Creating Professional Connections

Touring the hallways of the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU with Dr. David Lanning P ’24 ’26, Andrew Ascoli ’24 thought of healthcare access and affordability. He passed the pediatric-specific operating rooms, the imaging suites and trauma bays equipped with the latest advancements for optimal medical care. Then he heard Dr. Lanning say that, regardless of insurance, VCU never turns away a child. He thought of the impact of that kind of availability, of all the lives potentially relieved from the deterring burden of payments. He and the rest of his Cochrane Summer Economic Institute (CSEI) cohort wanted to try broadening that impact.

As is the practice of CSEI, the group began with exploratory conversations. They talked to healthcare providers, nurses and administrators at the Children’s Hospital. They studied

the atmosphere of hospitals, and they researched the areas in Virginia where populations have poor healthcare insurance. Nurturing students’ curiosities with the guidance of experienced professionals, CSEI, a monthlong program for rising Seniors in the Richmond area, elevates students’ understanding of economics by encouraging them to explore the specifics of a particular business.

Andrew and the rest of his group of six students, representing five different Richmond-area schools, dove into the specifics with head-first enthusiasm. “In our research, we began to realize that many patients who struggle to pay their medical bills are often uninformed or unaware of the insurance plans and resources that are available to them,” Andrew explains. “And then we researched various insurance plans, and we discussed as a group the possible ways that informing patients about insurance plans could potentially reduce medical debt and increase accessibility.”

During the course of the program, rising Seniors work with business professionals from their

partner company, a connection that gives them the chance to establish themselves in a professional setting and explore the complex systems of a business. Beginning in early July, the participating students from 11 different Richmond-area schools came to Collegiate to take part in the program, which is administered by the School’s Powell Institute for Responsible Citizenship. Energy abounds as students begin making connections between what they have learned in the classroom to the larger professional world. “I think one of the best things about this program is that it teaches you how to think in a different way,” Andrew says. “We’re introduced to real-world problems and we’re encouraged to find solutions that could have a positive impact.”

The connections formed between Collegiate’s campus and professionals in Richmond is

stimulating, and as a result students working with the Children’s Hospital proposed the development of a helpful app that would introduce hesitant patients to new payment methods.

“The app would function as a virtual insurance consultation that would display healthcare insurance options for individuals based on their personal information,” says Dory Urquhart, a student at Douglas Freeman High School. “Providing a number of resources like price estimates, online payment methods and  consulting, our app would make the payment process much more transparent to patients, hopefully increasing accessibility.”

The students’ proposal represents the advancements the young professionals made over the summer. Whether it’s in the healthcare field, in finance or working in nonprofits, CSEI gives students the confidence to take the next steps in their professional lives. Because of CSEI, some students felt as though their understanding of what was possible in their careers instantly expanded. “Throughout the program, we’ve been taught to value things that are difficult and hard to solve,” says Anika Kashyap, a student at Mills E. Godwin High School. “That kind of nuance and variability of thinking has opened up a lot of possibilities for me, and it has gotten me really excited for what’s to come.”