Adora Moneme is a medical student at the Perelman School of Medicine pursuing a combined MD-MS in Health Policy Research degree under the mentorship of Dr. Rachel Kelz, MD, MSCE, the William Maul Measey Professor of Surgery. She currently serves as the chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Center for Surgical Health (CSH), a multi-armed community-based surgical equity organization.
During medical school, Moneme has been involved in community programs and research focused on disparities in health care, education, and policy. During the summer of her first year of medical school, Moneme collaborated with three other medical students to organize and lead an immersive summer advocacy course focused on legislative advocacy that culminated in students meeting with nearly 100 legislators on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to advocate for two active bills. Moneme plans to focus her MSHP degree on research that addresses issues of health equity in the context of surgical access and outcomes and research directed at quality and improvement of the CSH patient navigation program. Ultimately, she plans to conduct policy-relevant research with the goal of enabling structural changes that improve surgical care for populations historically underserved. Moneme is clinically interested in general surgery.
Originally from Union, New Jersey, Moneme graduated from Rutgers University, with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and Health and a minor in Psychology. During that time, she became heavily involved in community outreach diversity and inclusion initiatives.