Majors: Health Sciences and Neuroscience
Minor: Medical Humanities
Pranav is a Baker College Senior majoring in Health Sciences & Neuroscience, and minoring in Medical Humanities on the pre-medical track. After taking Introduction to Public & Community Health, he loved seeing the application of classroom concepts into his daily life and knew Health Sciences was the right major for him. With each HEAL course, Pranav loves thinking about how he can combine public health with medicine to broaden his scope as a future physician.
One of the biggest lessons he has learned through the Health Sciences major is that each person has a different relationship with their health. The major’s emphasis on personalized health delivery inspired him to guide his high-risk South Asian community through COVID-19 and diabetes disparities via culturally sensitive health camps, international medical research, and nutrition modifications in his community’s native language. Energized, Pranav later co-designed a brand-new ‘Public Health Nutrition’ course with his Health Sciences professor and mentor, Dr. Cassandra Diep. He feels immensely grateful to share his personal experiences designing culturally sensitive health initiatives, while helping his classmates personalize new interventions that address social determinants of nutrition health in diverse populations.
Beyond the classroom, Pranav actively volunteers with the HealthStart Foundation (an Austin-based nonprofit). Here, he designs and integrates English & Spanish health curricula (an underfunded resource) across Houston elementary schools. In partnership with school administrators, Pranav loves increasing health literacy tools and early disease prevention habits for children in high-risk communities. As Health Promotions Lead, he proudly created a new ambassador framework, recruiting student leaders across Texas to pioneer similar disease prevention efforts in their hometown communities.
At Rice, Pranav is involved with several organizations such as the South Asian Society, BrainSTEM, Riyaaz Fusion Dance Team, and Camp Kesem. In his free time, he loves exploring new cuisines & music with his friends, playing baseball & basketball, and avidly reading new books.
Entering medical school, Pranav is driven to continue learning how he can improve community health through personalized and preventative efforts. He is excited to combine his public health leadership, research background, and clinical learning experiences (Ben Taub, TCH, Urgent Care Clinics) to become an effective and understanding provider for his future patients.