aspirations to become a General
Pediatric doctor. I would like to start by working in a major children’s hospital, treating patients in emergency and non-emergency environments. My dream of being a doctor comes from my desire to be involved in a broken system. Once I am a doctor, I will work to ensure that all individuals who come into the hospital I  am working in will receive equal and fair treatment. After a couple of years,  I am considering opening my own nonprofit medical practice that would specifically focus on serving underserved communities and providing fair and equal treatment to everyone regardless of economic status, race, or any other societal factor. 

Other Academic Interests:
Along with ties to Race and Public health, I also have an academic interest in Women and Gender Studies. I would like to analyze women and gender and some of the problems they face within society. Some of the same barriers and trials that people of color face are shared amongst women and people of a different gender.  

Prior Enrollment at Other Colleges or Universities: N/A

Study Abroad: Dublin, Ireland, or Chile 

Research Experiences or Internships: Volunteer at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, East Knox Nurse Volunteer

Part-time Employment; Hobbies; Campus Clubs/Activities:  Haslam Scholars Program, Student Senate, and UT Ambassadors