Stanford CARE Scholars Class of 2023

Meet Our Team

Scholars

Amogh Patankar

University of California, San Diego

Amogh Patankar (he/him/his) recently graduated with a B.S. in Data Science and will pursue his graduate degree in Computer Science at the University of California, San Diego. His research interests lie at the intersection of data science and oncology, and he's passionate about using data science as a means to identify patterns and risk factors associated with cancer. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, running, playing football and listening to music.

Andrew Vodinh-Ho

Princeton University

Andrew (he/him/his) is a rising sophomore at Princeton University planning to major in Molecular Biology with a minor in Statistics & Machine Learning. He is interested in exploring how computational approaches can be used to investigate and tackle healthcare disparities. In his free time, he enjoys singing, playing soccer, and rock climbing.

Anna Park

Georgetown University

Anna (she/her/hers) is a rising senior at Georgetown University, pursuing a degree in biochemistry. She has biochemistry research experience studying the cAMP receptor protein and mutations that could cause different allosteric models for cAMP binding and DNA binding, as well as clinical research experience working with breast cancer patients to understand how diet can affect symptoms and treatments. She hopes to extend her research skills through this program to investigate her interests in the intersection of Asian health and education and healthcare disparities in vulnerable populations. Anna hopes to pursue a career in medicine and public health, and aspires to be an advocate for underserved communities. She enjoys hiking, going to the beach, and spending time with friends and family.

Bin (Edward) He

Johns Hopkins University

Edward He (he/him/his) is currently an undergraduate student at Johns Hopkins University, where he is majoring in Neuroscience. He has a passion for ophthalmology and is dedicated to studying various eye diseases, particularly those affecting the retina. Edward aspires to safeguard the eye health of Asian Americans and combat the myopia epidemic, aiming to prevent debilitating eye diseases later in life. Outside of his academic pursuits, Edward leads an active lifestyle, enjoying activities such as running and kickboxing. In addition, he is committed to raising awareness about eye health and shares his knowledge through creating informative videos for the general public.

Ellen Chang

Georgetown University

Ellen Chang (she/her/hers) is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University studying Biology of Global Health and Computer Science. She is particularly interested in studying the social determinants contributing to mental health disparities. Ellen hopes to analyze these determinants through exploring the intersections between health, society, and technology. In addition to her academic pursuits, Ellen is a division 1 volleyball player at Georgetown University. In her pastime, she enjoys traveling, cooking, and attending yoga classes.

Ivory Nguyen Rok

University of Nevada, Reno

Ivory Nguyen Rok (she/her/hers) is an upcoming second year medical student at the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine. She is most interested in researching health disparities, attitudes, and differing presentations of disease in immigrants and people of color in the field of dermatology. She hopes to gain insight through research and community outreach in order to foster culturally sensitive practices to better advocate and meet the needs of underserved populations she hopes to serve as a future physician. Outside of academics, Ivory enjoys baking, drawing, and spending time with her dog.

Jason Chen

University of Southern California

Jason Chen (he/him/his) is an undergraduate student concentrating in Global Health at the University of Southern California and an MS in Global Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. His research interests lie at the intersection of data science, dermatology, health equity, and oncology. After graduating, he plans to pursue an MD-MPH and aims to work alongside underserved communities to amplify their voices for optimal health outcomes and advocate for equity in healthcare. Outside of academics, notable interests include all forms of art, boxing, fashion, pottery, and traveling to obscure places for one reason or another.

Jonathan Lung

Marshall University

Jonathan Lung (he/him/his) received his bachelor’s degree in biology and in anthropology & human biology at Emory University. Currently, Jonathan Lung is a first year Master of Public Health Student at Marshall University’s College of Health Professions. His public health interests include mental health resources and reducing the stigma surrounding the topic, health disparity and equity in vulnerable populations, and many more. Future plans include continuing education either as a MD or PsyD degree in hopes of going into either field of psychiatry or psychology in order to combat rising mental health challenges as well as getting a DrPH and other fellowships to expand my public health training. Additionally, healthcare management is another area of interest with hopes of starting up non-profits to implement programs to improve community health. Other interests include gardening, fishing and marine biology, video editing, writing, and cooking.

Lauren Fu

Georgetown University

Lauren Fu (she/her/hers) is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University majoring in Global Health. Her research interests include health data aggregation of Asian American racial groups as well as national and international health law and policy. Outside of academics, she enjoys exploring restaurants and museums in DC as well as watching National Geographic documentaries.

Lester Andrew Uy

California State University, East Bay

Lester Andrew Uy (he/him/siya) is a pre-medical and pre-law student who recently completed a post-baccalaureate health program at California State University, East Bay (CSUEB). Before the program, he served as a Senior Assurance Associate at PwC, LLP, with a focus on financial services and not-for-profit and government entities, and obtained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting and a Legal Studies Certificate from the University of San Francisco (USF) in 2017. He is passionate about examining the intersection of business, law, and medicine and improving those systems to serve marginalized communities better. He firmly believes that cross-disciplinary knowledge is the foundation for building a resilient community. During his free time, he performs as a choral singer, enjoys photography, and tries new restaurants and experiences.

Mia Marcotte

Cornell University

Mia Marcotte (she/her/hers) is an undergraduate at Cornell University studying Global and Public Health as a pre-medical student. Her volunteer work at local free clinics has reinforced her interests in minority populations. She intends to pursue a career that combines public health, medicine and data science to design, implement and assess effective public health interventions for underrepresented communities. Aside from academics, she enjoys tap dancing and listening to music.

Mitchell Han

Rice University

Mitchell Han (he/him/his) is a rising junior at Rice University studying Biosciences with a concentration in Biochemistry. He is particularly interested in bridging disparities in healthcare and using medicine and technology to serve underprivileged populations. Currently, he conducts research on viral capsid proteins in a virology lab and volunteers in the Texas Medical Center. In his free time, he enjoys playing fingerstyle acoustic guitar, visiting local cafes, and exploring the beautiful Houston environment.

Mohammed Khan

University of Maryland

Mohammed (he/him) is an undergraduate senior at the University of Maryland majoring in finance and on the pre-med track. After co-founding a non-profit to help the underprivileged and immunocompromised in his community during the pandemic, Mohammed was inspired to use his business background within the medical field. He hopes to be a driving force in bridging the socioeconomic gap in access to healthcare. In his free time, Mohammed is an avid sports player and watcher and also enjoys experiencing new cultures through food.

Navneeth Gurachar

Princeton University

Navneeth Gurachar (he/him/his) is a rising sophomore at Princeton University studying Molecular Biology with potentially a certificate in Computational Biology. His interests lie within the intersection of computational methods and early disease screening especially for vulnerable populations. He wants to learn more about how data-analysis of patient data can improve the accuracy of disease detections models and ultimately improve health outcomes for at-risk patients. In his free time, he enjoys daily exercise and a healthy variety of board games.

Rionna Octaviano

University of Nevada, Reno

Rionna Octaviano (she/her/hers) is a first-year of medical studies at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. She has a degree in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, and is deeply passionate about Global Health. Rionna’s life goal is to volunteer for Doctors Without Borders. Aside from academics, she finds joy in exploring new places, weightlifting, cooking, and of course, indulging in some cringe-worthy reality dating shows. She is genuinely excited to be part of this program and to have the opportunity to learn from such an impressive group of peers.

Sanya Desai

Tufts University

Sanya Desai (she/her/they) is a rising sophomore at Tufts University studying Community Health with an interest in Anthropology. She plans to work with healthcare policy and reform as a practicing primary care physician through community organizing. Outside of healthcare, they have a strong interest in human rights, climate justice, and protest through art. In her free time, Sanya is an avid crocheter and loves spending time outside.

Shreya Gunda

University of California, Berkeley

Shreya Gunda (she/her/hers) is currently an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley majoring in Public Health. She has been actively involved in social activism through her participation in March For Our Lives San Jose and Suitcase Clinic, which has motivated her to pursue a career in healthcare and non-profit organizations. Her research interests focus on analyzing disparities within Asian health, with a focus on metabolic diseases such as diabetes. In her free time, Shreya enjoys hiking, long-distance running, and playing volleyball.

Suhana Singh

University of California, San Diego

Suhana Singh (she/her/hers) is a rising sophomore at the University of California, San Diego pursuing Global Health. She is interested in studying the interdisciplinary relationship between clinical care, biomedicine, and structural barriers. She is passionate about health equity and helping underserved, vulnerable populations. In her free time, she loves to play soccer, binge TV shows, and spend time with friends and family.

Sukhman Parhar

The University of Michigan

Sukhman Parhar (he/him/his) is an undergraduate at The University of Michigan majoring in Public Health Sciences. Sukhman hopes to pursue a career in cardiovascular medicine and is excited to apply his previous research experience to AI in medicine, database research, and healthcare policy. During his free time, he enjoys cooking, biking, swimming, and watching movies. He is currently on the road to watching every best picture winner by the end of the year!

Vedha Penmetcha

Rice University

Vedha (she/her/hers) is an undergraduate at Rice University currently studying Biosciences as well as Global Health Technologies and Medical Humanities. Some of her research experiences include working on projects that involve engineering theranostic bacteria for chronic diseases as well as health policy plans for underserved populations in Houston and the surrounding area. Exposure to the intersection of medicine and technology as it relates to vulnerable populations has motivated her to continue pursuing this focus area and expand it to a global scale. In the future, she hopes to innovate novel solutions to increase healthcare accessibility and affordability in both the US and internationally. Outside of her academics, Vedha enjoys drawing, playing music, and dancing as a part of Rice Riyaaz, a Bollywood fusion dance team.

Yangyiran Xie (Wendy)

Vanderbilt University

Wendy (she/her/hers) is a third year medical student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine interested in research in ophthalmology, including how systemic diseases affect the progression of eye diseases. She is involved in the student-run Shade Tree Clinic at VUMC and directs the ophthalmology clinic there. She graduated from Johns Hopkins University in 2019 with a BS degree in Neuroscience and Molecular & Cellular Biology. In her free time, she enjoys climbing, hiking, skiing, and photography.

Yan Wu

University of Nebraska

Yan Wu (she/her/hers) is a graduate student in the Master of Science in Biostatistics program at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She is a University of California, Los Angeles, alumna with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics and a minor in statistics. For several years she enjoyed applying her statistical skills to address real world problems in the litigation consulting industry. After the COVID pandemic, when she was impressed by dedicated medical professionals, she developed a growing interest in the medical field and decided to become a biostatistician. Her interests are regenerative medicine, preventive medicine, nutrition therapy and mental health. In her free time, she loves spending time with her family and friends, exercising, reading and music.

Yashaswani Chauhan

Western University

Yashaswani (she/her/hers) is a 1st year medical student at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University in Ontario, Canada. After completing her undergraduate degree in Biology and Neuroscience at McMaster University, her passion for healthcare and advocacy pushed her towards a career in medicine where she could carry forward the legacy of service in her family. As a first generation immigrant raised by educators, she is the first person in her family to pursue professional school. Yashaswani’s life experiences have made her a passionate advocate for women’s health, education and literacy. During her time as a CARE scholar, she hopes to learn from mentors, collaborators and other students across the world about how to do research that has true impact on those who need it most. When she’s not hunched at her desk, she loves to play guitar, try new foods and make her friends laugh.

Zeel Thakkar

New York University

Zeel Thakkar (she/her/hers) is an undergraduate at New York University majoring in History and Biology. She is interested in the health impacts of understudied historical events – stemming from her fascination with South Asian history. Building on her research experience in the genetic effects of famine exposure in Asia, she hopes to gain insight into the incidence of non-communicable diseases in Asian populations. In her free time, she enjoys yoga, hiking, Indian Classical dance, and cafe hopping in New York.

Team Science Fellows

Alice Guan, MPH

University of California, San Francisco

Alice (she/her/hers) is an epidemiology doctoral candidate at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research examines how social and economic policies, neighborhood context, and structural factors shape health inequalities across the life course. Outside of work, she enjoys plants, cats, and live theater.

Alyssa Columbus, MS

Johns Hopkins University

Alyssa Columbus (she/her/hers) earned an MS in Applied and Computational Mathematics from Johns Hopkins University in 2022 and is currently a first-year Biostatistics PhD student and Vivien Thomas Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Alyssa is the author of many technical guides and tutorials on data science that have been published by Forbes and Microsoft, among others, and she has given 15 invited talks, keynotes, or panels on statistics and careers in this area. She has worked professionally as a data scientist, information security analyst, and consultant, and her article titled "Gender Equity in Digital Health: AI as a Double-Edged Sword" was featured by Significance magazine. As an undergraduate student, Alyssa founded R-Ladies Irvine, and she was selected to become a member of the Spring 2018 Class of NASA Datanauts. She has mentored numerous statistics and data science professionals worldwide.

Miguel Esteban Villarreal Rodriguez, MD

Stanford University

Miguel (he/him/his) is a Physician (MD) with a Minor Degree in Psychology from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), currently enrolled in the Master in Epidemiology and Clinical Research program at Stanford University. He has specific interests in Mental Health, and use of machine learning techniques in Medical Research. Miguel’s research experience is mostly centered on Mental health in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults which has included developing AI assisted systems for early detection of mental health issues in school children and describing Mental Health Issues prevalence among LGBTQI Medical students. His new research horizons include the development of a Deep Learning Hierarchical Framework for prediction of Burnout in physicians using Raw Audit Log Data.

Xinran Qi

Johns Hopkins University

Xinran (she/her/hers) is a MHS candidate specializing in General Epidemiology and Methodology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is deeply committed to advocating for the health of Asian populations and addressing the health disparities facing diverse global challenges. Xinran finds inspiration at the intersection of clinical medicine, public health, and technology, which she believes can contribute to translational medicine. She is eager to contribute her skills and knowledge to improve health outcomes for underserved populations with a strong desire to continue expanding her understanding of health equity, clinical research, study design, and their implementation on a global scale. Beyond academics, Xinran enjoys cooking, swimming, and reading poems. She is also crazy about orchestra music.

Tina Cheng, MPH

Duke University

Tina Cheng (she/her/hers) is a second year doctoral student at the Department of Population Health Sciences at Duke University. Trained as a mixed-method epidemiologist, Tina’s research focus on combating health inequities through patient-centered care and shared-decision making with social determinants of health in mind. While she has vast experiences from working with national large health datasets, building statistical models, to conducting qualitative interviews, Tina’s current research focus lies in preference research exploring the trade-offs attached to health decisions and the interface of machine learning and healthcare.

Program Administrators