Awardees
Edward Weisheng Chen, MD
Disparities in Geographic Access to Cardiac Rehabilitation Among Socially Vulnerable Communities
Article
Edward W. Chen, MD is an internal medicine resident at Yale University, and following graduation in June 2026, he will begin his cardiovascular disease fellowship at Brown University. His research interests lie at the intersection of public health and preventive cardiology, with a focus on identifying and quantifying racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in cardiovascular care. By leveraging population-level data, he aims to inform targeted policy and health system interventions that expand access to preventive cardiology therapies and advance equity in cardiovascular disease outcomes among underserved communities.
Cyprien Rivier, MD, MSc
Differential results of genetic risk scoring for multiple sclerosis in European and African American populations
Article
Dr. Cyprien Rivier is an Instructor in the Department of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine and inaugural Ralph L. Sacco Scholar in Brain Health. He completed his MD and a master's degree in mathematics at the University of Geneva before pursuing postdoctoral training in epidemiology and population genetics at Yale. His research focuses on cerebrovascular aging: the progressive accumulation of subclinical vascular injury in the brain. The primary manifestation of this process is cerebral small vessel disease, a buildup of damage that precedes stroke, cognitive decline, and vascular dementia by years or even decades. By integrating multi-omics methods with epidemiology and neuroimaging, Dr. Rivier aims to detect this damage in its earliest phases and identify individuals on accelerated aging trajectories, enabling earlier intervention.
William Roberts, MD, MSc
Racial and Ethnic Diversity of the Oncology Workforce: Projections From 2020 to 2060
Article
William Roberts, MD, MSc is a general internist and postdoctoral fellow in the National Clinician Scholars Program at Yale School of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Urban Health Primary Care track and earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University, a Master of Science in Global Health from Trinity College Dublin, and his MD from the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. His research examines workforce and system-level factors that influence the delivery of care to vulnerable populations.
Kurt Schultz, MD
Patient-reported health-related social needs obtained at the bedside and outcomes after elective major surgery
Article
Kurt Schultz, MD, is a general surgery resident at Yale and a PhD candidate in the Yale Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. His doctoral work in the SASSY Lab (PI: Ira Leeds, MD, MBA, ScM) examines patient-reported sociobehavioral comorbidities that contribute to inequities in surgical outcomes. This work aims to explain why patients undergoing similar procedures with comparable biomedical risk profiles can experience markedly different recoveries. Using mixed-methods and causal inference approaches, the SASSY Lab seeks to elucidate mechanisms linking these potentially modifiable factors to perioperative outcomes and to inform targeted, equity-focused interventions. Kurt plans to pursue fellowship training in Colon & Rectal Surgery, with a long-term goal of designing and rigorously testing community-engaged presurgical optimization programs.
Sinem Toraman Turk, PhD
Measuring system readiness for equity in sepsis care: Survey development and psychometrics
* special recognition for excellence in Community Engaged Research
Article
Sinem Toraman Turk, PhD is an Associate Research Scientist at the Yale Global Health Leadership Initiative and in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Yale School of Public Health. Her work focuses on advancing health equity through rigorous mixed methods research, with a particular interest in disparities in healthcare access, research participation, and system readiness for equitable care. She directs an NIH-funded R01 project, Champions Advancing Racial Equity in Sepsis (CARES), which develops and evaluates interventions to reduce structural racism and inequities in sepsis outcomes. Dr. Toraman Turk’s research has been published in leading journals across public health and research methodology.