Pfaudler Lecture Series: From Homeless to Med School: What the Streets Can Teach Medical Students

Register to attend: https://forms.gle/76y7GZdtaob2XWqDA

Presented by Nikhil Barmarajpet--Third-Year Medical Student, University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) School of Medicine and Dentistry and Co-Leader of URMC's Street Outreach Program

When he was young, Nikhil Bamarajpet and his mom became homeless on Long Island and lived among others in the same position. One night a man in their group doubled over with excruciating pain. EMTs eventually came, but it took them longer to arrive than they stayed. They dismissed the man's pain and said there was no room in the hospital, anyway, and then left. A few days later, the man died. Bamarajpet was only 12, but he knew something about the encounter wasn't right. That's how he learned that medical care is a matter of life and death--and it's when he decided he wanted to be a part of it. When he began applying to medical schools, he wanted to find one that had an outreach program for people experiencing homelessness and landed at URMC. He will tell his story and that of Rochester's most vulnerable population.