Meet MIC

Enrico Castillo, Chair

Enrico Castillo, Chair
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

I was born and raised in a very small rural town in Southwestern Virginia and attended the University of Virginia, where I majored in English lit.  At UVa I first got in touch with Asian-American cultures, academics, and politics through the Asian Student Union and the Organization of Young Filipino-Americans, and cultural awareness and activism from that point became the major driving force for me. I also worked with the UVa’s Minority Rights Coalition—a collection of LGBT, women, African-, Hispanic-, and Asian-American leaders.  There I learned how those diverse populations, while each distinct, were interrelated in many of the issues they face, helping me see minority issues more globally.  Now I am an MS-3 at the University of Pittsburgh, and I try to engage diversity issues creatively in the things that I’m invested in—through our local AMA chapter, as a member of my school’s Admissions Committee, as an orientation workshop facilitator, and academically through work on cancer screening education for Vietnamese-Americans. I am also an active member of my local SNMA and APAMSA chapters, and have collaborated with all three organizations in organizing my school’s annual diversity celebration.  I am also particularly interested in global health and making that a significant part of my career.

Kamel Brakta, Vice Chair

Kamel Brakta, Vice Chair
Louisiana State University School of Medicine - Shreveport

Cassandra Bradby

Cassandra Bradby
Meharry Medical College

Having grown up in a small town in Virginia in between Richmond and Williamsburg, both with rich political histories, I learned at an early age the importance of being proactive and standing up for what you believe in. After graduating from the Governor's School for Government and International Studies in 2001, I went on to earn a B.S. in Biology from the College of William and Mary, where I became an advocate for minority affairs and issues through the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue, Inc., Asian Student Council and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Currently a second year at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, I am serving as the AMA-MSS chapter president. My goals for the MIC this year include increasing awareness of health disparities in the country and promoting the National Marrow Donor Program. Even though school keeps me busy, I find time to do the things I enjoy: watching movies, listening to music, spending time with my family, and traveling.  I look forward to working with you all this year!

Felicity Kelly

Felicity Kelly
University of Texas Medical School at Houston

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, I attended undergrad there majoring in biology and spanish. After graduation, I moved to Austin, Texas where I obtained a position with SSA. I enjoyed my job tremendously but after meeting many of the physicians that I worked with there, and my previous exposure to the medical field, I applied for medical school. Now, I am happily attending UT-Houston Medical School where I will complete my medical education in 2010. I am interested in public health, cultural awareness related to treatment of patients and instilling the excitement we med students have about science in young children. When I am not studying, I enjoy dancing and cooking. I look forward to working on the Minority Issues Committee this year and can't wait to see what exciting things we do this year!

Kawan Swain

Kawan Swain
East Carolina University - Brody School of Medicine

Born and raised in Eastern North Carolina, my desire to enter the profession of medicine stem from many personal experiences throughout my childhood.  After the completion of high school, I decided to further my education at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC, majoring in Biology/pre-med. I currently attend medical school at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University (M2) in which I am active in SNMA and AMA.  I am interested in minority health, more specifically, discussing/developing methods of improving the overall health status of the minority population.  In addition to minority health, I am also interested in increasing the number of African Americans in medicine, both in clinical practice and academic medicine.  I have a desire to enter either an internal medicine subspecialty or surgery with plans to return to Eastern North Carolina for practice.

Justin Taylor

Justin Taylor
University of New Mexico School of Medicine

Born and raised in San Antonio, New Mexico (not Texas), I graduated from Socorro High School before attending the University of New Mexico. I graduated from UNM summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in biology. During my undergraduate years I did research at UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center and at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. I studied genetic susceptibility to oral cancer in Puerto Ricans, survival of breast cancer in New Mexican women and the causes of the mental retardation syndrome, Fragile X. I will soon be starting my second year of training at the UNM School of Medicine and I now have a new research project. I won a small grant from the UNM Institute of Public Health to study disparities in healthcare and I am looking at the difference in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia mortality rates between Hispanics and non-Hispanics in New Mexico. Last year I was elected to be president of the Association for the Advancement of Minorities in Medicine a group that provides social support for minorities at UNM, reaches out to premed and high school minority students interested in medicine and strives to have a positive impact on the community through service. Our biggest project for the last few years has been to provide free physical exams to immigrants applying for citizenship. As part of my position, I have been lucky enough to have been made a full board member of the New Mexico Hispanic Medical Association.