Local medical student’s impact on women’s health goes global

For Jillian Leaver, the path to medical school started with a cup of coffee and a trip to a local bookstore. 

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Two weeks after high school graduation, Leaver and her best friend, Hunter Ackerley, met as they often did at Starbucks. What started as a routine casual chat between friends turned into a life-changing idea: start a nonprofit organization focused on women’s health. While noble and ambitious, neither Leaver nor Ackerley knew where to start so they went to a local bookstore.

“We met my mom at Bookman’s, and we bought various books about how to run a nonprofit and what exactly we were getting ourselves into, including but not limited to ‘How to Run a 501(c)(3) for Dummies,’” Leaver said.

As it turned out, the book was more than helpful. Leaver and Ackerley launched Cervical Cancer Awareness and Prevention Across The Map, which is dedicated to reducing cervical cancer rates globally. Since 2017, the organization has grown to include 30 team members and initiatives across four countries.

The experience helped lay the foundation for Leaver to pursue medical school and achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a physician. In 2024, she received a University of Arizona Health Sciences Primary Care Physician Scholarship as a first-year student at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson, where she is planning to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology. 

“My primary motivation for pursuing medicine is service,” Leaver said. “As a physician, I want to increase access to health care among underserved populations. I plan to be a physician who goes beyond providing medical care by teaching patients sustainable skills to help them make informed decisions about their health and livelihood.”

From humble beginnings

Growing up, Leaver witnessed her family experience times of financial challenge that came with her parents being small business owners. Her family grew up without health insurance because of the prohibitive cost. Her father worked long, unstable hours away from home, so her mother managed the day-to-day work of raising Leaver and her brother. They were also responsible for helping support Leaver’s grandparents, who both had serious medical conditions: Leaver’s grandfather had a spinal cord injury that left him physically disabled and her grandmother had Alzheimer’s disease and spent the last four years of her life in a memory care facility. 

“As a child, I remember going to the dollar store to buy ingredients for dinner and trips to the 99 Cents store to pick out school supplies for my brother and me during times of struggle,” Leaver said. “But, I also knew at the end of the day we were lucky. We had a roof over our heads, food on our plates, access to education and extracurricular activities, and an opportunity to improve our situation.”

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That perspective has been a key motivator for Leaver as she built CCAP Across The Map from the ground up and embarked on a journey to become a doctor. 

“Many individuals and communities, unfortunately, have not had the same level of opportunity I was so fortunate to have. I want nothing more than to be a physician who serves communities that currently lack access to health care.”

Medical school can be a substantial financial burden for some students. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the average debt for graduates from public institutions in 2023 was $203,606. For private schools, that figure rose to $227,839. In total, 71% of all medical students carry education-related debt after graduation, with an average balance of $212,341.

Leaver was planning to take the traditional route of covering these medical school costs with loans before she was awarded a Primary Care Physician scholarship. Established by the U of A Health Sciences in 2019, the scholarship addresses the state’s urgent need for physicians by covering medical school tuition for recipients who commit to practicing primary care in a rural or underserved urban Arizona communities.

“When I opened that email and learned that I wouldn’t need to worry about the cost of tuition, it was a huge relief,” Leaver said.

Leaver says her experience starting CCAP Across The Map, which now has initiatives operating across the United States, Mexico, Ghana and Senegal, was valuable in helping her manage the stress and uncertainty that often comes for those who don’t have the means to pay for medical school. 

“When Hunter and I started CCAP Across The Map, we had exactly $0 in our bank account,” Leaver said. “When I was having to plan to fund my medical school education, I had that very similar feeling of starting from ground zero.”

Impact in action

Maternal death is a growing problem in the United States, which has the highest maternal mortality rate of developed countries. In Arizona from 2012 to 2015, the maternal mortality rate was 25 per 100,000 live births. Part of the issue has been attributed to a lack of providers, especially in rural areas. In Arizona, only 4.7% of OB-GYN physicians work in a rural area. 

Cervical cancer is a leading cause of maternal death. Leaver is determined to become a physician who addresses the lack of access to health care, including cancer screenings, in rural or underserved areas of Arizona. Her efforts with CCAP Across The Map align with those needs on a global scale, too.

“Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, yet it claims far too many lives, especially in low-resource areas,” Leaver said. “Through education and increased access to vaccines and screenings, we’re working to change that.”

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CCAP Across The Map has launched programs such as “Paps for POC,” which provides free Pap smears to uninsured women of color, and “HPV Ends with Me,” a human papillomavirus prevention campaign targeting all age groups.

In addition to attending medical school and running a nonprofit, Leaver is serving at the Women’s Clinic, one of several clinics associated with the College of Medicine – Tucson’s Commitment to Underserved People program. The Women’s Clinic, which is open to the public and primarily serves women from a local domestic abuse center, provides low-income and uninsured individuals with access to a physician and a team of medical students to address their health care needs.

Leaver sees value in the experience she is gaining in the clinic and appreciates the impact it can have on the community.

“In my opinion, one of the most pervasive problems we face in medicine is a lack of community health education,” Leaver said. “This challenge is also one of the most fixable with a concerted effort from health systems, including physicians. To be effective, community health education must be available, accessible, equitable and culturally appropriate.”

Once Leaver completes medical school and residency, she intends to fulfill her commitment to practice in Arizona. 

“I’m intentionally not tied to any specific area and am more than happy to serve any area in the state that is in need,” Leaver said. “Wherever my work practicing medicine and running CCAP Across The Map can offer the most value is where I want to be. It’s where I belong.”