Alumni Student Ambassador Board

Ashley is a second-year physician assistant student originally from Walla Walla, Wash. After earning a bachelor’s of science in athletic training at Brigham Young University, she worked as an ophthalmology technician prior to beginning her educational experience at Baylor College of Medicine. She is passionate about helping those in need, and she interrupted her undergraduate experience for a year and a half to serve a mission for her church in Colorado. Ashley loves to be active and spend time running, biking and hiking. She also enjoys learning new things, like trying recipes in the kitchen, reading books and gardening.

Caroline is a second-year medical student. She received her undergraduate degree in cultural anthropology from Duke University in 2019 and spent her gap year working as a consulting analyst for Deloitte. She is interested in quality improvement and the many ways medicine intersects our daily lives. In her free time, Caroline enjoys rock climbing, cooking, volleyball and spending time with friends. She is excited to help facilitate and strengthen relationships between alumni and Baylor College of Medicine.

Darien is a first-year medical student from San Antonio, Texas. She is very interested in investigating health disparities and learning how to equalize care for underrepresented populations with her future medical career. Darien has enjoyed her time at Baylor, particularly seeing the resolve of her supportive classmates and excellent lecturers during the pandemic. Her interests include playing with her kitten Mango, cross-stitching, obsessing over Harry Potter, and playing tennis when she can. She studied biomedical sciences during her graduate studies and community health during her undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University. Darien is also passionate about community outreach and health education.

Delia is a third-year medical student. Prior to Baylor College of Medicine, she earned a B.A. in Spanish at the University of Texas at Austin, where she taught Spanish classes, tried sailing and rowing and adopted a cat named Bagel. As a clinical student, she confirmed her passion for surgery and patient care and hopes to merge the two in her future profession. She has a strong connection to the Baylor community, which has nurtured her professionally and emotionally. One of her goals is to build on the community that is unique to this institution.

Hunter is a fourth-year medical student from Houston, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2018 with majors in biochemistry and history. At Baylor College of Medicine, he has participated in the Peer Resource Network, First Generation MD, Student Surgical Society, Anatomy Buddies, Flu's Clues, Saturday Morning Science and the Family Medicine Interest Group. These experiences showed him the diversity represented at Baylor and inspire him to someday serve low-resource communities. After graduation, he plans to join a combined internal medicine-pediatrics residency. He enjoys walks with his wife and dog, running, reading, and attending church activities.

Imani Bijou is currently a fourth-year graduate student studying biochemistry. Her current research focuses on targeting transcriptional coactivators in cancer as a potential therapeutic approach. Her interest in cancer research was triggered by her grandmother’s breast cancer diagnosis in college, and further enriched upon learning about the carcinogenic impacts in communities near oil sites along the gulf coast which she calls home. She attended Xavier University of Louisiana for her undergraduate degree where she majored in biochemistry and minored in mathematics. Imani enjoys volunteering and mentoring young future scientists, trying out local coffee roasters, anything New Orleans Saints, and hanging out with her rescue cat!

Jeel is a second-year medical student born and raised in Houston, Texas. She majored in biochemistry and cell biology, minored in business and global health technologies and received a certificate in civic leadership at Rice University. There, she developed a passion for health equity and medical innovation in low-resource settings. Her hobbies include singing, exploring new parks, hiking and playing volleyball. She is excited to help facilitate meaningful connections between Baylor College of Medicine students and alumni while expanding the alumni network.

Justin is a fourth-year medical student from Houston, Texas, who serves as the president for Baylor College of Medicine’s Class of 2022. He is applying into internal medicine and is passionate about medical education and the study of ethics, having completed the Ethics Pathway. Prior to Baylor College of Medicine, he went to Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., graduating in 2018 with a major in philosophy, neuroscience and psychology. He looks forward to being a part of ASAB before becoming an alumnus himself!

Katerina Tsai is a first-year student and class treasurer in the Physician Assistant Program. She is originally from Katy, Texas, and she graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with degrees in finance and biology. Before attending PA school, Katerina worked in insurance broking for a Fortune 500 company. A fun fact about her is that she grew up abroad in Malaysia and China. In her free time, Katerina enjoys reading historical fiction, baking sourdough bread and desserts, trying different cuisines, walking in the park, and spending quality time with her family and the new friends she has made at Baylor College of Medicine.

Kathleen is a second-year medical student from Austin, Texas. She completed her undergraduate degree in biology in 2020 at The University of Texas at Austin, where she completed research that shaped her interest in studying family dynamics and the healthy development of young children. She currently serves as a Peer Research Network leader for a group of first-year students and is involved in other academic support groups for first-year students. She is excited to join ASAB so that she can grow student and alumni interaction and help to create a larger Baylor College of Medicine community.

Maggie is a third-year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine. She grew up just outside of Houston in The Woodlands, Texas, before moving to Baton Rouge, La., during high school. She graduated from Louisiana State University in 2019 with degrees in biological sciences and Spanish. She currently serves as the treasurer for her class. Before medical school, Maggie worked as a high school track coach. Outside of medicine, her passion is cheering on LSU football.

Muktha is a second-year medical student who completed her undergraduate degree in religious studies in 2020 at the University of Houston. She values intersectional experiences and is interested in the overlap of medicine and medical humanities. Growing up in a tight-knit immigrant community, Muktha experienced first-hand the significance of primary care physicians who respect all cultures and identities. Thus, she seeks to serve as a family medicine physician with a focus on immigrant medicine and narrative medicine. In her spare time, she indulges in K-dramas, riffs Carnatic melodies, goes on local adventures with friends and spends time with family.

Parker is a second-year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He recently completed his undergraduate degree in biochemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, and is interested in the overlap between medicine and business, particularly in innovation through medical start-ups. He is pursuing a Public Health Track at Baylor and hopes to better face social disparities of health in medicine. Parker serves on the student senate for his class and is part of the Texas Medical Association Foundation Board of Trustees. Parker constantly strives to improve student, faculty and alumni life at Baylor.

Richard is a second-year medical student from Allen, Texas. He completed his undergraduate education in biochemistry and kinesiology at Rice University in 2020. Richard is interested in public health, especially the intersection of scientific policy and public engagement, to provide better care for the community. In his free time, Richard enjoys watching and playing soccer, discovering new foods and immersing himself in various types of music. He has enjoyed his time at Baylor College of Medicine thus far and is excited to work on improving the alumni and student connection to enhance the Baylor experience for all.

Ruth is a second-year medical student. She attended Emory University for her undergraduate studies and is excited to continue her education at Baylor College of Medicine. Through her work now and in the future, she hopes to improve healthcare access, equity and improved patient outcomes. She is passionate about volunteering, community outreach and engagement and is looking forward to working with ASAB. She enjoys spending quality time with family and friends. Some of her hobbies include listening to music, roller skating and painting.

Shannon Bonner is currently a first-year genetic counseling student at Baylor College of Medicine. Originally from Schnecksville, Pa., Shannon graduated from Dickinson College in 2019 with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology. Shannon’s passions lie at the intersection of genetics research and patient-centered care which is what drew her to the field of genetic counseling and ultimately, Baylor. Since the start of her program, she has taken particular interest in counseling for high-risk pregnancies and will soon be pursuing a research project investigating prenatal genetic counseling experiences in the Osteogenesis Imperfecta community. Outside of the classroom, Shannon enjoys getting outside and running in the many parks throughout Houston.

Tania Pena-Alfaro is a second-year medical student at Baylor College of Medicine She completed her undergraduate degree in nursing in 2017 at the University of Texas at Austin and went on to work as a registered nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit at Texas Children's Hospital for two years. Before starting medical school, she backpacked around 28 countries for eight months and discovered a passion for global health and neglected tropical diseases. She currently serves as vice president for my class and is always on the lookout for ways to improve student, faculty, and alumni life at Baylor.

Varuna Chander is a fourth-year Ph.D. student studying human genetics and genomics. She is interested in investigating rare genetic diseases and currently studying mechanisms driving Xia-Gibbs syndrome. As a trainee of NLM Biomedical Informatics and Data Science, she is also interested in how somatic mutations in blood predispose to cardiovascular disease risk. She is originally from Chennai, India and studied industrial biotechnology for her undergraduate degree. She completed her masters and worked in the biotech industry before starting her Ph.D. at Baylor. During her free time, Varuna enjoys hiking, indoor cycling and practices yoga. She is also passionate about traveling to new places.