Elizabeth Ghandakly, JD, MPA
Class of 2022
Liz graduated from The Ohio State University with a dual degree in Economics and Political Science and an Arabic minor, including a semester abroad at the University of Damascus in Syria. Having always had an interest in both medicine and policy, she initially took the policy route and completed a dual JD/Masters of Public Administration at Ohio State. While practicing law, she found that medicine kept calling. This brought her to serve an appointment to the City of Alexandria Public Health Advisory Commission and serve as a Patient Care Volunteer at Children's National, where she ultimately became a member of the Volunteer Services Advisory Council.
“When I first decided to pivot my career from law to medicine, I knew GW was where I wanted to be. While I plan to practice clinical medicine, I also plan to use my legal experience to work in health policy. GW's Health Policy Scholarly Concentration that brings experts across health policy fields was a big draw and has been incredibly enriching. In addition, the curriculum's robust inclusion of important health policy issues relevant to future practice, including social determinants of health and relevant health legislation, made clear GW's focus on creating well-rounded and forward-thinking physicians. This, coupled with the amazing diversity of backgrounds and ideas of my classmates validates every day my choice to pursue medicine and to choose GW.”