Michelle Ko

Michelle Ko is a faculty member at the University of California, Davis, with research focusing on equity and inclusion in healthcare. Her work addresses structural racism in medicine, rural healthcare access, and socioeconomic barriers affecting students and marginalized populations. Affiliated with the Center for Poverty and Inequality Research and Center for Health Care Policy & Research, she examines systemic inequities through interdisciplinary lenses of public health, geography, and policy analysis.

• PhD in Medical Geography (University of Illinois, 2019)
• Collaborates with scholars like Arianna M. Planey, Jenny Wagner, and Vicky Vong

Her research highlights how racialized communities face disproportionate travel burdens for acute care in the U.S. South, using spatial and temporal analysis to expose inequities. She critiques the medical field’s historical denial of racism and advocates for structural reforms in peer review and funding mechanisms.

Key trends in her publications include:

• Time as a novel social determinant of health
• Methodological rigor in rural hospital closure studies
• DEI gaps in health services research leadership
• Basic needs insecurities among pre-health students

Michelle’s work intersects with policy advocacy, emphasizing Medicaid expansion, fee waiver systems for low-income students, and dismantling the “model minority” myth in Asian American healthcare experiences.