Mikayla Castellon

Mikayla Castellon is a fourth-year psychobiology major. She is passionate about behavioral health services and public health, particularly pursing academic coursework and research surrounding the intersection of homeless experiences, comorbid mental health and substance use disorders, and health service accessibility. This interest was sparked by her engagement with the homeless community in her home of Los Angeles and collegetown Westwood where she became aware of the unique challenges faced in accessing long term health services and reliable healthcare. Her research centers on improving healthcare access for homeless-experienced patients, particularly through the use of digital health tools like the Veteran Health Administration’s “My HealtheVet (MHV) “ patient portal. Her current project aims to explore potential barriers and indicators of portal enrollment and usage, with the ultimate goal of developing more effective strategies to increase portal adoption and improve long term health outcomes. Through Veteran patient narratives and MHV portal data, this research aims to contribute to more equitable healthcare outcomes for a vulnerable population. This project builds on her broader commitment to addressing the complex needs of homeless experienced populations and developing innovative solutions to reduce health disparities.