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About
Alessandra Hirsch, M.D. graduated from Cornell University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology and Behavior and a minor in Theater Arts. She spent time before medical school working for PharmedOut, a Georgetown University project which studies pharmaceutical marketing tactics. It was here that she became engaged in public health work, focusing specifically on women's public health and the approval of flibanserin, a drug marketed to treat female sexual dysfunction.
During medical school, Dr. Hirsch focused her extracurricular activities on healthcare justice. She formed the school's first neurosurgery interest group, the Professional Organization of Medical Students (PONS), and headed its reproductive rights group (Medical Students for Choice) and its single-payer advocacy club (Physicians for a National Health Program). She served on UIC's admissions committee and freelanced as a residency and medical school application advisor.
Dr. Hirsch’s focus on activism persisted through residency into her job as an attending physician in the form of writing, though she strives to find ways to advocate for her patients every day. Dr. Hirsch is particularly passionate about reproductive justice as she fights for the right to choose and the right to perform abortions in the United States.
Other examples are listed below:
Organized students for Chicago's first Women's March
Volunteered as a family planning clinic escort
Published several letters to the editor of the New York Times on issues from campus rape legislation to sexism in campaign reporting