Medical student from Marshfield named UCC Volunteer of the Year
Connections will periodically feature the work of current students and clinical residents from the Central Wisconsin and Green Bay regions to highlight their talent.
Erin Hanlin, a fourth-year medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), received the 2012 Volunteer of the Year award from Milwaukee’s United Community Center (UCC) for her work on fall prevention among the UCC’s elderly Latino participants.
A student in MCW’s global health pathway program, Hanlin conducted a needs assessment of the risk of falls in older adult Latinos and used the results to develop a prevention program. She says the project showed her global health education can be accomplished on a local level.
“I learned how to interact in a culturally diverse setting as well as improve my Spanish language skills,” Hanlin said. “I also developed an appreciation for the barriers between patients and physicians and a better understanding of injury as a disease process.”
“Erin brings a broad perspective and a true interest in global health to the medical community,” said Stephen Hargarten, MD, MPH, Associate Dean of the Global Health Program, Professor and Chair of the Emergency Medicine and Director of the Injury Research Center. “Her experience with the UCC was wonderfully successful and will continue to help this medically-underserved population in Milwaukee tremendously.”
Hanlin is attending medical school through the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program, and will begin a tour of duty with the U.S. Air Force upon completion of her residency training. She recently finished a rotation in emergency medicine at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.
A graduate of Marshfield’s Columbus Catholic High School with degrees in chemistry and biology from UW-Stevens Point, Hanlin previously served as co-president of MCW’s Student Emergency Medical Association and also held leadership roles with the Military Medical Student Association and the Wilderness Medical Society. She will graduate from MCW in 2013.
Hanlin says she hopes to return to Wisconsin to practice medicine following her tour of duty with the U.S. Air Force.