Medical Student
Yale School of Medicine
Nishita Pondugula, MS is a fourth-year medical student at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2020 as a Dean's Distinguished Graduate of the College of Liberal Arts with Bachelor's degrees in Religious Studies and Neuroscience with High Honors and a Distinction in Research. At Yale, Nishita was the 2020-2021 Vice President of the Medical Student Council (MSC) and a leader of the US Health Justice elective. She continues to serve as a student leader for the OB/GYN Interest Group and as an MSC Representative. She is also an Associate Course Director of the Clinical Reasoning course and volunteers at the HAVEN Free Clinic in the Reproductive and Sexual Health Department. In 2024, Nishita completed a Master of Science in Bioethics as a dual degree at Harvard Medical School. After graduating from YSM, she plans to pursue a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her research interests have included clinical OB/GYN projects related to endometriosis, trial of labor after cesarean, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, and pre-pregnancy GLP-1 agonist use, as well as health equity work focused on improving health for formerly incarcerated populations. Her bioethics capstone investigated the relationship between distributive justice considerations related to inequitable reimbursement and procedural pain in gynecology offices as well as clinician moral distress related to performing painful office-based gynecologic procedures. She hopes to build on her prior work while centering and advancing reproductive and health justice.
