Grace Kennedy

Hello! It's been a joy meeting many of you, and I hope to meet the rest of you as the year goes on! I am a Master of Public Health student from the United States here at Imperial. I am passionate about the impact of policies on community members. Too often, policymakers are out of touch with the true effect of their decisions on individuals. I have seen this firsthand through my experiences working with NGOs addressing neglected diseases in Kenya and individuals with opioid use disorder in Boston, MA. In both cases, policies from higher up inadvertently perpetuated cycles of marginalization in these communities. The Imperial College Union Council makes decisions on union-related policies and lobbies the University Council on university-wide policy decisions. This includes topics such as events, leadership, undergraduate housing costs, and international student requirements, to name a few. As the PG Council Representative for the Faculty of Medicine, I would have the opportunity to work as the liaison between you, as the impacted community in this case, and the Union and University, which develop these policies. As your representative, I would be committed to being both approachable to students who wish to bring concerns to the council and also seeking out your perspectives so that policy decisions, to the best of my ability, can facilitate, rather than hinder, your learning and growth during this key time of our postgraduate studies. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or to just say hi!