Health & Medicine is pleased to announce our Spring 2022 Ben Squires Equity Intern, Stephanie Robinson. Stephanie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Women’s Studies from the University of Michigan. Most recently, she worked as a Research Evaluator for the Prenatal Stress Study at Michigan Medicine, helping to research the effects of prenatal and postnatal stress on early childhood development. She is currently pursuing a Master of Healthcare Administration at the University of Illinois Chicago. She is passionate about health equity and population health.

Inspired by their father’s commitment to helping young people, Amy Squires and Sarah Squires-Doyle graciously support the Ben Squires Equity Internship. The Internship supports one intern per cohort for an entire year, for a total of three interns.

“Stephanie’s story was so much like ours in terms of how difficult it was to navigate our parents’ aging trajectories. We also want to give candidates with different career aspirations an opportunity. And our dad really loved helping people in their early stages of career development,” say Amy and Sarah Squires.

Ben Squires followed many different career paths before finding his true calling in public health. He worked for more than 20 years on various health care initiatives in the City of Chicago and with the Illinois Department of Public Health. He was passionate about challenging health inequities and helping to pave the way to improve access to quality health care for all people in Illinois. He especially enjoyed leading efforts to improve maternal and child health programs and to reduce infant mortality in Chicago.

As a board member at Health & Medicine Policy Research Group for 25 years, Ben made significant and lasting contributions to public health in Illinois. In 2021, Ben posthumously received the Quentin D. Young Board of Directors Award of Excellence for his tireless commitment to public health and his mentorship of young people starting out in their careers.

Ben passed away at the age of 95 in 2021, and his devotion to public health equity continues to live on. “We are deeply honored to continue our father’s legacy by funding equitable internships with Health & Medicine, an organization we love, respect, and trust. Our father had a real passion for mentoring young people starting out in their careers,” says Amy Squires and Sarah Squires-Doyle. “From mentoring his two daughters, to the kids in the neighborhood and budding young professionals, he was always eager to get people connected.”