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Mark Krakauer

Biography

Mark Krakauer credits his parents and his life experiences in the community and classroom with influencing his decision to practice medicine in low-income urban areas in the U.S. and developing countries, while also pursuing a strong desire to become a health policy planner.

"I expect that my first-hand experience as a clinician will drive my passion and give context to my work as a policy strategist," he says. His two community projects in Chicago - volunteering at a children's hospital and tutoring at an elementary school - have already brought Mark in close touch with children from impoverished backgrounds.

At the hospital, he "realized the reward of caring for the sick" and at the elementary school, where more than "95 percent live below the poverty-line," he says, he realized the need for policy planning to "help alleviate social inequalities, as well as health crises."

An internship with UNAIDS in Switzerland last summer introduced Mark to the practice of medicine globally in efforts to alleviate "social and economic inequality." This has encouraged him to become a clinician, then policy planner "in the under-resourced setting of a developing country." He believes, for example, that AIDS is a "disease of inequality.it disproportionately attacks the poor, uneducated, and powerless" in developing countries. "The poor do not have access to care or counseling, or to the vital information and resources that could prevent the disease. The result is a downward spiral of debilitating poverty."

The son of immigrant parents, Mark credits his father, who came to America from Poland following World War II, and his mother, who arrived from China, for being inspirational role models.  His father became a physician in the U.S. Public Health Service, and his mother a scientist for the U.S. Army. "Perhaps the quality I admire most in my parents is their effort and dedication to everything they do."

Filled with a "strong sense of gratitude," Mark sees "America as a place where the Dream is still alive." Yet he knows there are obstacles to be overcome. "The major barrier to achievement.is inequality of opportunity, which is itself a product of poverty. The poor suffer from inferior educational and health care systems."

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