Alum Spotlight: Yinlu Zhu
Yinlu Zhu (she/her) graduated in 2022 with a BA in Women’s Studies, a BS in Biology, and a minor in Health Disparities in Society. She is now the Head of Product for Vot-ER, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to integrate civic engagement into healthcare. She will start medical school in 2024 to pursue a career as a physician advocate focused on improving how healthcare systems address the social and political determinants of health.
In my sophomore year, I started volunteering as a care coordinator for a free primary care clinic In Gainesville. While working with uninsured and underinsured patients, I realized how socioeconomic status, race, gender, and immigration status played a significant role in their access to healthcare and social services. At that point, I decided to pursue a Women’s Studies major and a minor in Health Disparities to gain the historical context and skills to better address the injustices I witnessed at the free clinic and personally experienced as an immigrant to the U.S. The gender studies coursework I took and the mentorship I gained have influenced my approach to health equity.
While taking Discrimination and Health with Dr. Zucker, I got to dive deeper into the importance of public policy in alleviating health disparities. I vividly remember learning about The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act and feeling simultaneously excited about legislation that so clearly advanced health equity and frustrated that it had taken so long to address the maternal health crisis in a country with so many resources. This tension led to my decision to continue working for Vot-ER as my Practicum in Health Disparities site. I had started volunteering for Vot-ER at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the practicum enabled me to dive deeper into my work and understand how to drive policy change through healthcare settings. Vot-ER motivates and trains healthcare professionals to promote civic engagement among their patients and colleagues. Local elections have a significant impact on the availability and distribution of resources in a community, and helping people to vote is one way to bolster their agency over their social determinants of health.
I now work full-time at Vot-ER. As the Head of Product, I manage the organization’s voter engagement tools, data, and technology. I’ve been especially grateful for the insights I gained from taking Data Feminisms and Gender, Race, and Science with Dr. Shaikh. Part of my role involves making decisions about what data to collect, what civic technology to use, and how to measure our impact. Dr. Shaikh’s insights surrounding technology and data have enabled me to approach those decisions with a social justice framework. Applying a gender studies lens has been critical to unearthing the implications of integrating emerging technologies and AI into our approach to voter engagement. As I prepare for a career in medicine, I’m particularly grateful for my Women’s Studies degree because it has given me hope and helped me better envision my role in making healthcare more just and accessible.