Krystal Mutebi

• Tufts Senior, studying Community Health via the pre-medical track
• 2024 Levy CIMAR Summer Scholar researching how to address health disparities in antibiotic prescribing

Krystal Mutebi is a Tufts University senior majoring in Community Health on the pre-medical track, and was chosen for the 2024 Levy CIMAR Undergraduate Summer Internship in Science and Medicine.

2024 Levy CIMAR Summer Scholar Krystal Mutebi (right) with mentor Dr. Alysse Wurcel

This summer, Krystal worked under the mentorship of the Levy CIMAR’s Alysse Wurcel, MD, an attending physician at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Wurcel studies issues of equity and ways to combat antibiotic resistance in carceral settings. Krystal’s research alongside Dr. Wurcel was aimed at addressing health disparities experienced by racial and ethnic minorities in antibiotic prescribing. Their research focused on evaluating and improving the quality of health disparities literature by developing a rubric based on essential criteria identified by leading scholars in the field.

According to Dr. Wurcel, the rubric Krystal is creating to evaluate how disparities are reported can be used in other contexts. “I hope other parts of medicine outside of infectious diseases can use the rubric to improve systems of research reporting,” says Dr. Wurcel.

Looking ahead, Krystal is eager to leverage this experience as she pursues a medical degree. She plans to focus on maternal and adolescent health, specifically. She says: “My goal is to not only contribute to clinical practice but also to advocate for systematic changes that address racial minorities.”