Gabby Thomas on Sociology and Medicine

Gabby Thomas, Harvard grad and gold medall winner x3 at the 2024 Olympics talks about how sociology influenced her volunteering at a healthcare clinic.

Gabby Thomas on sociology and medicine:

I started taking a few sociology courses
as well to complement it.
And I realized that there were a lot of things
we don't learn about the health care system
in our regular curriculum.
And I was being exposed to it.
And I drew a passion for studying
and gaining a foundation in racial disparities
in health care.
And it just really struck me to my core,
especially being a Black woman in America.
And now that I'm actually seeing it
in real time in Austin at the volunteer health care clinic,
there are just so many things that we can do better.
I mean, these are people who really don't have access
to health care otherwise.
I don't know where they would turn to.
And we are people-- it's a volunteer-based clinic.
So these are people who are dedicating time out
of their day to give just primary care, preventive
care, education.
And it's unfathomable to me that these people
would have nowhere else to turn to if this clinic didn't exist.
And it's just so simple.
It's a simple concept, right?
We could increase funding for it
and people can have access to health care so easily.
And that's what we do with the clinic.
And it's really just near and dear to my heart,
because everybody deserves that.