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Leila Bushweller (’26) was awarded the Crain Student Research Award for her research project entitled “Non-Health Professional Interventions for Hypertension: Systemic Review Comparing Intervention Effectiveness in Racial and Ethnic Minorities.”
Leila’s interest in this topic stems from the fact that many Americans struggle with common health challenges such as hypertension, and oftentimes an outpatient clinic is not the best place to address these challenges. She was intrigued by the question of whether community health workers could make a difference in hypertension control rates, particularly for populations that carry the largest burden of complications that can arise from chronic hypertension.
“Like Dr. Chris Crain, who this memorial award is in honor of, I am very passionate about research in health disparities,” says Leila. “I hope that through my research I am able to contribute to knowledge on how to best reduce health disparities and eventually achieve health equity.”
The Crain Student Research Award was established by the Lawrence “Chris” Crain Memorial Service fund, founded by Pearl Crain and Bryon Hoogwerf, MD. The fund was established after the death of Lawrence “Chris” Crain, MD, Cleveland Clinic’s first African-American chief medical resident in internal medicine. The fund supports a yearly lecture by a prominent physician focusing on topics about which Dr. Crain was most passionate: healthcare disparities, hypertension, and kidney and heart disease.
This year’s lecture was delivered by Bessie Young, MD, MPH, Professor of Nephrology at the University of Washington, and UW School of Medicine Vice Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Following the lecture, Leila was given her award.
“I feel incredibly honored to win this award,” says Leila. “I’ve been very lucky to have found wonderful clinical research mentors at the clinic, such as Dr. Sonal Patil. Winning this award is a testament to the mentorship that I have received at Cleveland Clinic.”
The Crain Student Research Award is given annually to a CCLCM student. Rachel Baird, MD (‘19), who was the inaugural Crain Student Research Award winner, oversees the award selection committee.
Read more about Dr. Crain and the Crain award.
Bessie Young, MD, MPH
Lilly Crain, widow of Dr. Chris Crain, and Dr. Bessie Young
Dr. Bessie Young; Leila Bushweller; Craig Nielsen, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine and Assistant Dean of Clinical Education at CCLCM; and Crystal Gadegbeku, MD, Chair of Nephrology at Cleveland Clinic
