Medical student Chris Danford receives Fulbright Scholarship

Chris Danford has seen barriers to health care.

During outreach work with the Student Alliance for Global Health, Danford worked in Nicaragua where he met people who walked several miles to receive care in makeshift clinics in abandoned buildings.

Chris Danford

“It gives you perspective on what we take for granted and the barriers others have to deal with to receive health care,” said Danford, a rising fourth-year medical student.

In August, Danford will again turn his focus to barriers to care as he heads to Brazil on a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship.

The Fulbright program is an international educational exchange program designed to solve shared international issues.

Distinguished company More Fulbright alumni have won the Nobel Prize than those of any other academic program.

Danford — the son of UNMC faculty members David Danford, M.D., professor of pediatric cardiology; and Jean Thierfelder, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine — is one of about 1,700 Americans who received the competitive scholarship.

Thanks to the scholarship, Danford will spend the next academic year exploring the barriers to care that exist in Brazil, where a system of universal health care has existed for about 20 years.

“People often say that a lack of insurance is the biggest obstacle to care so it will be interesting to see what the major barriers are in a place where everyone has coverage,” said Danford, who will resume his medical school training when he returns from Brazil next spring.