Experiences

Neurology Inpatient Wards, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine — Pittsburgh, PA

• Functioned as the primary provider for adult inpatients on the neurology wards service, directing diagnostic workups and management of complex cases including status epilepticus, neuroimmunologic crises, and encephalopathies.
• Performed a diagnostic lumbar puncture in a patient with Miller Fisher Syndrome.
• Delivered chalk talks on cutting-edge therapies for CIDP, anti-seizure medication selection, and dementia in the inpatient setting.
• Evaluated neurophysiologic tests including continuous EEG monitoring for seizure activity and EMG/NCS to differentiate between demyelinating vs. myopathic patterns.
• Built broad differential diagnoses, and practiced evidence-based clinical decision making while prioritizing individual patient needs.

This experience provided the opportunity to implement my understanding of circuit dysfunction underlying neurological disorders to real-life clinical scenarios. Serving as the primary provider solidified my diagnostic agility and clinical ownership in an acute inpatient neurology setting.

Gittis Lab, Carnegie Mellon University — Pittsburgh, PA

• Mentored an undergraduate researcher in the Gittis Lab, from technical skill acquisition to independent experimental design.
• Trained mentee in 3D histological reconstruction for DBS electrode mapping, including the development of quantitative image analysis pipelines.
• Guided her subsequent self-directed project characterizing alpha-synuclein pathology.
• Coached student in scientific communication, leading to a first-prize poster award and successful matriculation into an MD-PhD program.

Gittis Lab, Carnegie Mellon University — Pittsburgh, PA

• Developed an in vivo electrical stimulation model in dopamine-depleted mice to study deep brain stimulation (DBS) in Parkinson's disease, under the guidance of Dr. Aryn Gittis, PhD.
• Engineered electrical stimulation patterns to translate the long-lasting effects of optogenetic cell-type-specific neuromodulation into viable therapies.
• Awarded an NIH NRSA F31 predoctoral fellowship for this cutting-edge study.
• Demonstrated that burst-pattern DBS drives motor recovery extending beyond stimulation offset, contrasting with current standard-of-care continuous DBS (Science 2021, second author).
• Collaborated with Dr. Nader Pouratian, MD, PhD on a first-in-human clinical pilot evaluating burst DBS in patients with PD (Movement Disorders 2024).

This experience highlighted the role of cellular-level circuit dissection in guiding targeted neuromodulation. Embarking on this journey of cell-inspired optimization, translated from the bench to bedside to improve patient outcomes solidified my commitment to a career as a physician scientist.

Gittis Lab, Carnegie Mellon University — Pittsburgh, PA

• Investigated the neural mechanisms underlying tremor and bradykinesia across two distinct models of Parkinson's disease (PD) — a dopamine depletion model demonstrating bradykinesia and an alpha-synuclein model demonstrating tremor.
• Implemented trans-synaptic viral tracing coupled with targeted electrophysiology to record pathway-specific sub-circuits connecting the cerebellum and basal ganglia to the motor thalamus.
• Discovered convergent cerebellar pathway disruption across both models of PD, uncovering potential therapeutic targets for cerebellar interventions (Journal of Neuroscience, 2026).
• Independently conceptualized and iteratively optimized experimental design to probe symptom-specific circuit mechanisms in movement disorders.

Medical Scientist Training Program, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine — Pittsburgh, PA

• Served as Student Committee Chair representing ~110 MD-PhD trainees, liaising directly with the program director, Dr. Richard Steinman, MD, PhD, to advocate for trainee needs and guide program policy.
• Oversaw student-led subcommittees focused on applicant recruitment, cross-cohort mentorship, and wellness/social programming.
• Directed the annual scientific retreat as Retreat Chair, coordinating keynote speaker invitations, student platform talks, poster sessions, and structured junior-senior mentoring workshops.
• Fostered an inclusive, collaborative community across disparate scientific disciplines, cultivating leadership practices central to my interest in academic medicine.

Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh — Pittsburgh, PA

• Observed ~24 cases involving functional neurosurgery performed by Dr. Jorge Gonzalez-Martinez, MD, PhD, for patients with epilepsy undergoing surface EEG placement and movement disorders undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) implantation.
• Assisted the neurophysiologist in analyzing intra-operative microelectrode recordings and functional testing to guide electrode placement.
• Participated in history taking, and performed targeted neurological exams on patients to evaluate them prior to DBS surgeries.
• Analyzed key clinical shortcomings of conventional DBS, including frequent battery replacements and stimulation-induced adverse effects, to inform pre-clinical strategies for optimizing therapy.

Hallett Lab, National Institutes of Health — Bethesda, MD

• Investigated the white matter correlates of cognitive side effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), under the guidance of Dr. Silvina Horovitz, PhD.
• Preprocessed neuroimaging datasets and conducted probabilistic tractography, incorporating individualized stimulation parameters and behavioral covariates to model stimulation settings predictive of cognitive side effects.
• Presented this work at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping conference in Vancouver, and the Society for Neuroscience in 2017.
• Analyzed pathological differences in white matter integrity within executive function networks between tremor-dominant and postural instability/gait difficulty (PIGD) Parkinson's disease phenotypes (Neuroscience Letters 2021, second author).

Observing Dr. Mark Hallett, MD, examine patients with rare movement disorders blurred the lines between academic curiosity and patient care. Mapping neuromodulation side effects using neuroimaging cultivated my drive to leverage computational tools for such patient-centered therapeutic optimization.

Department of Neurology, Emory School of Medicine — Atlanta, GA

• Rotated between the in-patient team, consults team, and neurology clinics at Grady Memorial Hospital, managing patients with various neurological disorders and diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Observed the use of advanced perfusion imaging (e.g., RAPID CT) to identify the ischemic penumbra and guide urgent endovascular thrombectomy in acute stroke.
• Reviewed and presented cases to faculty advisors Dr. Paul Lennard, PhD, and Dr. Jaffar Khan, MD, applying key neurological concepts learnt during the curriculum to patients seen in the hospital.

Staba Lab, University of California, Los Angeles — Los Angeles, CA

• Developed a MATLAB-based machine learning classification algorithm to automate seizure detection from continuous in vivo EEG recordings in an animal model of post-traumatic epilepsy.
• Benchmarked algorithmic detection against clinical gold-standard manual review, evaluating feature variability across animals to assess cross-subject generalizability.
• Authored an undergraduate thesis awarded Highest Departmental Honors, and received the Vice Provost Prize for best physical sciences publication in the Undergraduate Science Journal.

Blanke Lab, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne — Lausanne, Switzerland

• Developed a behavioral experiment in MATLAB, under the guidance of Dr. Nathan Faivre, PhD, to determine whether human subjects were inherently more confident about the self-assessment of their accuracy (metacognition) on visual versus auditory discrimination tasks.
• Collected EEG, ECG, and behavioral data from local participants in Lausanne, analyzed in MATLAB and R to estimate metacognitive performance.
• Demonstrated a positive correlation between sensory modalities suggesting a common brain mechanism instead of divergent pathways controlling multisensory metacognition.
• Designed an Arduino-based electric system for testing tactile metacognition.
• Culminated in a poster presentation titled "Behavioral and neural correlates of metacognition across senses."