Carle Illinois College of Medicine student Gregory Ridgel is being honored for his efforts to advance social justice and health equity in the community. Ridgel earned the 2025 Community Impact Award from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Office of Diversity & Social Justice Education within the university’s student affairs division.
“Being recognized for this work in social justice and diversity really affirms and validates my approach to innovation, giving me confidence to continue finding opportunities to make substantive change in my communities,” Ridgel said.
Ridgel has channeled his physician-innovator’s mindset to advance health equity. He worked on a team with Dr. Imani Anwisye-Mashele to adapt a community-based nutrition program to Black, African, and African American communities in Champaign-Urbana based on Dr. Margarita Terán-Garcia’s Abriendo Caminos curriculum.
Ridgel has also served the local community by working with Campaña de Salud to lead medical Spanish workshops and execute health fairs tailored for Champaign-Urbana’s Spanish-speaking communities. He also assisted the Innovators in Action student group in identifying funding sources for their adapt-a-thon event in which medical students added assistive switches to toys that they then donated to special education classrooms at three Champaign schools.
Since coming to CI MED, Ridgel has taken a leadership role in several student-led organizations, including serving as the president of the local chapter of the Student National Medical Association and co-founding the Disability and Chronic Illness student group, which represents the interests and needs of medical students from underrepresented backgrounds.
In his future medical career, Ridgel aspires to synthesize skills learned from his clinical, pharmaceutical, and engineering backgrounds to translate research into health equity and be a changemaker within marginalized communities. “When we are able to work alongside community members from marginalized backgrounds to build solutions, we can make significant strides towards righting historical wrongs, empowering people to take charge of their health, and rebuilding trust between community members and local health systems,” Ridgel said.