Joanna Papadakis is an MD candidate at Harvard Medical School and holds a B.S. from Cornell University. While at Cornell, she participated in global child health research, became certified as an EMT in wilderness and austere medicine, and served as a Cornell Tradition Fellow and Patient Advocate, which sparked her interest in pursuing a career in medicine in the service of others. To this end, she also pursued an Engaged Leadership certificate at Cornell, received a Davis Projects for Peace grant to work in maternal refugee health after college, and was awarded the Robinson Appel Humanitarian Grant for her work as a founding member of Preemie-to-Premed, a nonprofit supporting Child Life Programs during pandemic-related funding restrictions. Upon graduation, she was also honored with the Cornell Campus Leadership Award for her contributions to community mental health and emergency preparedness in Tompkins County.

After college, Joanna joined Boston Children’s Hospital as a researcher in pediatric neurosurgery to further her work in resolving pediatric healthcare disparities, where she co-authored over 15 publications and 25+ presentations at national and international neurosurgical conferences. Through this work, she also became heavily involved in global neurosurgical capacity building, leading her to join the nonprofit NeuroKids, where she focused on strengthening pediatric neurosurgical care for children with hydrocephalus and spina bifida, conditions which disproportionately affect families living in poverty in some of the most resource-poor communities across the world. Outside of her neurosurgical work, she continued her advocacy through volunteering in maternal refugee health and literacy and supporting long-term patients across a few hospitals in Boston and North Carolina.

Through this work, Joanna has become deeply passionate about global health equity and resource-limited medicine, with a particular focus on improving rural maternal-child health outcomes. She believes in building healthcare capacity from within local systems and forming sustainable partnerships that strengthen healthcare workforces and improve access to high-quality care. And yet, as an aspiring physician, Joanna hopes to not only become a leader in strengthening rural and global health systems, but to also become a provider working within these settings to deliver such care. To Joanna, healthcare should be a fundamental human right, and she is dedicated to making a lasting impact on society and the communities she serves by vowing to provide nothing less across all her involvements.

Joanna grew up in New Hampshire as one of three - she’s a triplet! Being part of a large Greek immigrant family and growing up alongside her two sisters, including one who faced many medical complexities in childhood, helped shape her early interest in global health and pediatrics. In her free time, Joanna is happiest when surrounded by nature or spending quality time with family and friends. An adventurer at heart, she can almost always be found exploring the outdoors, whether hiking, bike-packing, kayaking, or trail running!