Awarded in the spring, this prestigious fellowship is more than just financial support; it’s an opportunity for Geronimo Bejarano Cardenas to focus solely on his dissertation research. The fellowship puts an emphasis on community building and interacting with past fellowship alumni with shared interests. 

“As a first-generation college student, this opportunity to increase social capital is key to bounce research ideas off of others that have a shared life experience of being immigrants as well,” shares Cardenas.

Cardenas's research tackles the pressing issue of financialization in health care, delving into how private equity acquisitions and the consolidation of insurers and providers are reshaping the landscape of Medicare. His work aims to illuminate the impacts on the health and financial well-being of Medicare beneficiaries.

Receiving the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship “has been special as it highlights mine and my family’s experience as immigrants. It recognizes the conditions that we experienced as immigrants to the U.S. and is an honor to have our story and hard-work acknowledged by such a prestigious fellowship,” shares Cardenas.

His academic journey began with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from the University of Central Florida. He then completed research centered around low back pain with researchers from Duke University and the University of Sydney. Prior to coming to Brown, he also completed a master’s in Public Health at the University of Texas where his research interests shifted from clinical low back pain research to insurance design research, leading him to Brown’s program in Health Services Research. 

At Brown, he works with David Meyers, Associate Director the Center for Advancing Health Policy Through Research and Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice, as well as Andrew Ryan, Director of the Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research and Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice.