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The Daniel Lewis Ravin, MD Award honors MD students and PhD candidates enrolled in the School of Medicine at ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ who show promise in the fields of occupational or environmental health. The 2024­–2025 award winners are Nikita Das, Trina Pal, and Nikhila Yerabandi.

Nikita Das
Nikita is currently an MD student at the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ School of Medicine and plans to graduate in 2026. She is using her Ravin Award funding to explore the environmental impacts of psychiatric comorbidities for patients who have encountered the criminal justice system. Currently, her project is to investigate if a diagnosis of schizophrenia occurred before or after contact with the criminal justice system, and she is partnering with a team to analyze this data for a potential manuscript and conference presentation. Her goal for this project is to add to the body of knowledge on the bidirectional relationship between mental health and criminal justice encounters.

Tell us about yourself
I'm originally from Arkansas, born and raised, but spent 6 years in New York City to attend college and work as a public school elementary teacher before medical school. My inspiration for a career as a physician advocate stems from my experiences attending Little Rock Central High school, national historic site home to the Little Rock Nine—the first group of African American students to successfully desegregate an Arkansan public school after the landmark Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education case. These experiences were further molded during the time I spent in New York as a volunteer tutor at Rikers Island Correctional Facilities. Since coming to medical school, I've joined the Advocacy and Public Health Pathway co-curriculum, which has been instrumental to helping me learn how to harness my voice as a future physician.

What excites you about the Daniel Lewis Ravin Award?
I am thrilled to use the incredible opportunity provided by the Ravin Award to delve deeper into how the environmental landscape of the U.S. criminal justice system impacts public health. This work feels deeply meaningful to me, as it bridges two critical areas of advocacy that I am passionate about. I am profoundly grateful to the Swetland Center for Environmental Health for believing in this vision and supporting me in bringing it to life. Their guidance and encouragement have been instrumental in making this opportunity possible, and I am eager to contribute to this vital area of research and advocacy.

Trina Pal
Trina is currently an MD student at the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ School of Medicine and plans to graduate in 2025. She is using her Ravin Award funding to become more involved in tree canopy research, including a summer 2024 tree canopy research study and coursework in urban forests and forest carbon management. In 2024, she and a team of researchers observed 80 trees in the Greater Cleveland Area, and they will analyze this data and present it to the Board of Health with a goal of informing environmental health policy.

Tell us about yourself
My name is Trina and I am originally from the Detroit metro area. I majored in Ecology while at the University of Michigan and am now proud to be an (almost) graduate of ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ School of Medicine. I have always had a love for the natural world, and studying Ecology gave me practical knowledge in multiple ecosystems. This included my favorite ecosystem, the forest! When I came to medical school, I was looking for ways to integrate my ecology and forest system knowledge with the field of medicine. I decided to study Cleveland's urban tree canopy and have spent the last four years conducting field research studies in partnership with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. 

What excites you about the Daniel Lewis Ravin Award?
Environmental and climate change health is an emerging topic within the field of medicine, and I am glad that the Swetland Center places an emphasis on this area of study. I am excited to use the Ravin award to purchase field research equipment for my tree canopy study, and to take online courses on how urban trees and forests systems will change as a result of global warming. 

Nikhila Yerabandi
Nikhila is currently an MD student at the ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ School of Medicine and plans to graduate in 2026. For her Ravin Award work, she is learning more about the environmental impact of medical materials, including a life cycle assessment boot camp and a research project at the Cleveland Clinic. Her current project assesses how much energy is used to make, transport, and dispose of medical tape for wound change and drain dressing, as well as the impact of these processes on the overall environment. The goal of this work is to impact healthcare policies related to medical and surgical materials.

Tell us about yourself 
I was born in Toronto, Canada, but I spent most of my life in San Diego, CA. I went to UC San Diego for undergrad, and I am currently a third-year medical student at Case. My interest in sustainability began in high school when I first saw pictures of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. At Case, I have been a member of the Climate and Health Pathway, the Climate Collaborative, and the Med Students for Sustainability student group, which have all enabled me to learn about how the healthcare system contributes to the climate crisis and have also allowed me to take part in initiatives that lessen this impact.

What excites you about the Daniel Lewis Ravin Award?
In my first year of medical school, I learned about life cycle assessments (LCA), which is a method to quantify the environmental impact of a particular product or process from the extraction of raw materials to disposal. I was extremely excited when I heard about this and wanted to learn how to conduct an LCA. However, there is a steep learning curve, and I wasn't sure how to approach such a project. Through the Ravin Award, I have been able to attend an LCA bootcamp course at Columbia University, where I learned what an LCA is, how to conduct an LCA, and how to discuss and present the results of a project. I have now started a project on quantifying the impact of different medical tapes that are commonly used in hospitals. I am extremely grateful for the Ravin Award for giving me the opportunity to learn more about LCAs and start my own project!