Influential Woman · Medical Student

Christina Cacoulidis

Chief Technical Officer, Dr.eam Journal 501c(3)

Kansas City, MO

12Awards received

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree UMKC School of Medicine Degree BAMD Program (expected graduation 2030) Cert Gates Scholarship Recipient Cert HSF Scholar Member American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Member American Medical Association (AMA) Member North American Neuromodulation Society (NAN) Member Association for Women Surgeons Member Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) Member Women in Neurosurgery (WINS) Member American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) Member Asian Pacific American Medical Association (APAMSA)

Her Story

About Christina

My journey into medicine started in 8th grade when my father was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease, a condition that's pretty uncommon in males and especially in people of non-Asian descent like my father. He's had 6 strokes in the past, and that really got me interested in the brain. I reached out to neurosurgeons in my area and got the opportunity to shadow at Tampa General, where I observed a DBS surgery - deep brain stimulation. I just fell in love with functional neurosurgery from that moment. That experience led me to medical school, specifically the BAMD program at UMKC, which is a fast-tracked, accelerated dual degree program. I'm currently in my second year and will graduate in 2030. Most of my time now is divided between studying and working on research. I work in several different neurosurgery research groups, but my main focus is functional neurosurgery and brain-computer interfaces, which I've been particularly interested in. I work in basic science labs, including one at the School of Medicine and another at Duke University, where I spent a month last year working in person. I'm also working with two other students from UMKC School of Medicine on a healthcare startup called Kairos. We've secured 10K in funding and are working on pushing that forward, hopefully into clinical trials soon. My goal is to pursue a neurosurgery residency and then do a fellowship in functional neurosurgery.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Christina

01What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I think one of the challenges I've faced is that neurosurgery is such an amazing field, but when I was younger, like in middle school, looking to this career, a lot of the most notable figures have not been female. Especially in the surgical world, there are now more and more women surgeons, which is absolutely fantastic, but I think trying to find a place for yourself and contribute meaningfully to the field when you are not looking the same as everyone else - I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's just something that you kind of have to work a little bit harder to overcome. I also think that overall, the healthcare system and just advocating for patients is something I really believe in. Not only being a strong future physician and providing great clinical care, but making sure your patients feel well heard and advocated for. As a medical student, your ability to directly impact or control their care is limited because you're still in training, but a lot of times patients want to be heard and they want someone to not overlook them. I think that's something tremendous that we as students and as future physicians can provide to them.

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