As a scholar in Northeastern University’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Graduate Fellowship program, Susana Kalish has been thinking a lot about the civil rights leader’s legacy.
“I remember as a young girl thinking to myself, ‘I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him,’” Kalish says. “Having a Black father and a white mother, I wouldn’t be here without the ancestors before me that fought for freedom and fought for equality.”
Today, Kalish is creating her own legacy, studying to become a physician assistant focused on providing holistic primary care to underrepresented communities.
“I really believe that mental health and physical health — as well as the social determinants of health — are intertwined,” Kalish says. “I’ve always wanted to investigate those so that hopefully in my future I can treat my patients holistically.”
Kalish is a first-year student in the Master of Science in Physician Assistant/ Master of Public Health program. She is also one of six recipients of the annual MLK Fellowship, which is administered by Northeastern’s John D. O’Bryant African American Institute.
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