Meet 2025 Award Recipient
Mikayla Gordon Wexler
Prior to medical school, Mikayla attended Amherst College, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude as an Anthropology major. Mikayla then worked for two years on Dr. Arvin Garg’s team at Boston Medical Center assessing interventions for addressing families’ unmet basic needs and the impact of socioeconomic disparities on child health outcomes. She entered the MD program at ISMMS in 2021.
While at ISMMS, Mikayla devoted her time to leadership within the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP) clinic. She first served as Chair of Community Benefits, connecting patients to community resources, including food pantries and legal services. Then, Mikayla was Co-Chief Teaching Senior, where she oversaw clinical care in collaboration with faculty leadership, trained and supervised fellow student clinicians, and helped to guide overarching clinic initiatives. She also had the incredible privilege of being the longitudinal provider for three EHHOP patients— individuals with whom she formed relationships that she will always cherish. In addition, under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Reckrey, Mikayla participated in the Medical Student Training in Aging Research (MSTAR) Program. She conducted and published research highlighting the experiences of caregivers of home-bound individuals with dementia as they navigate health insurance systems. She presented her research at an American Geriatrics Society Annual meeting and was honored with the award for best poster in the Ethics & Qualitative Research category. Mikayla also piloted a course for fellow students on Incarceration and Health Justice, helped to lead a cohort of the ISMMS Human Rights and Social Justice Program, and served as a coordinator for a creative writing elective course.
Mikayla would like to thank her parents, sisters, partner, and friends for their immeasurable love and support. She additionally extends her gratitude to the Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Department at Sinai, as well as her incredible faculty mentors, for their guidance and for serving as role-models for the type of physician advocate she hopes to be. Finally, Mikayla would like to thank her Class of 2025 community for pushing her to pursue justice, compassionate care, and joy in her every day actions.
Mikayla will graduate with her M.D. degree and is so excited to continue her residency training in Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai.