Name: Kayley Anderson
Hometown: Omaha
Class of: 2025, but now 2026. (I’m taking a year off to get my MPH at the University of California-Berkeley)
Education:
- BA, English, Creighton University, Omaha
- BS, neuroscience and biology, Creighton University
- Skutt Catholic High School, Omaha
Hobbies:
- Crocheting
- Sand volleyball
- Reading
- Watching old sci-fi movies
What do you do to stay balanced?
I like to take time to be with my dog, Cleo, outside or doing something active with friends.
What led you to medicine? I have worked and/or volunteered in the recreation therapy department at the Munroe-Meyer Institute for the past 10 years. My experiences there working alongside children and adults with intellectual and physical disabilities is what drove me to pursue a career in medicine. They are my biggest supporters, my favorite people to take study breaks with and, most importantly, my friends. My goal is to make health care a more accessible and inclusive space for my friends and others who share their experience. As part of this goal, I am currently working on an initiative to redesign the UNMC College of Medicine’s disability curriculum.
Three things people may not know about me:
- I work as a court-appointed special advocate, or CASA, for kids in foster care through Douglas County. As a CASA, I am assigned a case and work with each child to understand their wants and needs so I can relay them to the court. This helps give kids an active voice in the courtroom and during their experience in the foster care system.
- My favorite things to learn about, outside of medicine, are Mesozoic Era sea reptiles. (Think “Jurassic Park,” but in the ocean.) Did you know that pliosaurs are thought to have had sensory pits on their snouts that allowed them to detect pressure changes in water?
- I am a published poet and was an English major as an undergraduate.