I am a Pakistani-American from New York, and I am a junior at Harvard College studying neuroscience and psychology. I am currently working with the STAR and FACES teams. I am interested in psychology because even with our current knowledge, so many people struggle with their mental health. I hope to do my part to lower barriers that prevent people from accessing the care they need.

My research interests are biological, psychological, and social mechanisms that underlie mental illness. In particular, I want to study ways to improve the classification and diagnosis of mental illnesses because diagnosis is often the first step to treatment. In the future, I want to be a clinical psychologist or a psychiatrist, integrating research and clinical work.

When I’m not in lab or in class, I work as a peer counselor with Contact Peer Counseling, a club that provides non-judgmental, non-directive peer counseling centered around gender, sex, and sexuality to Harvard undergraduates. I spend what little free time I have at home, like you should, because we’re living through a pandemic.