Amogh Bandekar
Amogh Bandekar is pursuing undergraduate degrees in Economics and Biology as well as an M.S. in Economics at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte). Volunteering as a medical assistant at a low-cost clinic in the heart of Charlotte, Bandekar realized that addressing health inequities required an integrated effort combining public health innovation, health policy, and medicine that extends beyond the clinic. He is particularly interested in the impacts of Medicaid and Medicare policies, on health and addiction behaviors of adults. Following graduation, he hopes to attend an M.D.-Ph.D program and pursue a career as a physician economist focused on enhancing patient and population health on multiple levels of community interaction.
During SUMR, Bandekar worked with Norma Coe, PhD, in the Policy and Economics of Disability, Aging and the Long Term Care (PEDAL) Lab on a study assessing the causal difference in health outcomes and care utilization among patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia’s (ADRD) through receipt of privately or publicly financed, informal or formal care.
Outside of academics, Bandekar interns full-time as a Public Health Data Analyst at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At UNC Charlotte, he is a Clinton Global Initiative Fellow developing a long-term food clinic pipeline in homeless areas within Charlotte, and is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of a NSF-backed public health startup, SolCooking. In his free time, Amogh enjoys reading current events, watching classic movies, working out, and exploring local coffee shops.