Staff

Kylie Christensen, MPH

Title: Associate 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 Associate 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

Title: Rural Education Program Manager

Madelyn has been with the RUUTE program since May, 2020. Madelyn is from the small town of Castle Dale, Utah. She focuses primarily on engaging first and second year medical students as well as working on outreach programs such as the Rural Speaker Series, the Utah Rural Outreach Program (UROP), and the Underserved & Rural Interest Student Experience (URISE). Madelyn enjoys coordinating and programing with rural providers, and engaging with students to get them excited about RUUTE and the School of Medicine. Madelyn is currently pursuing her Master of Public Health from the University of Utah.

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

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 and worked for 10 years as an educator in Atlanta, Georgia before returning to her hometown of Salt Lake City. She has a passion for community work and helping students achieve their goals. Elise focuses on assisting the oversight of first and second year medical student experiences programs and events.

Email: Elise.Longnecker@hsc.utah.edu

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.

Email: Heather.Forsgren@hsc.utah.edu

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 has 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. She focuses primarily on creating and distributing health science content to engage with Utah’s rural and underserved K-12 institutions and communities. She has 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.

Email: kacey.warburton@hsc.utah.edu

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.