Preeyanko Rao

Preeyanka Rao is a Master of Public Health student in Health Policy at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina. As a double Tarheel, she attended UNC as an undergraduate, where she received a B.A. in Public Policy and Biology with a minor in statistics and analytics. She is passionate about reducing health disparities, improving minority health, and ensuring equitable healthcare through federal health policy reform. At UNC, Preeyanka volunteers as a Social Needs Navigator with the Student Health Action Coalition (SHAC), and works as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Department of Public Policy and Gillings School of Global Public Health. Prior to her MPH, Preeyanka pursued research with the North Carolina Cancer Hospital evaluating the impact of remote lay navigation on reducing barriers to care for oncology populations, as well as with the UNC Department of Sociology looking at elevated rates of maternal mortality and adverse birth outcomes among Asian Indian women in the United States. As an aspiring primary care physician, she hopes to work at the intersections of health policy and clinical medicine to improve patient care and population health outcomes. This summer, Preeyanka assisted with a project researching topics on Medicare in relation to payer and patient decision-making pertaining to pharmacy benefits.

Margolis Summer Experience Program - Work & Deliverables