Karina Arrelucea

Karina Arrelucea is a second-year student at the Sacred Heart University PA Program in Connecticut. Arrelucea is a proud first generation Peruvian-American, born and raised in New Jersey.  She completed her undergraduate education at Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey at the Newark Campus where she was a double major earning her Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Psychology. While at Rutgers, Arrelucea worked at the Learning Center tutoring students in Biological Science courses as well as veterans with learning disabilities. She also conducted research with the Biology department on “The effects of powerline management on bumblebees” which participated in the GS-LSAMP Annual Alliance Conference and won second at Undergraduate Research Day. During her undergraduate, she also volunteered as a science tour guide to elementary kids at the Newark Museum.
After graduation, Arrelucea joined a non-profit organization called Amazon Health Project (AHP). They provided free medical and dental care to indigenous communities that live in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest. They would travel by boat for 2 hours to reach communities and setup dental, medical, women’s health, and clean water clinics for the day. Afterwards, she enrolled in a PA shadowing program abroad called Gap Medics doing clinical rotations in Iringa, Tanzania and La Romana, Dominican Republic. Back in NJ, she worked as a medical assistant and scribe for 5 years at a Gastroenterology office, run and owned, by a Cuban Medical Doctor largely serving the Latino community.
Since starting PA school, she serves as the Student Diversity Committee Representative for the SHU society board for the Class of 2021. Arrelucea is a student delegate in the AAPA House of Delegates. Also, a student member of the American Academy of PAs (AAPA), Connecticut Academy of PAs, New Jersey State Society of Physician Assistants (NJSSPA), PAs for Latino Health (PALH), African Heritage PA Caucus, LBGT PA Caucus, National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA), and one of the founders of PA-S LEAD (Physician Assistant Students for Leadership, Equity, Anti-Racism, and Diversity).
After completing PA school, Arrelucea plans to pursue Emergency Medicine or Women’s Health, projects serving undocumented immigrants and the homeless population, and eventually become a traveling Global Health PA, traveling the world, and proving health care to those who need it most. She is passionate about serving and advocating for populations who lack access to healthcare and wants to close the gap of racial bias within healthcare. She believes that healthcare is a human right, and everyone should have access to it regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, education, socioeconomic status, or any other status. “I want to provide quality healthcare to everyone because everyone should experience living life, rather than just being alive”. In her free time, she enjoys eating different cuisines, spending time with friends and family, playing board games, scuba diving, traveling, and just laughing because tomorrow is never promised.