Parisa Verma (MY ‘27) is a prospective cognitive science major from Tenafly, New Jersey, on the pre-med track. After conducting cancer therapeutic research throughout high school, this summer, Parisa worked as a clinical research intern in the Levine-Kirschenbaum Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, publishing separate case reports on two patients presenting with extremely rare endocrine conditions, including metachronous pituitary germinoma and testicular seminoma, and adrenal ganglioneuroma. Parisa is also deeply passionate about foreign languages, pursuing a certificate in Chinese language and studying Spanish. Parisa has completed research at the intersection of Chinese medicine, public health and policy, with project topics including comparative analyses of the U.S.’s and China’s healthcare systems, as well as investigating psychological distress among high school students in rural and urban China. Conducting these analyses illuminated for Parisa how patients from distinct racial, socioeconomic, and geographic backgrounds can have vastly different treatment experiences. As a biologist and a linguist, Parisa is deeply interested in communication and the cultivation of a strong patient-physician relationship as a conduit through which providers can deliver patient-centered care while transcending the intricacies of diverse healthcare models, language barriers, cultural differences, and systemic disparities. On campus, Parisa is a research assistant at Haskin’s Language and Learning Multisensory Brain Lab (LLAMB), a member of the Yale Foreign Policy Initiative-German Marshall Fund joint project on Taiwan, and a violinist in the Yale Symphony Orchestra. In her free time, Parisa likes to listen to music and podcasts, do pilates, cook, and hang out with friends.