PAIRS Program Class of 2012
Fifteen medical students of the Boston University School of Medicine Class of 2012 participated in the 2008-2009 PAIRS Program. Below, learn more about each of these students.
Vinay Aggarwal
Vinay Aggarwal grew up in the friendly suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, which is located right outside of Washington, D.C. He attended Boston University for undergraduate studies and completed majors in Medical Sciences and Economics. During summers prior to beginning undergraduate coursework, Vinay worked at Georgetown University’s Medical Research Center on projects dealing with spinal cord injury and rehabilitation. In addition to undertaking volunteer work at a local hospital in Maryland, Vinay has enjoyed spending three summers pursuing medical research opportunities at the National Institutes of Health. Most recently Vinay has been involved in research at the National Institute of Allergies and other Infectious Diseases, specifically working on HIV clinical (bench to bedside) studies. Vinay has a secondary interest in finance and business.
He thoroughly enjoys anything related to sports, and is a lifelong fan of the Washington Redskins. Vinay loves to play football and soccer, and he also enjoys outdoor activities, cooking for people, and musical instruments such as the drums.
Chris Baca
Chris Baca grew up in Ivyland, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia. He graduated in 2007 with a BA in chemistry from Yale University.
Chris performed summer research at Drexel University and Yale University looking into the effects of iodine on breast cancer and the causes of cardiovascular disease, respectively. After graduation he taught high school physics and chemistry for a year.
In his spare time Chris enjoys going to the movies, running, and playing basketball, tennis and golf.
Nathan Calloway
Nathan Calloway was born and raised in North Carolina. He attended UNC-Chapel Hill, graduating with a degree in biology and a minor in chemistry. During his undergraduate years Nathan spent time in Kenya and Haiti working with under-served medical populations and also doing bench top research in schizophrenia. After graduation he began moving up the East Coast. Nathan did clinical research in cardiac MRI at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington DC and then came to Boston University for the Masters of Arts in Medical Sciences Program. His thesis was on the long-term impact of chronic statin use. More recently, he worked as an analyst at a local biopharmaceutical market research company, focusing on the local-level prevalence of certain chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypercholesterolemia.
In his spare time, Nathan plays soccer, flag football, and when it turns cold, he is a decent skier with dreams of learning to telemark.
Fonda Chan
Fonda Chan grew up in Hong Kong and moved to the United States when she was 18. She completed her undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University, where she majored in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in Chemical Engineering. As an undergraduate student, she worked in a Cell Biology lab researching on a cellular pathway that targets misfolded proteins. After graduation, she joined a drug development group and spent two years studying various anti-cancer agents.
In addition to learning about medicine, she enjoys cooking, drawing, learning new languages and marveling at beautiful mathematical concepts. If Fonda did not go to medical school, she would likely be pursuing a career in culinary arts or in engineering.
Ingrid Chang
Ingrid Chang graduated from University of Washington in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry. During her undergraduate years she was involved in cancer research in the Department of Immunology at University of Washington.
She was born in Houston, Texas, and moved back to Taiwan when she was five years old. Ingrid has lived in many different countries including U.S.A, Taiwan, China, Singapore and New Zealand. She loves to travel, cook and read. During her free time she likes to go out with her friends to shop and eat. She also enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and camping.
Ashley Decker
Ashley Decker is originally from Camarillo, California, about an hour north of Los Angeles. She graduated in 2006 from California Polytechnic State University- San Luis Obispo with a degree in nutrition science and minors in biology and psychology.
During undergrad she participated in research on the eating disorders in adolescent girls. Ashley received her Master of Arts in Medical Sciences from Boston University School of Medicine in 2008, during which she conducted research on the redox reactions involved in the development of atherosclerosis. Ashley is currently a member of the class of 2012 at Boston University School of Medicine.
Andrew Francis
Andrew Francis is a California native who graduated from UC Berkeley in 2004 with a B.A. in English Literature.
Previous to deciding on a career in medicine, he worked for Bank of America in mortgage sales and financial planning, owned a start-up sales company, and served in the US Navy.
Andrew is currently aof the class of 2012 at Boston University School of Medicine. He enjoys hiking, reading, exercise, the arts, and seeing movies with friends and family.
Shireen Heidari
Shireen Heidari grew up in Orange, California. She graduated from UCLA in 2008, where she balanced her time between her loves of literature and medicine in the hope of becoming a well-rounded physician. While there, she studied the use of free medical services among HIV and Hepatitis C patients through clinical research projects in downtown Los Angeles, coordinated diet and exercise interventions for families in the greater LA area and mentored incarcerated youth at Camp Kilpatrick.
Shireen also spent a summer with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the United Kingdom while pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in English.
In her spare time, Shireen likes to spend time with friends, laugh, read, do yoga, sketch, write music, sing and learn to solve medical mysteries.
Jenni Kao
Jenni Kao was born in Taiwan, but has lived in Virginia, New York, and Cincinnati. She graduated in 2007 from Kenyon College with a major in molecular biology and minor in anthropology.
She was involved with animal physiology and cultural anthropology research during her undergraduate years.
After graduating, Jenni spent a year with an Americorps program called the Pittsburgh Health Corps. She served as an assistant case manager and also taught middle-school science. Jenni is interested in primary care and hopes to work at a community-health center someday.
Cassie Kovach
Cassie Kovach is originally from a small suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated in 2008 from Tulane University in New Orleans with a major in neuroscience and a minor in psychology.
During her undergraduate years Cassie did research on potential causes of depression and the effects of chronic stress on the brain.
In her spare time Cassie enjoys volunteering, exercising, traveling, and watching movies and sporting events.
Gabi Merlin
Gabi Merlin is a twenty two year old from Newton, MA. His family is a cultural mosaic; his father is from Argentina, his mother is from Attleboro, MA and they met in a post office in Israel. Gabi attended Washington University in St. Louis and graduated in May, where he majored in Spanish and minored in Photography, two of his greatest interests and hobbies. In college, he developed a strong interest in neuroscience because of the research that he did at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and the National Institute of Health Baltimore branch.
Gabi enjoys playing basketball, football, and soccer and enjoys watching Boston sports, especially the Patriots, Red Sox, and Celtics. He is also a Boca Juniors fan, an Argentinean club team, because his father played on the team. Gabi is also interested in music and going to concerts is one of his favorite activities. He has a very eclectic musical taste ranging from classic rock bands such as the Allman Brothers to funk and jam bands as well as music from other parts of the world. Food is also a big interest of his; he enjoys cooking, eating and sampling the wonderful restaurants that Boston has to offer. Finally, he enjoys going to the movies.
Sharda Mukunda
Sharda Mukunda grew up in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, not too far away from Boston. She attended Boston University for her undergraduate degree. Sharda was accepted into BUSM during her junior year through the MMEDIC program.
In her free time, Sharda enjoys reading, singing, and running. She also enjoys looking at flowers and identifying plants, something she did extensively during summer jobs in her undergraduate years.
Sharda lives in the city, but she loves going home to see her family.
Arti Parekh
Arti Parekh is originally from Silver Spring, MD.
She attended Boston University as an undergraduate, where she majored in Medical Sciences and minored in Political Science.
She is currently a first year medical student at Boston University School of Medicine.
The summer before entering medical school, she was a summer research fellow at the National Institutes of Health in the Laboratory of Cancer Genetics and Biology.
Max Rubinstein
Max Rubinstein was raised in Central New Jersey, along the scenic New Jersey shore. He graduated from Brown in 2008 with a bachelors of science in biology.
While at Brown, he completed a thesis on the interplay of mating status, diet, and mitochondrial genotype on survivorship in Drosophila. He has also done research on pediatric IV placement and carbon production of marine bacteria.
Max’s current medical interests include neurology, pediatrics, and oncology. Outside of school, he enjoys running, hiking, and ice cream making.
Neepa Shah
Neepa Shah is from Toronto, Canada and is a first year student at the Boston University School of Medicine. She completed her undergraduate studies at Boston University, majoring in both Economics and Medical Science.
Neepa’s research interests include developmental biology. She previously worked at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute examining regulators of hematopoiesis. The summer before entering medical school, she was a part of the Summer Student Research Program at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, where she completed a project examining differentiation of trophoblast stem cells into placental tissue. Although there is no specific field in medicine that attracts Neepa currently, she is very interested in academic medicine and teaching.
In addition to her job as a medical student, Neepa is also a Resident Assistant at the Boston University undergraduate campus where she mentors college freshman. Some of her hobbies include traveling, baking, and Indian classical dance choreography.