Viviane Cahen, a 2024 Pisacano Scholar, is a 4th-year medical student at Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine (OHSU). Originally from Paris, France, she studied Economics and International Development at Tulane University, drawn by its cultural similarities to French culture. Her studies included a semester in Ghana, where she developed a passion for global health and disaster relief, leading her to minor in Public Health. Her experiences highlighted the challenges in developing countries and spurred her decision to pursue medicine, aiming to integrate global health into her career.

After a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA, working on restorative approaches in New Orleans schools, Viviane completed a post-baccalaureate program at the University of Pennsylvania before entering medical school. At OHSU, she served as co-president of the Bridges Collaborative Care Clinic, an interdisciplinary student run clinic, providing free healthcare to Portland’s housing-insecure population. Her work with marginalized communities and addiction medicine led her to scribe for the Oregon ECHO Project and join the Oregon Project Nurture research team, focusing on prenatal and pediatric care for women with substance use disorders. Ultimately, she aims to leverage her public health and clinical training to advance the health of this population through full spectrum FMOB (family medicine obstetrics) training.

Viviane has a strong interest in health policy, leveraging her public health background to advocate for healthcare reform. She served as co-advocacy lead for the Family Medicine Interest Group and was a 2023 Oregon Academy of Family Physicians Policy Scholar. Her involvement in the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Annual Summit and commitment to policy work reflect her belief that family medicine is the ideal specialty to merge her interests in public health and medicine. She hopes to continue to be at the forefront of health policy through research and advocacy for strengthening primary care infrastructure and reducing barriers to increase access to healthcare for marginalized populations.

A passionate mentor, Viviane has supported underserved high school students with Upward Bound at Tulane and through the Partnership for Scientific Inquiry at OHSU. She plans to continue mentoring throughout her medical career. Viviane enjoys art, including pottery and painting, loves to discuss books read at book club sessions, enjoys swimming and summer water sports, as well as traveling the world and learning about other cultures. As a National Health Service Corps Scholar, Viviane is dedicated to primary care and looks forward to practicing full-spectrum family medicine with a focus on urban underserved populations and global health. She hopes to make significant contributions to the field of family medicine through research, teaching, leadership, health policy, and direct patient-centered medical care.