Emma Phelps, a 2026 Pisacano Scholar, is a fourth-year medical student at the Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa.

Emma moved around extensively as a child, and attended public school in Ohio, Poland, and the United Kingdom. At 8 years old, she was diagnosed with Wilms tumor, which metastasized to her lung. Emma’s experience as a patient informs her clinical work, leading her to focus on communication, trust, and patient comfort. She is eternally grateful to her care team at the Cleveland Clinic, who showed her the impact of physician-patient relationships.

Emma graduated from Yale University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. After college, she worked for two years as a medical scribe at clinics run by a tribal consortium in Chico, California. Here, Emma was first exposed to family medicine, scribing for a family physician who provided medical care that was otherwise inaccessible in that part of the state, including gender-affirming care and buprenorphine treatment.

Emma was awarded a Dean’s Scholarship from the Carver College of Medicine, in addition to multiple other merit scholarships. She served as the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) student delegate to the American Medical Association for two years, and authored AAFP resolutions on methadone prescribing in primary care, and reproductive healthcare training. She also developed a new student-run free clinic site in a rural Iowa town. Her academic excellence has been recognized through induction into allopathic and public health honor societies, Alpha Omega Alpha and Delta Omega.

Between her third and fourth years of medical school, Emma completed an MPH with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where her research centered on medications for opioid use disorder, inspired by her work in the family medicine clinic before medical school.

Emma’s interests within family medicine include obstetrics, reproductive health, and addiction care. Outside of medicine, she enjoys reading, rock climbing, and running.