Student

Project HEALTH

Rebecca Onie was a sophomore at Harvard University in 1995 when she was insired by Dr. Barry Zuckerman. He was arguing for a holistic approach to health care — one where patients could receive assistance in all areas of their lives from a single location.

Rebecca was convinced that college students like her could be key to providing holistic care, and she set about making it happen. In 1996, she and Zuckerman teamed up to form Project HEALTH - an organization dedicated to connecting low-income patients in urban medical centers with community resources such as housing, employment, and nutrition information.

Project HEALTH places undergraduate students in "family help desks" in 18 different hospitals along the Atlantic seaboard. Volunteers receive training on how to provide social services to needy families, and they often collaborate with doctors on medical treatment, providing the holistic approach on which the the organization was founded.

Today, Rebecca serves as CEO of Project HEALTH and her work continues to be recognized throughout the medical community. She was recently awarded a 2009 MacArthur Fellowship in continue her research into how to better raise the health standard of patient care for all Americans.