Members of the Obama Administration honored UCSD student Meghan Yap at the White House last Thursday. She is one of 10 students from across the country who were recognized as “Champions of Change” for their efforts to address and prevent sexual assault.

Yap, a senior double majoring in biological anthropology and global health, is an intern at UCSD’s Medical School Center on Gender Equality and Health. She is currently helping the center develop policies regarding sexual violence and best practice recommendations for the university by assessing recommendations from state and national coalitions and analyzing how well campus policies adhere to them.

She has been working with university administrators and resource centers to advocate for evidence-based, trauma-informed policies and practices, aiming to prevent the re-victimization of survivors of sexual assault.

After graduating in June, Yap, a first-generation college student, plans to pursue a Masters of Public Health and then a Ph.D in global health with an emphasis on gender-based violence.

The White House event is a part of the “It’s On Us” campaign launched by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in Sept. 2014 to engage college communities in preventing sexual assault. The campaign has worked with over 500 schools in 48 states and has gotten over 340,000 people to sign the “It’s On Us” pledge.