Class of 1955 Research Fund

Benefactor Report

December 2025

December 10, 2025

Dear Mitch,

Thank you again for your and your classmates’ support of the Scholars in Medicine program at Harvard Medical School through the Class of 1955 Research Fund.

The Fund supported nine students during the 2024–2025 academic year. Their projects encompassed a wide range of subjects, from studies of palliative care among South Asian Canadians and persistent alopecia among childhood cancer survivors to an in-the-field capacity assessment of surgical infrastructure in Uganda and Tanzania. This report contains information about each student and highlights one student’s project—the establishment of a student-run dermatology clinic here in Boston—in greater detail.

For almost half a century now, gifts from the Class of 1955 and your family and friends have immersed HMS students in the methods and tools of medical research, introduced them to mentors who have helped shape their careers, and provided them with unique opportunities to study a diverse range of research subjects. Thank you for your support. I hope you and your classmates continue to enjoy learning about the young physician–scientists whose careers you have helped launch, and I send you my best wishes for the fall.

With sincere gratitude, 

Leena Ambady, Class of 2025, "Palliative Care Delivery in the Last Year of Life Amongst Ethnically South Asian Canadians" (Mentor: Zhimeng Jia, MD)

Gordon Peter Bensen and Matthew Bryan, Class of 2025, "What Are the True Benefits of Drone-Based Blood Delivery Programs?" (Mentor: Nakul Raykar, MD, MPH)

Eun Jae “EJ” Kim, Class of 2025, "Impact of Persistent Alopecia on the Quality of Life of Childhood Cancer and Transplant Survivors" (Mentor: Jennifer T. Huang, MD)

Morvarid Mehdizadeh, Class of 2025, "Beyond Wrinkles: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Off-Label Aesthetic Uses of Botox" (Mentor: Samuel Lin, MD, FACS)

Sanjana Shah, Class of 2026, "Hepatitis in the Elderly: How Many Tests Do We Need?" (Mentor: Leigh Simmons, MD)

Andrew Shin, Class of 2026, "Exclusion of Sexual and Gender Minorities from Erectile Dysfunction Clinical Trials" (Mentor: Martin Kathrins, MD)

Tarika Srinivasan, Class of 2025, "Essential Equipment and Services for Global Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgical Care Consensus, Cross-Sectional Survey, and Capacity Assessment " (Mentors: Joshua Wiedermann, MD, MGSC, and Blake Alkire, MD, MPH)

Kaushik Venkatesh, Class of 2025, "Enhancing Access to Dermatology Care Through The Creation of a Student-Run Clinic for Boston’s Underserved Populations " (Mentor: Rachel Reynolds, MD)

Although Massachusetts offers among the best health care coverage in the United States, in Boston, vulnerable populations continue to face significant barriers to accessing dermatologic care, including extensive wait times, lack of after-hours appointments, short visits with limited accommodations, and financial challenges. To address these challenges, a small group of students, residents, and faculty collaborated to create the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC)/HMS Access Clinic, designed to offer after-hours dermatologic services to underserved communities while also promoting culturally sensitive dermatology education for trainees.

From June to November 2023, Kaushik Venkatesh and his colleagues assembled a steering committee, demonstrated community need, and created buy-in from key stakeholders including BIDMC departmental leadership and administrators. Through collaborative meetings of student leaders, residents, faculty, and staff, the team refined and formalized clinic operations in line with hospital guidelines. The clinic opened in November 2023 and has continued to operate on the second Tuesday of each month, from 5:25 to 8:00 p.m.

Four HMS medical students operate the clinic alongside two HMS Combined Dermatology Residents and an attending physician from BIDMC. The team developed referral pipelines via partnerships with local primary care clinics and emergency departments, with screening criteria including being under- or uninsured or having limited access to specialty care. The student board, medical students, and residents are all volunteers; faculty are compensated through insurance visit billing, and administrative staff are supported by the BIDMC’s Dermatology Department. The team is working to secure funding to offset pathology processing fees and patient co-pays, and eventually to provide free care to uninsured patients. The clinic has received one HMS community service award and, with more funding, hopes to build out teledermatology and satellite locations.

The early success of this clinic model demonstrates the critical need for increased access to dermatologic care for the underinsured, and the model itself offers a scalable approach to specialty care delivery in other urban communities serving similarly diverse populations. In addition to filling a critical health care gap, the clinic also serves as an educational platform for medical students both prior to and during their clinical years. This is especially important given the lack of dermatology education in medical school curricula, particularly training related to underserved populations. In the coming years, the team intends to identify and address no-show causes; acquire grants to sponsor free care for uninsured patients; expand to satellite sites closer to target communities; and implement teledermatology to further increase ease of access and expand the clinic’s catchment area.