ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ

Seeking Humanity in Healthcare

Sydney Shelby ’25 recognized the importance of empathy and service at an early age. As a child, she remembers playing pretend doctor with her sister and serving dinner at a local food bank as a member of the Girl Scouts. 

Her parents stressed the importance of compassion, teaching her that true justice is achieved by using your resources to uplift others. In her childhood home, portraits of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Obamas lined the walls, serving as daily reminders of what was possible when you put community first.

These values guided her work in high school with the Let It Be Foundation, where she supported families with children facing life-threatening pediatric illnesses. The organization aims to foster normalcy for the patient and their family through personalized care, youth-engaging community events, and a therapy program that Shelby helped develop during her seven years with the team.

“Seeing the impact that local organizations can have on the community outside of the hospital was my entry point in deciding to pursue a career in healthcare,” says Shelby, who is majoring in Biology and Public Health Science with minors in African American Studies and Medical and Health Humanities at ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ. “Doing what we can to make people feel like people in moments where their circumstances can make them feel dehumanized is so important.”

At Santa Clara, Shelby continues to prioritize service to others, earning the distinction of Honzel Fellow from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. In her role, she mentors fellow students and researches how racial inequities in the healthcare system contribute to Black maternal mortality in America, an issue she has witnessed both personally and professionally.

We talked with Shelby about the motivations behind her desire to tackle disparities in the health sector as a physician or policy changemaker after graduation.

What initially sparked your love for the sciences? 

I was always really interested in science. I like to joke that the Disney Junior television series, “Doc McStuffins” was ripped off of my childhood. I have pictures of myself at the age of 6 playing with toy doctor kits and caring for my stuffed animals. I participated in my first science fair when I was in the third grade and won. My project was about watering plants with water and orange juice. I don’t know if that was the most sophisticated scientific inquiry that could have been done, but it definitely hooked me on science from an early age. I went on to participate in the science fair every year until eighth grade.

Why did you decide to attend ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ?

After applying, admissions contacted me to interview for the Johnson Scholars Program. I made my way through the interview process and was blessed enough to be offered a full scholarship to Santa Clara as part of the program. To me, the opportunities for research at this school were undeniable. Going to a smaller university where you can get really close to faculty and staff without competing with graduate students for positions and opportunities in the lab made it the perfect fit for me. I also really appreciate the focus on the Jesuit philosophy of being men and women for others in the curriculum. After all those pieces fell together, it made total sense for me to choose Santa Clara.

You mentioned research opportunities were important. Through your work with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, you’ve explored the intersection of public health, medicine, and race. How have your experiences shaped the way you think about equity in healthcare?

Receiving healthcare can be really scary, especially for certain communities because of the historical path of medicine. It’s really unfortunate. We hear stories about folks– especially those who are Black– that are denied care, ignored by medical staff or told they are overreacting when explaining their personal health concerns. Those stories are not just stories. Those stories are our mothers, our fathers, our uncles, our grandparents. Growing up as a Black woman, there are a whole host of experiences that I’ve seen with my own eyes, from my aunt struggling though breast cancer to my mom nearly dying while giving birth to my sister. It definitely makes the work I’m doing and the work I hope to do in the future a lot more personal. It is for the common good, but it is also about how I wish the healthcare system would have taken better care of my family in some instances.

For your final research project as the Honzel Fellow, you led a panel discussion entitled, “Laboring for Change: A Conversation on Black Maternal Mortality in America.” Why was it essential to bring this discussion to your peers at Santa Clara and the community at large?

I had the privilege of returning as the Honzel Fellow this year, and through that fellowship, I got to TA a class and complete a yearlong research project, which culminated in me leading a panel on maternal black health in accordance with the nationally recognized Black Maternal Health Week. This was important to me because after four years in the public health department, I realized that we talk about this topic in research papers, but the general public doesn’t always get to engage. I wanted to change that.

With the help of some amazing Santa Clara faculty, I invited some fantastic speakers to discuss this topic. We had Dr. Elleni Hailu ’17, a Santa Clara alum and postdoctoral scholar at the Stanford School of Medicine doing epidemiological research, and Sarah Murphy, the director of payer growth at Maven Clinic, the world’s largest virtual clinic for women’s health. 

I wanted to create an opportunity where people could see the impact healthcare discrimination has in their own community, regardless of whether they are Black or interested in healthcare at all. I think that these issues impact us all and people can have a role in making change by voting.

You founded the Black Pre-Health Student Association at ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ. Why was it important for you to create a supportive space for students with similar backgrounds and goals?

I felt like I kept having discussions in classes about how representation and diversity is improving in the medical field. Even though this may be true, when I would look at the current landscape of higher education, I didn’t see adequate support for these students to thrive in competitive pre-med programs. Me and my good friend, Hydeia Wysinger ’25, decided to start the Black Pre-Health Student Association at the end of my junior year. It’s been a great project, definitely a labor of love. 

We advocate for increased representation of Black professionals in all health-related fields and provide essential support through mentorship, networking, and co-curricular opportunities. Having generalized community spaces for students interested in healthcare is great, but there’s special support that students from certain communities need. It’s important to be able to relate to each other and share similar experiences. I’m excited to hopefully see the club continue after I graduate this year.

As you look to the future, what are your plans for building your career after graduation?

I always say the more that I learn, the more confused I get—which is a great problem to have! I came into college very sure that I wanted to go to medical school immediately after graduation. I definitely see myself working in healthcare, but I’m starting to question if I want to make an impact from within the system as a physician, or if it will be more effective for me to make larger societal changes as someone who is independent of the healthcare system.

In the meantime, right after graduation I am moving to Rochester, Minnesota to do a two-year fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in their Biomedical Ethics Research Program. I’ll be doing research with a cardiologist and clinical ethicist about the healthcare of incarcerated patients and issues of informed consent. It’s such a cool opportunity! I’ve definitely become more passionate about research over the last few years. I see the value in exploring questions that don’t have answers yet. With medicine, you take things that you already know and apply them to patients. I’m excited to do this research because it will be a creative outlet for me to explore meaning rather than simply apply it.

I’m hoping that this work will help me figure out, “Is it medicine? Is it policy? Is it law? Do I want to go to grad school?” I feel like the world is my oyster and I’m really just trying to let my passion for social justice in healthcare lead the way.