K A T H E R I N E.  L.  W E I N G A R T N E R.  '00.

The following feature story appeared in the campus publication MOSAIC in April, 2000.

Focusing on culture and health in underserved communities

Katherine L. Weingartner ’00 knows that science is a key to understanding human behavior and restoring health. As a neuroscience major she also knows that medicine’s curative powers are often unavailable to those who need it the most. At Trinity, Weingartner has focused her strong interest in culture and health care on communities in socioeconomic need. She has helped to evaluate the effectiveness of postnatal health care during an internship at Hartford’s Hispanic Health Council. She has also volunteered at a health clinic, educating individuals on AIDS prevention in Cape Town, South Africa. Her hope is to contribute to the delivery of health care to underserved people by becoming a physician.

Interested in science from an early age, the Merrimacport, MA, native credits her parents with encouraging an awareness of social inequalities and belief that one individual could make an impact. She graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and while there studied in the school’s year abroad program in Barcelona and became fluent in Spanish. "At Exeter I began actively thinking about how I could unite my interest in serving underprivileged communities and my interest in health and medicine," she says. "I felt that learning to speak a second language like Spanish would be an excellent choice because, in addition to the socioeconomic barriers to health care, language also can be a significant barrier in the provision of adequate care."

An industrious and empathetic student
Weingartner enrolled at Trinity partly because of the College’s proximity to a sizeable Hispanic population. Because Hispanic communities in America typically experience inadequate health care, Weingartner thought she could learn about the dynamics of the problem. As a first-year student, she participated in the Interdisciplinary Science Program, a non-major curriculum in which a select group of incoming students explore connections between the sciences and issues related to the application of science and technology in modern society.

As a sophomore, Weingartner worked with Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychology and Director of the Neuroscience Program Priscilla Kehoe to examine the effects of stress on learning and memory in neonatal rats. She presented a poster on her research at the annual conference for the Society for Neuroscience in Los Angeles in November 1998. Now she is preparing an article on the research with Kehoe and Professor Cheryl McCormack from Bates College that will soon be submitted to a neuroscience journal.

Weingartner’s dedication to her studies has brought her numerous honors. The recipient of faculty honors almost every semester, she was twice awarded the Lyon H. Earle, Jr., M.D. Memorial Scholarship, which is given to juniors and seniors who intend to become medical doctors and who are actively involved in the College community. This year, she was named the President’s Fellow in the neuroscience department for her outstanding achievement in her major.

Says Kehoe, "Kate is very articulate, industrious, scrupulous, organized, and empathetic. She has excellent interpersonal skills, is very likeable, and is very dedicated to becoming a professional in the health sciences." Weingartner has equal praise for her professor. "Dr. Kehoe’s passion for her work is contagious," she says. "She has been very supportive of my need to take my studies in several directions that are somewhat removed from her own immediate area of research."

Community connections
Weingartner has spent considerable time and effort gaining an understanding of Hartford’s underserved population. During her first year at Trinity, she volunteered at the youth emergency shelter at the YMCA, which serves adolescents in crisis. She also helped at local soup kitchens through Trinity’s student-run Catholic organization, the Newman Club. As a sophomore, she interned with the Hispanic Health Council, a Hartford-based organization that conducts research, provides education, operates a clinic, and advocates for the health care needs of the city’s Hispanic residents. There she conducted client-satisfaction interviews with participants in the Comadrona/Healthy Start Program, an educational program that promotes the benefits of breast-feeding and early child health care.

South Africa
Weingartner has found her experiences within Hartford informative and rewarding. But her study-abroad experience in South Africa during her junior year proved especially illuminating. While studying at the University of Cape Town at Trinity’s new Cape Town global learning site, Weingartner volunteered at a local health clinic educating community members on AIDS prevention. She reflects, "It is overwhelming to see the extent to which culture impacts health. Initially it is very difficult to understand how some South Africans fail to appreciate the real risks of AIDS when the disease is so widespread. Traditional views of sexuality are the most challenging barrier in AIDS prevention in South Africa. With this generation, I believe men and women will learn to negotiate solutions to the prevention of AIDS. To be effective requires great cultural sensitivity." Her experience only strengthened her resolve to become an active agent of change in the health care delivery system.

Currently Weingartner is completing her senior honors thesis in which she is exploring the correlation between depression and substance abuse in an older, Puerto Rican population at the Institute of Living, the psychiatric care facility of Hartford Hospital. Following graduation and before applying to medical school, she hopes to work for a year in the field of public health as an AIDS educator or for the World Health Organization.

"I am a great believer in the value of meaningful work," Weingartner says. "I am happiest when I feel I am helping those with very limited access to resources and education. With some intervention, people can be empowered to make great improvements in their own lives."

-Rebecca Pearce ‘00

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