Student Spotlight Bridget Perez DRC’27

Bridget Perez DRC’27 grew up at Rutgers, traveling along the banks of the Raritan with her mother. 

The child of a longtime Rutgers bus driver, Bridget spent her girlhood afternoons riding her mother’s bus across the University and back again as students traveled to and from class. Her Rutgers journey, which now includes an impressive research resume and a Douglass externship at AtlantiCare, began on the aisles of those buses where she admired her mother as a role model for family, leadership, and the future. 

“Rutgers has been part of my life since I was young—my mother worked long nights as a Rutgers bus driver,” Bridget said.  “Attending Rutgers feels like honoring her sacrifices and completing a full-circle moment for my family.” 

Now a Junior at Douglass, Bridget proudly continues her family’s Rutgers legacy as she studies to become a pediatrician. Her goal is to eliminate barriers, wherever they exist, that families face when seeking medical care.  

“I particularly hope to expand access to preventative care and advocate for communities in which language and socioeconomic barriers limit healthcare outcomes. I grew up in a single-parent, low-income household where I often took on responsibilities as a translator for my family due to language barriers,” she shared. “Spending time in clinics and hospitals with my Spanish-speaking grandfather showed me firsthand how language and socioeconomic status can directly affect healthcare access and outcomes.” 

This past winter break, Bridget took a step towards that goal with a Douglass externship at AtlantiCare through the Reilly BOLD Program. During the short-term immersive job shadowing experience known as the Douglass externship, Bridget shadowed Christian D. Ragland, Assistant Vice President for Health Equity at AtlantiCare. Under Ragland’s mentorship, she engaged with the local NJ community in hands-on public health outreach. 

“The externship through the Reilly BOLD program strengthened my confidence and sense of belonging as a first-generation pre-med student, while helping me connect my academic coursework to real-world health equity work,” she said. “Through my time at AtlantiCare, I gained my first exposure to hospital systems and participated in community health screenings and outreach in underserved communities.” 

In addition to her recent work with AtlantiCare, Bridget boasts a robust research resume. She is involved in work at the Bloustein Center for Survey Research in collaboration with the CDC, where she contributes to projects aimed at improving public health and health equity outcomes across diverse populations.  She is also part of the Examiner, Rutgers University’s premier student-run pre-health newsletter, and is in the final stages of publishing an article on hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). Douglass is proud to be a central part of Bridget’s Rutgers experience as she grows into a healthcare leader who will prioritize community engagement and expanding access. 

 “Seeing my mother’s strength inspired me to seek an environment where I could grow alongside other women while pursuing my dream of medical school as a young Latina,” Bridget said. "Douglass is a community that empowers students through mentorship and leadership. This experience showed me that I belong in healthcare and reinforced my commitment to serving communities that often face barriers to care.” 

As Bridget takes her next steps towards her goals, she has a few words of advice for the Rutgers community she has so long been a part of:  

“Believe that you belong, take advantage of the resources available, and lean into the mentorship and support the BOLD Center at Douglass provides.”