University of California President Michael V. Drake, M.D., and the UC Board of Regents recently recognized several UC students for their leadership, resilience and significant contributions to the university.
UC San Francisco fourth-year medical student Alli Gomez-Ojeda and the UCSF Student National Dental Association each received the President’s Award for Outstanding Student Leadership. Three students received the UC Regents Foster Youth Award: UC Merced fourth-year student Maddison Crump, UC Berkeley graduate student Alishba Sardar and UC San Francisco School of Nursing alumna Kuanie Julin.
“This year’s award recipients have distinguished themselves by doing impressive work to address the needs of their fellow students,” said President Drake. “Their efforts directly complement our work to ensure that the University of California is a place where all students can be who they are, feel that they belong, and thrive."
Evolving the medical school curriculum to better serve LGBTQ+ patients and students
In bestowing the President’s Award for Outstanding Student Leadership, President Drake recognized Gomez-Ojeda for advancing anti-oppression, diversity, equity, and inclusion in both medical education and patient care. Gomez-Ojeda grew up in the Central Valley community of Turlock, and chose to return to the valley for medical school, enrolling in the UC San Francisco San Joaquin Valley PRIME program, a specialized track designed to train doctors to work with underserved populations.
While at UC San Francisco, Gomez-Ojeda has been deeply involved in the campus’s Anti-Oppression Curriculum Initiative, first as a leader of the initiative’s student collaboration and then through a year-long fellowship. In these roles she developed new approaches to teaching and learning about queer and trans medical issues, with a dual aim of centering her fellow LGBTQ+ students, while ensuring that all students gained skills to better care for gender-diverse and queer patients. Her innovations included launching small-group sessions of medical students who were invited to self-select into the session that best met their prior knowledge and needs about queer and trans health issues. She also rebuilt a clinical skills course that delves into sexual health, to better reflect queer, trans and gender diverse patient experiences.
“She has been an incredibly collaborative, thoughtful, and skilled partner in our efforts to move our school’s curriculum towards an increasingly anti-racist, anti-oppressive stance,” wrote UC San Francisco Professor of Medicine Denise Connor, Gomez-Ojeda’s mentor and director of the Anti-Oppression Curriculum Initiative. “Her leadership is inspired by her deep commitment to health equity and to creating a welcoming, supportive environment for her fellow medical students.”
“Alli’s vision and commitment to equity have made UCSF a better place and all of us are immensely proud that she’s being honored today,” said UC San Francisco Chancellor Sam Hawgood during the awards ceremony.
Building a dental workforce that represents the communities it serves
President Drake also bestowed the Award for Outstanding Student Leadership to the UCSF Student National Dental Association, a student organization that aims to promote diversity within the UC San Francisco School of Dentistry and within the dental profession.
“As a pre-dental student myself, I found guidance and support through this remarkable organization, as do many pre-dental students from marginalized communities and nontraditional routes to the dental field,” said UC San Francisco dental student and UCSF SNDA president Betty Birbo, accepting the award on behalf of the organization. In just the past year, Birbo said, the group has made “a huge impact, on and off campus.”
“Under Betty’s dynamic presidency, the SNDA has been a shining force for promoting diversity, inclusion and representation,” Hawgood said. “Their efforts to create a welcoming and empowering environment are nothing short of game-changing.”
The SNDA’s leadership includes a mentorship program that pairs pre-dental students with current dental students and professionals from similar cultural, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds. More than 80 pre-dental students participate each year, getting inside guidance on passing their exams, applying and admissions. “The result? A huge confidence boost, clearer career goals and a growing sense of belonging,” said Chancellor Hawgood.
The association also organized workshops to help educate dental students about the diverse patients they will serve. SDNA invited guest speakers, both practicing dentists and members of marginalized communities, to cover topics like health disparities and working with interpreters. Ninety percent of the students who joined the workshops said they felt better equipped to serve patients from diverse backgrounds and address dental care disparities.
Another effort Hawgood highlighted was the association’s community outreach events, where dental students offer free oral health education to underserved communities. In the past year, the clinics have reached over 500 San Franciscans, many of whom are immigrants or refugees.
“We host these events with the one primary goal of diversifying this field, to mirror the diverse populations that dental professionals continuously serve,” Birbo said.
Supporting UC Berkeley students through Berkeley Hope Scholars
Three students received the UC Regents Foster Youth Award, which celebrates current and former foster youth students for their achievements and resilience and to build awareness of the barriers that foster youth face in college and beyond.
While earning her undergraduate degree, UC Berkeley graduate student Alishba Sardar served for over four years as a peer advisor for Berkeley Hope Scholars, an academic support program for current and former foster youth, probation foster youth and those orphaned before the age of 18. Sardar provided program development, training and advising to her fellow students. She also excelled in research, creating the program’s first student research team and publishing her own independent research findings in the Harvard Undergraduate Journal.
Sardar also helped create NAV2CAL, a mentorship program to help students from communities underrepresented in higher education understand UC Berkeley’s application and acceptance process. And she’s advocated at the federal level for simplifying the FAFSA and for legislation to double the Pell grant for students affected by the child welfare system.
Sardar expressed gratitude for the recognition, and emphasized that her efforts aimed to unlock the potential of future leaders whose impacts could serve all of society. “I hope this award serves as a call to action,” Sardar said. “We must do more, not just to recognize former foster youth but to provide resources and opportunities they need to thrive.”
“It is clear Alishba’s community inspires her toward impact and that impact is felt deeply and extends across many communities,” said UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons.
Advocating for foster youth, on and off campus
Regents Foster Youth Award Recipient Maddison Crump serves as the Belonging and Resilience Fellow in the UC Merced Bright Success Center, where she’s helped ensure that foster youth and formerly incarcerated students have resources to thrive. She also serves as a court-appointed special advocate in support of children in foster care in Merced County. In this role she collaborates with social workers, foster parents, school personnel, and others involved in a child’s case, preparing detailed court reports to assist in making decisions about the child’s future.
“Speaking on behalf of the UC Merced community, it gives me great pride to join you in celebrating Maddison Crump for her extraordinary achievements and unwavering dedication, always in the service of others,” Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said. “You exemplify what it means to be a member of the Fiat Lux family and certainly a UC Merced Bobcat.”
“Whether it’s advocating for foster youth in court or higher education, or supporting impacted individuals or mentoring others, I’m motivated by the belief that we all deserve the opportunity to thrive, no matter what hand we’re dealt in life,” Crump said. “This award is a reminder of what’s possible when we come together to support one another.”
Paving the way for foster youth to pursue graduate and professional degrees
Kuanie Julin graduated from UC San Francisco with a Master’s Degree in Nursing in 2024 and now works as a surgical nurse. She received the Regents Foster Youth Award in recognition of her involvement in the UCSF Guardian Scholars Program, which supports UCSF former foster youth pursuing graduate and professional degrees. As a student ambassador, she helped launch the program in 2023, and she remains involved today, mentoring first-generation students and welcoming new Guardian Scholars to UC San Francisco.
“Kaunie’s journey from foster care to becoming a distinguished nurse and graduate student is nothing short of extraordinary,” said UC San Francisco Chancellor Sam Hawgood. “She and her sister faced numerous challenges and her resilience saw her through … She recognized education as her path to a better future and pursued it with unwavering determination and vigor.”
“Most of my life, I wondered how I could upend misconceptions about being the product of the foster system. The Guardian Program and UCSF allowed me to change the narrative,” Julin said. “There’s no reason to look down on us or feel bad for us because we’ve experienced hardship … The hardship makes us all different. We are capable, we are ambitious, we have immense strength and resilience to succeed when given the resources and opportunities.”
