Outstanding Student Leader
Maria Sckaff
School of Medicine
Congratulations to our Outstanding Student Leader for September 2025, Maria Sckaff from the School of Medicine!
Maria has been actively serving our East Baltimore community during her time in medical school by volunteering with our incredible partners at Charm City Care Connection to create essential harm reduction kits for its clients. Read our interview with Maria below to learn more about her experience!
Tell us about yourself! What brought you to the School of Medicine, and what made you want to get involved with the organizations you work with?
My name is Maria Sckaff, and I am currently a third-year medical student at Hopkins. I was born in Brazil and immigrated to the United States when I was 15. I am a proud community college graduate who completed my bioengineering undergraduate at UC San Diego. After graduation, I spent a couple of years helping develop gene editing therapies in San Francisco.
Starting medical school at Hopkins, our first course was titled Disparities in Health and Healthcare in which we learned from Baltimore community leaders how medical students could participate in the community efforts. While that course inspired me in many ways, I was truly pushed to service when I first heard the disappointment in everyone's voices around me when discussing Baltimore as the U.S. overdose capital. I knew then that I wanted to be there for my neighbors and help change that narrative.
Can you share a little bit about the volunteering you are doing in Baltimore?
I have been volunteering with Charm City Care Connection in East Baltimore since the beginning of my second year of medical school. I have been helping them make harm reduction kits that are distributed to the Baltimore community weekly. The kits range from personal hygiene and wound care to smoke and Xylazine test kits, which help promote health and safe substance use. I get to make these kits alongside so many community members who are passionate about Baltimore, their neighbors, and bettering our communities. Each visit is truly inspiring to me.
"Over the years, community service has become a meaningful part of my life through which I get to meet, engage with, and grow my community. Time after time, my experiences outside of medicine have informed my outlook, perspectives, and insights when I am back in clinic."
How does your community service work complement what you’re learning in the classroom at the School of Medicine?
As a future physician, I hope to care for my neighbors inside and outside the clinic. Over the years, community service has become a meaningful part of my life through which I get to meet, engage with, and grow my community. Time after time, my experiences outside of medicine have informed my outlook, perspectives, and insights when I am back in clinic. Each new patient I meet is a new neighbor; each new neighbor I meet is a new friend.
What is the most important experience you’ve had or most critical thing you’ve learned so far through working with our community?
I believe that the world is run by those who show up. By being present for one another, supporting measures we are passionate about, and working together with community leaders, we can harness tremendous power for good in our communities.