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High school student focuses on health disparities
Kylie Jones reports
TAMPA, Fla. - A King High School senior is leaving her mark on the world of medicine.
Susmita Gudla has been involved in several research projects on health care in underserved communities since her freshman year.
Most recently, the high school senior presented research on chronic illnesses in minority populations at the 10th annual International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences-North American Section.
Coming from a long line of doctors, her passion for medicine came from her family.
"Most of my family lives in India," Gudla said. "So, I go to India almost every summer and then there, I volunteer at these orphanages and shelters, like free clinics. And so when I came back here, I kind of wanted to do the same thing here."
Gudla said she saw a lot of similar health disparities within communities in the Tampa Bay area. She spent the last two years working with the Florida Department of Health to collect an analyze data from different minority communities in the Bay Area.
"We basically assign them with a physician," Gudla said. "And then over the course of every three months, we take their baseline measurements. So they're their agency hemoglobin, their blood pressure and their total cholesterol."
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Through her research and work with physicians around the Tampa Bay area, Gudla said she found that minority communities were at the center of a number of health disparities.
During her research, Gudla also worked with physicians, St. John Cathedral and other community partners to help open GRACE Community Medical Center in Ybor City.
"There will be people, you know, who've never seen a doctor for like 30, 40 years of their life," she said. "Never had a primary care physician."
The clinic opened in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted so many like health discrepancies that were already there," she said.
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Dr. Dexter Frederick, the CEO of the Brain Expansions Scholastic Training (B.E.S.T) organization, has worked with Gudla for the last several years and helped in opening the clinic.
"If you don't have insurance, if you don't have transportation, if you don't have the support systems in place to help you, you know, your health is not going to be there," Dr. Frederick said.
Dr. Frederick said there is a rise of certain chronic illnesses in some Hillsborough County communities, like hypertension, diabetes and obesity.
"I think that early intervention and having a place that you can go to get medical care early is key," Dr. Frederick said.
Dr. Frederick said they hope to expand the health clinic, and add a dental clinic and mental health services.
Gudla hopes to take her research and her experience with the health clinic to pursue a future in medicine and eliminating disparities within health care.
"And I really just want to, I guess, work towards like a more health equitable future," she said.
Gudla is working on applying to colleges, while continuing her research. Recently, she was awarded a grant through Florida A&M University for another research project.