Manglani, Class of 2022, Recognized for Community Service
Monica Manglani, MD/PhD student, is this year’s recipient of the Dellasega Community Outreach Award for her contributions to addressing food insecurity in the local community, vaccine access to underserved communities, and the scientific and professional development of women in scientific training.
Given annually, the Dellasega Outreach and Community Service Award is given to one medical or MD/PhD student in their final year of studies who has shown a passion for community service and outreach during their career at the Penn State College of Medicine.
“I value community service, and I see so many medical students who are involved in their communities,” said Cheryl Dellasega, professor of Medicine and Humanities, Department of Humanities, who established the award. “I wanted to recognize their contributions and this aspect of their education.”
Creating opportunities to foster community and engaging in her community have long been priorities for Manglani. As an undergraduate at Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., she was part of the Landis Community Outreach Center and worked on various social issues including hunger, food security, and sustainable agriculture.
That commitment continued when she came to Penn State College of Medicine in 2013 and became involved with Prevention Produce, a program that provides ‘prescriptions for produce’ to the Hershey’s Farmer’s Market for families experiencing food insecurity.
More recently, she has been working with Penn State Community Health and Harrisburg non-profit Heartshine to develop a community pantry and refrigerator in Harrisburg. The Uptown Community Pantry, which opened a couple of months ago, relies upon donations from community members. Open 24/7, the pantry not only increases food access but can reduce the stigma of food insecurity.
Next up: a community refrigerator or ‘fridge’ located at Heartshine and slated to open in September.
“We are now working on the logistics of fridge upkeep and providing health education flyers to accompany donations,” said Manglani who has teamed up with Ashley Visco, director of Community Health at Penn State Health, on the project.
In addition to addressing food insecurity, Manglani also has been involved in efforts to improve access to vaccines for people living in under served communities. She served on both the Student Vaccine Task Force that trained 155 students to administer the COVID-19 vaccine and the Distribution Equity Task Force that staffed community pop-up clinics.
“It really took a village to get this work done,” said Manglani, who was quick to share the credit for these initiatives with other medical students as well as Visco.
Drawing on her own experiences as a woman in scientific training, Manglani worked with other MD/PhD students to start a local chapter of Advocacy for Womxn Students to provide opportunities such as speakers and mentoring for the personal, scientific, and professional development of women in scientific training.
Manglani completed her PhD training in 2019 after five years at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, where she studied cerebral malaria, a deadly malarial complication that disproportionately affects children under 5 years.
“I would like to study infectious diseases and bridge basic science to clinical treatment,” said Manglani who intends to become a pediatric physician-scientist. “I believe that working at this intersection will progress treatments for children with life-threatening infectious diseases.”
Click here to see the other outstanding 2021 nominees.
