In recognition of a commitment to service, Dr. Priscilla Mapelli, chief resident in the UConn Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency Program, is this year’s winner of the Capital Area Health Consortium’s Community Service Award.

The CAHC is the group of Connecticut hospitals that employs medical residents and fellows in UConn-sponsored programs.

“I think the most remarkable quality of Dr. Mapelli’s community service is that it is a reflection of her personal values, and care for others,” says Dr. Gregory de Gruchy, the residency’s associate program director. “She has not only worked hard in many aspects of community service and launched new initiatives to help vulnerable communities, she has also consistently led and facilitated projects to assist others and find spaces to engage with their communities and work with others. She is a commensurate humanitarian who will always seek to help others and has a bright future ahead of her in helping people in need.”

Mapelli’s nomination, from de Gruchy and Dr. Subramani Seetharama, the residency program’s director, tells of a March 2024 medical mission in Lima, Peru, where she worked at a public hospital for the underserved.

“Dr. Mapelli, over the course of long days, provided medical leadership and training to Peruvian medical staff and patients,” they wrote. “Dr. Mapelli was eager to serve in any role required of her, which ranged from wound care and inpatient hospital rounding, to outpatient medical visits and therapy for amputees walking on their prosthetic for the first time.”

After the mission, Mapelli continued to work with her Peruvian colleagues to study how community development and planning in Peru affects those with limb loss.

“Her efforts in this mission and the work she has continued since underscores her commitment to global health equity and her ability to serve beyond the walls of any hospital or institution,” her nominators wrote. “Her contributions have reached patients across borders, inspired colleagues, and enriched the communities served. It is rare to find a physician-in-training with such a profound sense of purpose and the drive to turn that purpose into meaningful action.”

Mapelli also is credited with raising awareness and funding for underserved health initiatives as a participant in events such as the Hartford and New York City marathons. Years before her residency, she was advising and mentoring staff and volunteers in interdisciplinary global health projects in rural Africa while an undergraduate at UCLA, as president of her school’s chapter of the international nonprofit Global Brigades.

“I am humbled,” Mapelli says. “Admittedly, I was delightfully unaware of how much of an impact was made. I was simply doing the things I love and practicing what was instilled in me from a young age: to be of service to others. I am grateful to Dr. Seetharama, Dr. de Gruchy and Dr. [David] Rosenblum [residency program site director at Gaylord Hospital] for creating a training environment where we can continue to follow our unique passions, while striving for clinical excellence in our specialty.”

The Capital Area Health Consortium is a nonprofit voluntary association with six member hospitals collectively responsible for the residents’ and fellows’ salaries and benefits.