Megan Lakshmi Srinivas
Infectious disease physician, clinical instructor and Translational Health Policy Research fellow
University of North Carolina School of Medicine
Age: 33
Mentor: Dr. Joseph Tucker, associate professor, University of North Carolina
Why she’s a Forty:
Most recently, Megan co-led a World Health Organization project advancing access to sexual and reproductive health care in resource-limited settings. She is currently leading an NIH-funded study on how legislative defunding of family planning health centers affects access to health care in rural America. She was the first student member on the Iowa State Board of Education, appointed by Gov. Tom Vilsack. She has worked for the World Food Prize Foundation in Kenya analyzing factors influencing household food security and was awarded the John Chrystal Award for outstanding contribution to hunger issues. Megan studied the evolution of malarial drug resistance in South America, changing national treatment policy in Peru and earning one of Harvard’s most prestigious undergraduate awards, the Thomas Temple Hoopes Prize.
What are your goals in your role at your company?
My work focuses on the social determinants of health and using public policy and social innovation to overcome health inequities.
What are your goals for your community involvement?
I work on creating grassroots engagement to educate and empower people to advocate for themselves. I also am dedicated to advocating for systemic changes via policy/politics to overcome inequities, especially rural inequities.
What's your biggest passion, and why?
Rural inequities, both from a health perspective and in regard to all of the social determinants of health (education, economic stability, food security, etc.). Helping the most marginalized in any population optimize their chances for success through equitable systemic changes.
What is it that drives you?
My patients, my neighbors, my community members. The people who have let me into their lives and shared their stories so that I can help them medically. It's such a privilege to be so trusted as a physician, and I want to use that trust to help create a better world for my patients and community members.
What are your future aspirations?
I would like to create a three-pronged program that: 1) provides clinical care to the most marginalized populations in rural areas that often go underserved, 2) creates a research niche focusing on translation of medical research into direct policy initiatives, and 3) educates the next generation of physician activists.
Three hobbies:
Traveling, hot yoga (when it's safe again), scuba diving.
Fun fact:
Megan was featured in Sports Illustrated when she was a high school junior.
ONE word: Fierce.
What is your wish for the Central Iowa business community?
Much of the business community has been suffering the setting of the pandemic. I wish to work with elected leaders to create a two-pronged approach that would use science to help control transmissions as soon as possible while enabling people to safely support businesses and provide fiscal support from our state surpluses to help our businesses survive and thrive through this time.
Anything else you haven't addressed that people must know about you?
I have the most adorable new puppy we just adopted and am always looking for new places to adventure with her (including spots for great outdoor dining) for when the weather is better again.
On another note, I also currently work with Project Echo to provide hepatitis C care via telehealth in the rural U.S. I am a national delegate to the American Medical Association, where I also sit on the 12-person Council on Medical Service. I am a senior fellow with the George Washington University's Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity program, a board member of Iowa’s National Alliance for Mental Illness, and serve on the Iowa Supreme Court’s Access to Justice Commission. During fall 2020, I also served as the chair of President-elect Joe Biden’s Iowa COVID Response Council.