Penelope Halkiadakis (she/her) is a dual degree MD/MPH candidate, studying medicine and public health, at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to her studies, she is involved in medical research and the Latino Medical Student Association.
She began her involvement with AIUSA at age 15, where she served as the co-founder and president of her high school chapter. She then went on to found her college chapter and organize award-winning events in coalition with campus, community, and national partners. This included the top-ranked 2018 AIUSA ActivismX project: a student-created, interactive art exhibit on gun violence. She went on to serve as a New Jersey Student Activist Coordinator, mentoring and mobilizing student groups across the state.
As a co-founder of the AIUSA Youth Collective and co-author of the first AIUSA Youth Strategy, she steered our section’s policy and practices around meaningful youth engagement. Working as a consultant for the AIUSA Youth & Student Program, she helped launch the Youth & Student Slack workspace to connect students and staff from across the nation on a virtual organizing platform. She was the AIUSA delegate to the 2019 Amnesty International Youth Summit in Marrakesh, Morocco. She served as a member of the AIUSA Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) Council, AIUSA Board’s International Engagement Committee, and the AIUSA 2022-30 National Strategic Planning Committee.
Penelope graduated with High Honors from Stevens Institute of Technology in 2019 with a B.S. in Biology, minors in Medical Humanities and Science, Technology & Society, and a Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Management & Leadership. At Stevens, she was a recipient of the full-tuition Ann P. Neupauer Scholarship, as well as a Pinnacle Scholar, Center for Healthcare Innovation Scholar (2016), and ICFNJ Schering Plough (2017) and Novartis (2018) Scholar. In addition to leading her college AIUSA chapter, she served as the Vice President for the Stevens Health Professions Club and as the Service Vice President of the Alpha Phi Omega Theta Alpha Chapter, which was recognized as the top service program in the state during her tenure. She was a recipient of the 2017 Civic Engagement Student Leadership Award, 2018 Social Justice Advocate Student Leadership Award, and 2019 Luigi Pollara Award.