Jessica Rosenblum

Co-Director

Jessica “Jess” Rosenblum is a 3rd year MD/MPH student at Tufts University School of Medicine who grew up in New Jersey surrounded by her loving parents, grandparents, and sisters. She received her bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 2020, where she studied Anthropology/Global Health, and French. After graduating, Jess worked in health policy at Mathematica in Washington, DC, where her policy work focused on reproductive and maternal health, Medicaid, and health equity. While Jess has always lived in a larger body herself, her formal advocacy in this area began when she started medical school at Tufts in 2023. Jess co-launched a chapter of MSSI at Tufts, successfully advocated for curricular changes, and later became a lecturer within the Tufts curriculum to teach other medical students about weight-inclusive care. She is also involved in several qualitative and quantitative research projects related to weight bias and inclusive care. Jess hopes to become a full-spectrum family physician, delivering high quality care to individual patients while continuing to advocate for sweeping improvements to the healthcare system and advancing access, quality, and equity of care for all.

Anna Wengyn

Co-Director

Anna Wengyn is a co-director of MSSI. She is beginning her M3 year at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University. She became interested in size inclusive medicine after her own experiences as a fat patient left her feeling shamed and isolated, causing her to disengage with the healthcare system as a patient but engage as a future physician. She is most interested in pediatrics because that patient population is in a formative time of life regarding self-esteem and body image, and she hopes to be a positive presence for young patients to encourage health at every size.

April Ascher

Secretary

I am a M2 at the University of Kansas School of Medicine at their Salina campus. Our campus is the smallest in the country with about 8 students per class! I still haven’t decided which career path I want to pursue yet, but I am considering family medicine with either a geriatric or palliative care fellowship or psychiatry. I came to size inclusive medicine because as someone who lives in a larger body, I have experienced medical trauma and want my future patients to have better care than I have in the past. For fun I like to read, play flute, write poetry, and spend time with my family and my partner. A fun fact about me: when I was young I raised rabbits for 4-H and had over 200 rabbits at one point!

Taylor Lees

Director of Community Engagement & Education

Taylor (she/her) is a rising fourth-year medical student at the University of Minnesota. She earned her MPH prior to medical school, where she began her work in health equity and weight-inclusive health advocacy. Taylor has been involved with MSSI throughout medical school, serving at both the national level and as co-president of the UMN chapter. She is committed to advancing holistic, equity-driven care that addresses physician bias and social determinants of health. Outside of medicine, she enjoys reading, exploring Minneapolis, and spending summers at the lake.

Sophie Lalonde-Bester

Newsletter Co-Chair

Sophie (she/her) is an incoming fourth-year medical student at the University of Alberta in Canada with hopes to pursue a career in family medicine. Her clinical background as a registered dietitian and research on eating disorders and polycystic ovary syndrome have shaped her commitment to size-inclusive care. She is responsible for MSSI’s monthly newsletter. Outside of medicine, she loves to run and be in the mountains.

Jay Liu

Newsletter Co-Chair

Jay Liu (they/them) is a fourth-year medical student at Stanford University. They came to size-inclusive medicine after learning about HAES through an eating disorder prevention program (shoutout to Christina Miranda’s Body Empowerment Project!), and they haven’t been able to look back since! Their goal is to one day be a size-inclusive, LGBTQ-friendly family medicine provider who can help folks feel at peace with amazing, ever-evolving bodies and nurture a gentle, loving relationship with food. Along the way, they plan to do many fun and cool things like read all the anti-diet books, explore the world with their partner, and engage in their own eating disorder recovery journey one step at a time. They can be reached at jliu99@stanford.edu

Joe Morrison

Research Lead

Joe is a third-year MD/PhD student at UC Davis. His PhD is in biomedical engineering with research interests in bone mineral density, joint mechanics, and health equity. He currently serves as the MSSI Research Lead to advance student-lead projects on weight bias in medicine and medical education.

Abby Fraust

Curriculum/Education Lead

Abby is an M3 at Drexel University College of Medicine. Word-of-mouth brought her to an MSSI event, and she was instantly hooked. After a lifetime of watching her family yo-yo diet (and yo-yo diet herself) for the sake of body image and ‘health’, the weight-inclusive space was a breath of fresh air. It provided a new, sustainable way to engage with food and body image. She looks forward to sharing this framework with her patients – in GI, primary care, or who knows! She loves to lift, bake for friends, and scour Facebook marketplace.

Sam Temucin

Director of Chapters and Affiliates

Sam Temucin is an M4 at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, planning to pursue General Surgery. Her commitment to size inclusivity is deeply rooted in her own mental health journey and a recognition of the harm caused by weight stigma in medicine, particularly within surgical fields. Since joining MSSI in 2022, they have found both community and a platform to advocate for change. Outside of medicine, she enjoys rock climbing and spending time with her partner, their two cats, and close friends in Philadelphia.

Jackie Liu

Advocacy Co-Lead

Jackie (she/they) is a rising third-year at Harvard Medical School and Co-Advocacy Lead for MSSI. Jackie grew up in Maryland and majored in Biology and Women’s Studies at the University of Maryland, where they found passions in student organizing, reproductive justice, health policy, and fat studies/liberation. Their senior thesis was on healthcare providers’ attitudes towards larger-bodied patients and how that’s reflective of a larger, fatphobic society. Because of this, she pursued medicine to not only practice weight-inclusive healthcare, but also systemically change how we practice health to include bodies of all sizes. In her free time, Jackie likes to crochet, bake, and weightlift!

Marisa Langton

Advocacy Co-Lead

Hi all! I’m Marisa Langton, a fourth-year medical student at Drexel College of Medicine. Before medical school, I studied nutrition and worked as a size-inclusive personal trainer, where I developed a deep passion for promoting positive health behaviors. My commitment to weight inclusivity first began during my own eating disorder recovery and has since become a central pillar of my personal and professional advocacy. In my future career, I aim to continue promoting positive health behaviors specifically through a weight-neutral lens, helping to build a system that provides more equitable and comprehensive care to patients of all sizes. Outside of medicine, you can usually find me reading memoirs, making homemade pasta, or doing something active like lifting weights or trail running!