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I transferred to Penn from Boston University at the beginning of my junior year and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. During my time at Penn, I majored in Neuroscience while working as a work-study student at CHOP's Center for Autism Research. There, I helped to facilitate clinical NIH-funded studies aiming to discover more about how young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Down Syndrome develop in comparison to neurotypical children. I specifically collaborated on the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Study (ECHO) and the Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS), where I assisted with conducting mock MRI scans, EEG scans, eye tracking, and collecting biological/anthropometric samples and measurements from parent-child dyads. At the same time, I worked alongside Hiba and Alejandra to revive the Penn Neuroscience Society to the club it is today! Together, we nearly doubled our ListServ subscribers to over 1,000 members, increased GBM turnout from an average of 10-15 attendees to 50+ attendees per event, and completely restructured the format of board to become a 15-person, multiple committee-based board. Post-graduation, I plan to take 1-2 gap years in order to gain more patient care experience in the medical field. After that, I plan to either pursue PA school or a masters program in clinical psychology.
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Alejandra Bahena graduated in 2022 and was a pre-medical student in the College where she pursued a major in Biochemistry and minors in French and Chemistry. Alejandra founded the National Pre-Health Community (NPHC) LLC and worked at the Penn Digital Neuropathology Lab during college. She also enjoyed volunteering at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and serving the Philadelphia community. Alejandra joined PNS during the Spring of 2019, being part of the research committee and later served as the events chair during her sophomore year and Co-President during her junior and senior years. Alejandra plans on continuing to do research after graduation, working on NPHC and eventually attend medical school.
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Amara Okafor graduated in 2022 majoring in neuroscience with minors in chemistry and health care management. During her time at Penn, she led the design committee for PennScience Undergraduate Research Journal, volunteered with and served as secretary then Vice president of Circle K, served as the coordinator for the United Community Clinic, and the Design director and marketing chair for PNS.
Post-graduation she plans to take a gap year before medical school where she hopes to continue working as a pharmacy technician and performing research. In the future she wants to be a primary care physician/ anesthesiologist and pursue something in health care economics in order to continue serving and benefiting her community. |
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At Penn, Ali earned a Bachelor of Arts in neuroscience with a minor in chemistry. He was a long-standing member of the Philomathean Literary Society and Penn Neuroscience Society and worked as Research Committee co-chair for the latter. He completed an honors thesis in the Eisch Lab at CHOP working with a deep learning pipeline to automate behavioral annotation of mouse tube test footage, with the larger goal of elucidating space radiation effects on conflict resolution strategies in mouse models. Post-graduation, Ali will use his gap years to work and pursue research opportunities before applying to graduate and medical programs.
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During college, I was a part of a lot of things but some few organizations I was in really loved that I had leadership in also were: Christian Union, Penn Neuroscience Society, Camp Kesem, and Alpha Iota Gamma. As a Philadelphia native, I also had more opportunities to interact with the Philadelphia community and healthcare system more intimately by being a clinical volunteer at Esperanza Health Center and at local clinics at Penn. After graduation, I will be a clinical coordinator at Pennsylvania Hospital at Penn in the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Center. During this year, I will also be applying to medical school hoping to matriculate the following year!
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