When Nikitha Vicas BS’21, BA’21 entered The University of Texas at Dallas as a freshman in 2017, she had her sights set on a career in medicine. By the time she graduated last May with a dual degree in neuroscience and economics, her career plans had changed, thanks in part to the research and field work experience she accumulated as an undergraduate.
Now concentrating on health policy and improving access to health care, Vicas has been awarded a Fulbright Program award to complete her master’s degree at The University of Manchester in England.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, offers fellowships to graduate students and graduating seniors to study or teach in more than 160 countries. The nine-month stipend covers such items as transportation, tuition, books and living expenses.
“I was involved in Student Government, Roosevelt at UTD and UT Dallas Model UN,” said Vicas, who was also a Eugene McDermott Scholar and National Merit Scholar. “I actually entered college planning to go to medical school but quickly realized many of the barriers to improving population health didn’t just lie in the clinical realm, but also in systemic issues that the U.S. health care system, in particular, faces.”
“Some of my favorite classes really encouraged me to think about the health care system within a comparative perspective.”
Nikitha Vicas BS’21, BA’21
The summer after her freshman year, she studied Hindi in Jaipur, India, and, at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India, she did field work that included interviewing young mothers in three low socioeconomic areas of the city.
“This was an eye-opening experience in helping me understand the root causes of disparities in access to quality nutrition, medical care and educational resources,” she said.
The Coppell, Texas, native and National Merit Scholar said the access she had to research opportunities early in her college experience at UT Dallas helped her to refine her career interests and goals.
“My neuroscience classes and the opportunity to start in a research lab as early as the summer before freshman year really set up a trajectory of continuing to pursue research through my undergraduate studies,” she said. “Some of my favorite classes really encouraged me to think about the health care system within a comparative perspective.”
While at UT Dallas, she also spent a semester as an Archer Fellow in Washington, D.C., where she worked on policy research. In addition, she conducted research in population health data science at Stanford University and Harvard Medical School, and in molecular genetics at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
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“Winning a Fulbright Scholarship is a great achievement for Nikitha, demonstrating yet again how competitive UT Dallas students are in national and international scholarship competitions,” said Dr. Ted Harpham, professor of political science and former dean of the Hobson Wildenthal Honors College. “Her Fulbright will open up many new doors for her inside and outside academia.”
She embarked on her studies as a Fulbright Scholar last fall in England, where she is focusing on the intersection of health policy and access.
“This is an incredible chance to live and experience the different health care system of the U.K. I’m already learning both in and out of class how different the National Health Service is, how its data-set collection is so beneficial to tracking population health trends and the different set of issues the U.K. faces in the health care disparities realm.”
Her long-term career aspirations include working in the public sector to address health care policy, including barriers patients face regarding access, cost and quality of care.
“These issues come down to health care policy and economics, and they have to be addressed through systemic change,” she said.