Shan Lateef (GH’25) is a Neuroscience major who is fascinated by the complexities of brain function and the repercussions of its dysfunction, due to environmental causes. He aspires to be physician-researcher and wants to trace the socio-biological determinants of early brain development, with a specific focus on acquired brain injury and how this may manifest in more vulnerable populations. Looking beyond some obvious influencers of brain development, such as nutrition, environmental toxins, infections and injuries, Shan recognizes that there are more complex ones that are harder to disentangle from their broader socio-cultural context – for example, poverty, poor prenatal care, mental illness in caretakers, and limited access to preventive health care.Through the Global Health Scholar’s Program at Yale, Shan finds his interests in neuroscience and public health coalesce and he hopes to dissect abnormal brain development and its roots, among susceptible communities. Shan is also a funded Hahn Scholar conducting research in the Carlson Lab. His benchwork focusses on how intermittent fasting may delay aging-related physiologic processes, using a fruit fly model. Shan’s other activities at Yale include serving as a Director for the South Asian Youth Initiative Conference and as a Managing Editor for the Yale Undergraduate Research Journal. He is also an avid amateur chef and dances with Rangeela, Yale’s Bollywood fusion dance team.