Alyssa Shell, a 2014 Pisacano Scholar, is at UTMB earning her M.D./Ph.D. in Population Health Sciences. While in medical school, Shell received the John P. McGovern Student Award in Oslerian Medicine and is a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society. In 2012, she received the United States Public Health Services Excellence in Public Health Award. Shell volunteered for three years and then served as the director of St. Vincent’s Student Clinic. Shell has a patient-centered attitude that started in high school during a summer volunteer program in Kenya where she taught classes on HIV education. Her career goals include practicing full-spectrum family medicine, working to alleviate health care disparities, especially in rural areas, and to eventually become a leader in health care policy.