For May’s CHEA Spotlight, we are featuring an amazing CHEA fellow, Michelle Munyikwa, MD, PhD. Michelle graduated from the joint MD/PhD program in anthropology in 2021. Currently, she is a resident physician in internal medicine and pediatrics at Penn Medicine and is a political and medical anthropologist by training.

Dr. Munyikwa’s work is prolific in her respective fields. She is a fierce advocate for immigrant rights, social justice, and minimizing health disparities. Last year, she served as the co-chair of the Physicians for Human Rights Student Advisory Board. Her research centers on how social, political, and economic dynamics work together to shape health care. Clinically, she is interested in the intersection of medicine, rights, and the law. She is passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration and education (both medical and graduate). 

She has a wide range of interests and this is well represented in her scholarship. Dr. Munyikwa has several publications in Synapsis: A Health Humanities Journal, where she has been a contributing writer since 2019. Those publications can be found here. She has done substantial work with CHEA, including working with the Social Needs Response Team (SNRT). This work led to a publication in the Harvard Public Health Review. Additionally, she was integral in our publication “Misrepresenting Race– The Role of Medical Schools in Propagating Physician Bias” which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. She also wrote a book which was accepted for publication! Congratulations, Michelle!

CHEA is so proud to have you as one of our fellows. Keep up the amazing, influential work!