Meet Our Scholars

Graduate Student Marija Kamceva was born in Kavadarci, Macedonia, and moved to Clifton, NJ when she was six. As a first-generation college student in an immigrant household, she struggled to navigate her seemingly contradicting identities. First getting involved with the queer community as an undergraduate at Yale, they were on the leadership board of several LGBTQ+ organizations, including Sappho (Queer Women's Group), Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (oSTEM) and the Yale Office of LGBTQ+ Resources, where they led a monthly discussion group titled 'Bialogue.' They also served as coordinator of the LGBTQ+ Student Cooperative, where they conducted a survey of LGBTQ+ students' experiences at the health center. This sparked their passion for advocacy in health and medicine. Entering Stanford Medicine in 2017, Marija continued to be involved in the LGBTQ+ community, as a teaching assistant for the elective 'Queer Health & Medicine' and as a Graduate Community Developer for Queer Student Resources. At Stanford, she became passionate about mental health and psychiatry, serving as the Mental Health Clinic Coordinator for Pacific Free Clinic. As part of her role, she developed a comprehensive resource database of the LGBTQ+ clinics and centers in the county. In 2018, they co-founded Medical Student Pride Alliance (MSPA), the first national LGBTQ+ medical student association. MSPA was formed to build the community of queer medical students and promote LGBTQ+ health. Marija is dedicated to continuing the work of community-building and addressing health inequity in their career.