Elizabeth Madamidola
Elizabeth Madamidola is majoring in Global and Public Health Sciences and minoring in Health Policy and German at Cornell University. She first became interested in health care policy research after reflecting on how disadvantageous the U.S. health care system was to her own community, as well as learning in college about the gaps in care and outcomes of underrepresented minorities. She is also interested in the growing intersection between hospitality and health care, and investigating how to further improve patient experience in hospitals, especially for minority populations.
Through SUMR, Madamidola worked on two projects, both within the Palliative and Advanced Illness Research Center. With Katherine Courtright, MD, MSHP, she focused on improving the quality of the dying experience for terminally ill patients in hospitals. The goal of the project was to identify factors that influence the quality of dying and death among patients with acute respiratory failure. With Joanna Hart, MD, MSHP, she used qualitative data to explore how to better support young people who are caretakers for older adults who require constant assistance.
At Cornell, Madamidola is a fellow for the Health Design Innovations Lab, a member of the Global Health Student Advisory Board, and is also on the executive board for a club, Healthy Futures, which explores the intersection between health care, hospitality, and design. In her free time, she loves to go on bike rides, bake desserts, watch Architectural Digest videos, and practice her German language skills.