2023 Senior Awardee: Beverly Udegbe, A23

Hometown: Greenbelt, Maryland

Major: Community Health

Beverly Udegbe is a senior at Tufts University majoring in Community Health on the Pre-medical track and minoring in Spanish. Being a first-generation Nigerian-American from Greenbelt, Maryland, Beverly has a special appreciation for rich cultures and aims to surround herself with diverse groups of people. Her interests are centered on social determinants of health and how health inequity results in poor health outcomes for minority, especially Black, communities. She is also passionate about advocacy and how civic engagement can better form the healthcare field. 

At Tufts, she worked with the Somerville Homeless Coalition as a Tisch Scholar to help families apply for and secure rental assistance amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Following this experience, Beverly continued to work with the case manager at Somerville Homeless Coalition (SHC) and the City of Somerville to engage in harm reduction with individuals experiencing street homelessness and the opioid crisis in Massachusetts. During her time at Somerville Homeless Coalition, Beverly was able to help catalyze a robust overdose prevention program, training more than forty individuals and multiple local businesses on how to respond to overdoses. This time at SHC was so monumental to her Tufts experience that she sought out similar work at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless. There, she medically monitors patients looking for a safe haven after using substances and aids the case manager in respite care. Her maternal health interests afforded her the opportunity to participate in the Tufts Visiting and Early Research Scholars’ Experiences Program. Through this experience, she formulated the DC Maternity Care Study and is researching the impact maternity ward closures have on maternal health equity in Washington, D.C. 

Outside of these experiences, Beverly expresses her creativity through her commitment to the ENVY Ladies Step team. After four years of being on the team, two of which were spent as a captain, Beverly found a love for dance and the performing arts. Following graduation, Beverly will continue working in the healthcare field with the hopes of becoming a physician.