Kylie Christensen, MPH
Title: Director of RUUTE and Regional Affairs
Kylie has been with the RUUTE program since its conception in 2018. Kylie is from St. George Utah and completed her Bachelors and Masters of Public Health at the University of Utah. As the Director, she oversees efforts in Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. She enjoyed meeting with rural/underserved hospital leadership, recruiting and recognizing community providers, and growing programs and opportunities that will benefit rural/underserved communities of Utah and the Intermountain West.
Email: Kylie.christensen@hsc.utah.edu
Phone: 801-213-1042
Madelyn Carter, MPH, CPH
Title: RUUTE Associate Director
Madelyn has been with the RUUTE program since May, 2020. Madelyn is from the small town of Castle Dale, Utah. Madelyn has a Masters of Public Health from the University of Utah and is certified in public health. She focuses on engaging medical students as well as working on outreach programs such as the Rural Speaker Series, the Rural Outreach Program (ROP), the RUUTE Community Engagement Experience (CEE), as well as supporting students on their clinical experiences. Madelyn enjoys coordinating and programing with rural providers, and engaging with students to get them excited about RUUTE and the School of Medicine.
Email: madelyn.carter@hsc.utah.edu
Phone: 801-213-1042
Megan Mckay
Title: Program Manager: Research, Extracurricular and Outreach
Megan joined the RUUTE team in October, 2020 as the Outreach Program Coordinator. Originally growing up in rural Vermont, Megan felt called to the desert landscapes of the west and completed her Bachelors in Conservation Biology at the University of Arizona before moving on to Utah. Since then, Megan has been dedicated to working on increasing education access to underserved communities and has been thrilled to work on RUUTE's expanding K-12 Pipeline programs.
Email: megan.mckay@hsc.utah.edu
Phone: 801-213-1042
Heather Forsgren
Title: Travel & Clerkship Coordinator
Heather joined the RUUTE team in January 2022 as the Travel & Clerkship Coordinator. She completed a Bachelor of Science in Human Development & Family Studies from the University of Utah. Heather coordinates medical student rural clerkships and travel arrangements, as well as assisting with RUUTE’s various other programs. She enjoys helping students gain valuable learning experiences as they seek to improve healthcare access in rural and underserved communities throughout Utah.
Alumni Staff
Eliza Larsen
Eliza was a member of the RUUTE team from September 2020 to May of 2021. Eliza recently completed her Bachelors from the University of Utah. Eliza was an integral part of the social media team at RUUTE. She helped develop, expand and market social media content through many different avenues. Eliza is now pursuing her Masters of Public Health from Boston University.
Taylor Dean, MS
Taylor was with the RUUTE program from October, 2019 to August, 2021. Taylor completed his Bachelors and Masters of Sociology at Utah State University. As a research analyst, Taylor focused on program evaluation and tracking both student outcomes and program outreach efforts. He also helped facilitate research experiences for both undergraduate and medical students. Taylor is passionate for medical education and is working on expanding and developing rural clerkship opportunities and curriculum. Taylor is now working for the Population Health Scholars Program within the Dean's Office at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
Randy Hansen, MPH
Randy was a team member with the RUUTE program from June, 2019 to June, 2021. Randy completed her Bachelors in Human Development and Masters of Public Health at the University of Utah. As a program coordinator, Randy worked closely with third and fourth year medical students during their clinical education. In her time with RUUTE she worked on many projects such has rural clerkship opportunities, RUUTE housing opportunities, Little RUUTE's, UROP and almost every other project that RUUTE spearheads. Randy is now working for a non-profit in Long Island, New York.
Kyla McIlwee, MPH
Kyla was apart of the RUUTE team from September, 2020 to June, 2021. She completed her Bachelors in Kinesiology and Masters of Public Health in California. Serving as the research and program coordinator, Kyla focused on increasing research opportunities between faculty and students as it relates to serving rural and underserved communities. She also helped facilitate research experiences for undergraduate and medical students such as SURE. Kyla helped develop and edit the podcast, M.ED, Medical Education for the Practicing Cliniician. Kyla is now working with a social enterprise focused on teaching adults essential skills through their cellphones.
Laura Herring
Laura joined the RUUTE team in November 2020. She completed a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Bachelors of Arts in Foreign Languages (Spanish) at Mississippi State University. Laura worked with students and motivated them to participate in RUUTE and regional affairs efforts. Laura focused on expanding RUUTE's efforts in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming by coordinating rural outreach programs, developing preceptors in these states, and connecting regional students with RUUTE programs.
Elise Longnecker
Title: Program and Event Coordinator
Elise joined the RUUTE team in November 2021 as the Program & Events Coordinator. Elise completed a Bachelor of History at Georgia Gwinnett College. Elise focused on assisting the oversight of first and second year medical student experiences programs and events. Elise spearheaded efforts for the Rural Outreach Program, URISE, Rural Speaker Series, and many other activities for students. Elise also collaborated with the RUUTE research team and made summer experiences fun and memorable for students. Elise created graphics and ran the RUUTE social media accounts and engaged students through the platforms. Elise now works for the University of Vermont School of Medicine.
Kacey Warbuton, M.Ed
Title: Community Outreach, Education, & Engagement Coordinator
Kacey joined the RUUTE team in February 2022 as the Community Outreach, Education, & Engagement Coordinator. Kacey completed a Bachelors of Science in Human Development & Family Studies from the University of Utah and a Masters of Education from the University of Phoenix. Kacey focused primarily on creating and distributing health science content to engage with Utah’s rural and underserved K-12 institutions and communities. She had a passion to work with the widespread communities to further RUUTEs mission of improving medical education and training, health care access and long-term socio economic benefit for Utah and the intermountain west. Kacey returned to her education role in K-12.
To find more ways to donate towards rural medical student scholarships, please visit the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine Website.
CONTACT US
Please contact the RUUTE Team with any questions, concerns, or suggestions.
Email: RUUTE@umail.utah.edu