COMET Fall Fellows
Class of 2025
Brandon Aflak
Hello! I'm Brandon Aflak from San Carlos, California. I hold a Juris Doctor degree from Golden Gate University School of Law and a bachelor's degree in legal studies from UC Santa Cruz. My professional journey reflects a commitment to improving community health through both clinical practice and policy reform.
As a litigator, I worked on professional negligence and catastrophic injury cases, gaining valuable insights into healthcare delivery and policy. This experience, combined with my roles as a Certified Nursing Assistant and personal trainer, has underscored the critical need for preventive medicine and lifestyle interventions in addressing America's chronic disease epidemic.
My vision is to become an exceptional clinician who leads the shift toward preventive and lifestylefocused healthcare, moving beyond the traditional model of symptom management. By merging clinical expertise with insights from healthcare law and administration, I aim to drive meaningful healthcare reform that enhances both individual and community health outcomes.
Joining the COMET program is a pivotal step toward integrating my diverse experiences with clinical practice. Through this fellowship, I aim to gain skills essential for excelling in medical school and beyond, ultimately advocating for a healthcare system that prioritizes prevention and accessibility.
In my free time, I enjoy powerlifting, running half-marathons, and exploring the outdoors. I'm excited to contribute to the COMET community and advance healthcare alongside fellow participants.
Kayla Azad
Hi! My name is Kayla Azad and I am from Foster City, a small city in the Bay Area! I just graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a B.S. in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology.
Growing up, I watched my mom go through countless hospital visits and doctor appointments for her auto-immune disease. My passion for medicine stems from the doctors who cared for my mom through everything and did everything in their power to allow her to live a normal and healthy life. 20 years later, my mom lives worry-free every day because of these doctors and their ability to manage her illness with confidence. Healthcare professionals who put their patients first, like my mom, have been the reason I am so passionate about a career in medicine. Through shadowing at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford and volunteering at the local hospital in Santa Cruz, I found such fulfillment in helping and supporting patients in any way I could. These experiences solidified my passion for medicine, and I aspire to have the compassion and dedication of the physicians and mentors who have influenced my journey.
In my free time I enjoy listening to music, reading, going for walks, and spending time with family and friends. I grew up doing many different styles of dance, which is also a big passion of mine!
I’m so grateful for this opportunity and excited to begin the COMET fellowship!
Caroline Le
Hello! My name is Caroline Le. I was born and raised in San Jose, growing up with Vietnamese as my first language. After transferring from community college, I graduated from San Francisco State in 2021 with a B.S. in Biology (Physiology) and became the first in my family to complete college. At the UCSF Kober Lab, I am a current visiting scholar, NCI Diversity Supplement Trainee, and UCSF PROPEL Trainee, completing projects around data-integrated multi-omic methods in cancer-related fatigue and neuropathy.
In my free time, I love to deepen my relationship with dance, especially with my Syndicate dance team! I also enjoy spending time with my loved ones by trying new food places.
My volunteer and internship experiences have motivated me to provide greater access to healthcare, specifically by conquering the barrier that language poses. I saw firsthand the importance of cultural humility, patient empowerment, and how patient needs and values should guide clinical decisions. With the sentiment that everyone can be a patient, but not everyone can be a provider, I hope to uplift the health of our communities by genuinely understanding others’ vulnerabilities and meeting them where they are as humans first. I am genuinely excited about my new role as a COMET scribe and pursuing my long-term goal of becoming a physician to help treat patients and conduct research to help them through their treatment. With my future career goal of becoming a physician-researcher, this program would expose me to various specialties, like community health and gynecology.
Phoebe Loo
Hello! My name is Phoebe Loo and I am from San Mateo, California. I recently graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Biology. In my free time, I enjoy painting, dancing, and taking long walks around my hometown with friends.
Since high school, I have been privileged to conduct research in radiation oncology at Stanford University, studying the biological effects of radiation therapy on ovarian and head and neck cancers. My background in laboratory and clinical cancer biology research has equipped me with technical skills and a deep understanding of the interdisciplinary collaboration essential for optimizing personalized patient care. This experience, combined with shadowing in pediatric neurosurgery, has fostered my appreciation for the complexities of patient care and solidified my interest in exploring diverse medical specialties. I am looking forward to continuing my research during this COMET fellowship year!
While research has deepened my understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying human health and disease, I am eager to gain more patient care experience to bridge bench-to-bedside knowledge. Just as I developed the ability to communicate across scientific disciplines in my research, I hope to learn the language of medicine through this program and understand how physicians effectively convey it to patients. I also greatly value the opportunity to deepen my understanding of a physician’s role and gain more comprehensive exposure to different specialties before applying to medical school.
I am honored and excited to join the COMET class of 2024-2025!
Diana Mendoza
Hi! My name is Diana, and I was born in Jalisco, Mexico and grew up in San Jose. I am a graduate of UC Berkeley, where I received my BA in Political Science with a concentration in American Government. In my free time I enjoy reading, baking, gardening, and spending time with my friends, and family.
Being an immigrant and first-generation college student has greatly shaped my career in medicine. Growing up in the lower income community of east San Jose, my family attended free health fairs sponsored by our local church to obtain routine healthcare. My siblings and I received care from community health centers, which is where I began to admire the work that health professionals did for underserved communities much like the one I grew up in. In my previous volunteer roles, I worked at the local senior citizen center and assisted in nutritional services, routine health screenings, and other services that improved the quality of life of seniors, who are part of the most vulnerable of populations. Additionally, I have previously worked as a medical assistant at a doctor’s office, where I assisted during patient examinations by providing support and translation services for Spanish speaking patients. These experiences have been my driving force to one day give back to underrepresented communities much like my own and provide affordable and accessible healthcare and work on health policy reform.
I am greatly excited to be a part of the COMET fall cohort of 2024 and work alongside diverse Stanford healthcare providers and gain the skills and knowledge needed to one day be a positive impact as a healthcare provider in my own community.
Tobenna Nwosu
Hey everyone! My name is Tobenna Nwosu and I am from San Jose, California. I completed my Bachelors of Science in Biological Sciences at the University of California at Santa Barbara. I enjoy working out, playing basketball, and organizing a wide array of events. I also enjoy tutoring other students in STEM subjects as well as in research. Throughout college, I worked in multiple biology and psychology research labs. I also worked as a Peer Mentor during my time in college. These opportunities helped to fuel my appreciation for the biological sciences, academia, and health care administration. I am now a prospective medical student at Stanford's COMET Medical Scribe Fellowship program.
My ultimate goal is to become a physician. This fellowship would provide me the opportunity to delve deeper into my interests concerning healthcare administration by working one on one with physicians at Stanford Hospital as well as navigating team based initiatives with my fellow COMET scribes. Once I become a physician, I will work to not only more effectively serve my community but also to help create a landscape in medicine that is more inclusive of a diverse population of people. Everyone requires healthcare at various points of life, and I greatly value creating spaces in which the generally less represented have fair representation.
Courtney Saqueton
Hello, my name is Courtney Saqueton. I am from Dallas, TX and I recently graduated from Occidental College where I studied Biochemistry and Computer Science. I am currently studying for the MCAT, after which I will be more than eager to begin scribing and working with people!
I spent the last year researching Long COVID on a Fulbright scholarship in Madrid. Specifically, my research explored genetic susceptibility to developing Long COVID. It was fascinating to study such an emerging syndrome and attend the first international conference on the subject. I developed a deep respect for the work of scientific researchers and an excitement to be on the frontline as a future physician, bringing research to patients.
As a witness to family health battles and the miracles of modern medicine, I am inspired to become a physician who takes a life course approach to caring for patients. As a COMET Fellow, I am particularly motivated to learn how physicians foster trust, promote health literacy, and address social determinants of health on a daily basis. Lastly, as a newcomer to the Bay Area, I am excited to continue doing what I love – playing tennis, swimming, and going on adventures – in new places and with some new people.
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