Two Vanderbilt University School of Medicine alumni have joined VUMC’s Office of Health Equity.
Rohini Chakravarthy, MD, MBA, is a primary care physician whose career interests include health equity, clinic operations and quality improvement. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2014 with a BA in neuroscience and received her MD and MBA from Vanderbilt University in 2020. She completed the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Internal Medicine Residency Training Program in 2023. In addition to seeing patients, she serves as a medical director for the Shade Tree Clinic, Vanderbilt’s student-run free clinic.
“In my role at the Office of Health Equity, I will be coordinating antiracism training for faculty and students,” Chakravarthy said. “We will be investigating the impact of race and ethnicity on patient experience measures in the inpatient setting and implementing changes to promote equity. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the Office of Health Equity to critically examine the systems we create for patients, students and colleagues in my hometown.”
Jill Berkman, MD, assistant professor of Neurology, graduated from VUSM in 2018. She is a stroke neurologist interested in providing education on health equity and becoming more involved in the medical school.
She is a graduate of Bowdoin College and majored in neuroscience and French. She served her residency at Mass General Brigham. Berkman is directing a medical student course called Foundations in Health Equity and co-directing the new Health Equity graduate certificate for residents and fellows.
“I am thrilled to be a part of the Office of Health Equity for many reasons including the opportunity to learn more professionally and personally on equity and also be able to teach future and current physicians about health equity. It truly is a dream come true to be able to practice neurology and equity work,” she said.
“It’s a huge win to have Dr. Berkman and Dr. Chakravarthy join our health equity team. They are both brilliant physicians with authentic commitments to equity and justice who have already demonstrated incredible leadership early in their careers,” said Consuelo Wilkins, MD, MSCI, Senior Vice President and senior associate dean of Health Equity and Inclusive Excellence.