As a Medical Scribe Fellow at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Laurel Sharpless (laurelll_ann), MPH ’21, saw a gap between individuals exposed to intimate partner violence and the health care they received as a result of experiencing abuse. “It bothered me. I wanted to be a part of the solution,” Sharpless, who is a survivor of intimate partner violence, explained. She managed to completely revamp the way Stanford’s network of primary care and gynecology clinics screen patients for intimate partner violence — all while cheerleading for the San Francisco 49ers. “That was my first glimpse of public health,” she said. “I was hooked, and I realized I could make an impact on a subject that I was very passionate about.” That passion brought Sharpless to the Yale School of Public Health, where she is conducting research regarding intimate partner violence and HIV prevention. And after she graduates, Sharpless plans to conduct novel research on the impact of intimate partner viol...