Willemijn, from Rochester, Minnesota, is pursuing an MD at Stanford School of Medicine and an MS in Biomedical Investigation through the Berg Scholars Program. She graduated from Yale College with a bachelor’s degree in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. Willemijn is curious to understand how our immune system establishes tolerance to foods and ourselves, and how this process becomes dysregulated in various autoimmune diseases. She aspires to establish large international biobanks to drive research in human immunology as a physician. Alongside her research interests, Willemijn has partnered with local organizations to elevate community health by expanding food access in New Haven and by managing Arbor Free Clinic in Redwood City.

Research Project: Ligand discovery for CD8 suppressor T cells in autoimmunity

Boryana, from Scituate, Massachusetts, is pursuing an MD and MS in Medicine in Biomedical Investigation as a Berg Scholar at Stanford School of Medicine. She graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor of science majoring in physics and minoring in biology. Boryana aspires to be a physician-scientist working to uncover fundamental disease mechanisms through data analysis and modeling. She has studied three-dimensional chromosome organization in Professor Leonid Mirny’s group and cardiomyocyte differentiation in Professor Laurie Boyer’s group at MIT. Boryana has been a leader in tutoring and mentoring to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion amongst scientific researchers and healthcare professionals. Outside of academics, she has captained a 37-foot sailboat over 20,000 nautical miles in the Atlantic Ocean.

Research Project: Measuring the absolute abundance of human gut bacteria reveals true blooms

Allan Feng, from Birmingham, AL, is pursuing an MD and MS at Stanford School of Medicine. He graduated from Stanford University with a bachelor's degree in biology. During college, Allan pursued research in an immunology lab and was passionate about teaching at local middle schools to bridge the academic opportunity gap in Palo Alto. His current research interests are in developing genome-edited hematopoietic stem cell therapies that could cure lysosomal storage diseases with neurologic involvement. Allan aspires to be a physician-scientist working to understand and treat severe pediatric illnesses. Outside of lab and class, he enjoys playing soccer and surfing.

Research Project: Microglia Replacement Therapy for Neuronopathic Gaucher Disease Using a Novel Murine Model

Jessica is a Berg Scholar pursuing both an M.D. and an M.S. in Biomedical Investigation at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Harvard College, and a master’s degree in bioengineering from Stanford University. Jessica aspires to translate computational and device-based interventions into the clinic as a physician-scientist. Working in the lab of Dr. Mark Skylar-Scott, she researches 3D bioprinting approaches to pediatric single ventricle heart defects. She has received the Alpha Omega Alpha Carolyn L. Kuckein Student Research Fellowship, the Dorothy Dee and Marjorie Helene Boring Trust Research Award, and the Irvin David Yalom, M.D. Literary Award. Outside of research and clinical interests, she enjoys creative writing and playing the flute.

Research Project: Embedded 3D Bioprinting of a Pulsatile Conduit for the Fontan Procedure

Carmel, from Phoenix, AZ, is pursuing an MD and MS in Biomedical Investigation at Stanford School of Medicine. Carmel earned a bachelor of science in neuroscience and a minor in dance from the University of Southern California. She aspires to be a physician-scientist working to integrate gene and cell therapy into the clinic. Carmel has investigated rare Mendelian disorders in children since 2016 and has worked to further develop multi-omic diagnostic tools. At Stanford, she has pursued cellular therapeutics of Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa, a rare Mendelian skin and epithelial disorder in children. Carmel is also passionate about LGBTQ+ health. She has volunteered extensively with The Trevor Project as a counselor and has led LGBTQ+ Meds as Co-Chair to help reform medical curriculum. She has been a ballet dancer since four-years old and enjoys exploring the Bay Area.

Research Project: cGMP Manufacturing of Autologous Esophageal Epithelial Cells for the Prevention of Esophageal Strictures

Ella Nettnin, from Chicago, Illinois, is pursuing an MD at Stanford School of Medicine and an MS in Biomedical Investigation through the Berg Scholars Program. Ella graduated from Loyola University Chicago with Bachelor of Science degrees in both Molecular Biology and in Cellular/Molecular Neuroscience. Ella aspires to be a physician-scientist working towards a better understanding of neurological disorders in the clinic and in the lab. In Chicago, Ella studied circadian biology at Loyola University and Parkinson’s disease at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. At Stanford, Ella is currently working in Dr. Prolo’s lab, where she studies circadian regulation of pediatric gliomas. She plans to continue to explore the intersection between circadian biology and pediatric neurologic disorders, and she hopes to use this understanding to improve the treatment of neurological diseases. Aside from the lab, Ella also helps to lead Stanford’s Student Interest Group in Neurology as well as Medical Students for Choice. Outside of academics, she enjoys running, reading, and crocheting.

Research Project: Pediatric Gliomas Express Circadian Genes and Demonstrate Circadian Regulation of Temozolomide Sensitivity

Sina Sadeghzadeh, from Zanjan, Iran, is pursuing the Berg Scholars Program (MD/MS) at Stanford School of Medicine. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a major in neuroscience and minor in economics. Sina aspires to become a physician-scientist working to develop novel treatments for complex neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric conditions. His research focuses on understanding disease-specific circuit mechanisms of cognitive control and translational electrical, genetic, and molecular approaches for restoring function. Outside of school, Sina is an avid cyclist and has biked across the United States fundraising for young adults with cancer through the Ulman Foundation. He has been named a Knight-Hennessy Scholar, John Harvard Scholar, Berg Scholar, REACH Scholar, Schweitzer Fellow, Graduate Public Service Fellow, Medical Scholars Fellow, and Klingenstein Fellow, and his research has been funded by various organizations including the Shurl and Kay Curci Foundation, Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA), Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation (NREF), American Academy of Neurology (AAN), Pars Equality Center/Hamid and Christina Moghadam (PEC/Moghadam), and the National Institute of Health (NIH T32 Award).

Research Project: “Primed to Perform:” Dynamic white matter graph communicability may drive spontaneous network representations of enhanced preparatory cognitive control

Dharshan is a medical student at Stanford University School of Medicine. He received his B.S. from Duke University, where he was involved in blood cancer research with the Duke Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Program. Dharshan is part of the Berg Scholars program at Stanford and his research focuses on further characterizing the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in wound healing, fibrosis, and the foreign body response.

Research Project: Characterizing the Cellular Mechanisms Mediating the Foreign Body Response to Biomedical Implants

Gavin is a medical student from Bethlehem, CT. He went to Emory University for college where he studied Chemistry & Biology. Prior to starting medical school, Gavin worked in a biomaterials research lab and lead a volunteer first responder organization that provided free emergency medical services for his community in Atlanta. Currently, he is involved in research investigating the role of dopamine in reinforcing behavior and driving motivation with particular focus on substance use disorders. In his future career, Gavin aspires to be a physician-scientist working to understand and treat neurological disease. He also works on various clinical research projects to understand how socioeconomic status creates disparity in surgical outcomes. In his free time, he enjoys growing tropical plants, reading, and cooking.

Research Project: Striatal dopamine integrates cost, benefit, and motivation 

Lizzie, from Houston, TX, is a MD/MS student at Stanford University School of Medicine. She did her undergraduate training in chemistry and chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests lie at the intersection of infectious disease and emergency medicine, where she works on rapid diagnostics of bacteremia and subsequent rapid antibiotic susceptibility testing in Sam Yang’s lab. She currently serves as one of the co-presidents of MSDCI, a group representing medical students with disabilities and their allies, volunteers in the free clinics, and is on the board of the emergency medicine interest group. Her hobbies include climbing, snowboarding, and reading sci-fi and fantasy.

Research Project: Development of a sub-doubling morphology-based antimicrobial susceptibility model to rapidly determine carbapenem resistance

Michael is a Stanford Medicine and Berg Scholars Alumni who graduated with an MD and MS, in 2024. He received his B.S. with honors from Stanford University. Prior to medical school, Michael contributed to research efforts exploring alterations in cell polarity and DNA damage repair in cancer. While at Stanford School of Medicine Michale worked with Dr. Ash Alizadeh. Michael's current interests include harnessing novel liquid biopsy biomarkers for real-time noninvasive cancer characterization and prognostication. After graduating from Stanford, he joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, in St. Louis, for his residency training.

Research Project: Beyond Mutations: Expanding Methods & Applications of CAPP-Seq

Deborah is a Stanford Medicine and Berg Scholars Alumni who graduated with an MD and MS, in 2024. Originally from Winnipeg, Canada, she attended college at McGill University in Montreal where she used in vivo optogenetic tools to study spinal cord circuits involved in neuropathic pain. She started at Stanford in 2018, when she joined the laboratory of Dr. Seung Kim. In the Kim lab, she used Drosophila to study the genetic basis of Type 2 Diabetes, developing a novel assay of insulin resistance in flies. She was funded initially by the MedScholars program, before joining the inaugural cohort of Berg Scholars. After graduating from Stanford, she joined the Department of General Surgery at Johns Hopkins, in Baltimore, for her residency training.

Research Project: A genetic strategy to measure insulin signaling regulation and physiology in Drosophila