Rachel (she/her) was born in San Diego, California, and currently works as a Research Investigator with the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine. In her free time, Rachel enjoys cooking, painting, listening to music/podcasts, traveling, and spending time with friends in nature. She also volunteers with a variety of groups including the incarcerated and foster youth.
Rachel completed her undergraduate studies at Princeton University, and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Chemistry and minors in Global Health & Health Policy and Materials Science & Engineering. Today, Rachel is in pursuit of a doctorate at UCLA where she hopes to bridge her passions for advocacy and equity in health policy, translational science, and culturally competent practices.
Throughout her academic and professional work, Rachel has published numerous scientific papers, participated in peer review activities, mentored undergraduate and graduate students in research, and delivered presentations. She is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (ACR), American Dental Education Association (ADEA), International Association for Dental Research (ADR), and American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Resarch (AADOCR).
Rachel has extensive experience with research in topics ranging from protein-virus interactions to spatial transcriptomics. She has spent time performing research at Harvard, Princeton, UPENN, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and the National Institute for Health (NIH). Rachel also speaks Persian and Spanish and has expertise in programming with Microsoft Suite, R, Python, and Graphic Design.
