Undergraduate Sunanda Kottayil interned in the Constituent Services Department

    During the Spring 2020 semester, undergraduate Sunanda Kottayil interned in the Constituent Services Department in the San Francisco Field Office of US Senator Dianne Feinsten. Her official roles included Medicare Beneficiary assistance, filing USCIS casework, meeting with special interest groups, COVID-19 response aid, and managing the roll out of the 2020 Census.
    Sunanda researched and wrote policy briefs regarding potential legislation. She also wrote a proposal for federal legislation that would update the EMTALA to ban private hospitals from improperly discharging homeless patients.
     This internship assisted Sunanda’s studies in medical anthropology by giving her a firsthand look at the government's role in the US medical insurance system.