Preferred Name: Annabelle Rockne

Pronouns: she/her

Program/Major: Biology (major), Disability Studies (minor), (alum, HBS ’25)

“I initially heard about the disability studies program from a presentation given in a training when I was an orientation leader. I thought the program sounded incredibly interesting and it was a program that seemed to align well with my career goals. I want to work in public health and having a disability studies framework adds really valuable insight into and understanding into different aspects of that field.

“My favorite campus involvement has been as an Alternative Breaks site leader and executive board member—where I’ve had the opportunity to work with passionate student leaders to assist them in creating fall and spring breaks focusing on social and environmental issues that they are interested in. I also created my own break, which I really enjoyed, working with community partners to learn about food justice. Along with this, I volunteer with a program called Connect2Health on campus where we focus on the social determinants of health in high impact areas, as a community outreach coordinator. From this I work with a variety of vulnerable communities to aid in providing social services.

“I’m not 100% sure the specific sector of public health that I want to work in, but I do want to focus on community health outcomes for marginalized communities. I’m particularly passionate about the health outcomes of geriatric LGBTQ+ individuals. Disability studies has really allowed me to understand complex issues in frameworks that I would’ve never thought of prior to my experience. Understanding how disabled individuals interact with healthcare and ways to improve those experiences has been incredibly important in increasing my understanding and knowledge of this community within healthcare.”