Come to the Oberon this July to hear five stories of self-transformation!
Hosted by Ari Daniel and Katie Wu.
Stories by:
Daryl Choa is a STEM education advocate who is passionate about creating interactive experiences that engage marginalized students in STEM learning. She studied biology and psychology at the University Massachusetts Amherst, where she discovered that she liked communicating science more than she liked doing it. For the past three years, she’s worked as a production assistant at NOVA, the public science television program, producing and distributing educational resources. She’ll be pursuing her Master’s in Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon in the fall, where she’ll be searching for innovative ways to teach science through gaming.
Dr. Zain Kassam is a Co-founder and Executive Vice President, Clinical Development & Translational Medicine at Finch Therapeutics Group, a mission-oriented microbiome therapeutics spin out of OpenBiome, the world’s first stool bank for fecal transplants. He is also a founding team member, former Chief Medical Officer, and current Special Advisor to the Board of Directors at OpenBiome. Dr. Kassam is a Gastroenterologist, Epidemiologist and Clinical Research Affiliate at the MIT Center for Microbiome Informatics & Therapeutics. His research focuses on innovative microbiome-directed therapies that deeply impact human health and disease. He was named to the prestigious Top 40 under 40 Healthcare Innovator List by MedTech, and served as a Scientific Advisory Board member for the American Gastroenterological Association Center for Gut Microbiome Research & Education. Dr. Kassam has been featured on PBS, CNN, BBC, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and numerous other media outlets.
Armani Lamin is a junior at Cathedral High School. He’s a member of the National Honor Society with a 4.2 GPA and he is an active participant in extra-curricular programs such as Junior Achievement. For the past two summers, he has participated in the Crimson Summer Academy where he has taken rigorous courses like quantitative reasoning, expository writing, and Advanced Placement Biology. After graduating from Cathedral, he aspires to study at Harvard University.
Kelsey Tyssowski is a neuroscientist and generally curious human. She is currently a graduate student in the Genetics Department at Harvard Medical School where she studies how the brain stores memories and prevents seizures--or, more specifically, why neurons turn on genes when they're activated. Kelsey is also an editor, writer, and educator with the science communication organization, Science in the News, where she is currently Editor-in-Chief of their blog. In her free time, Kelsey can be found in her community garden plot on Mission Hill and tending to the emotional needs of her dog.
Devorah Vester Borenstein is the Appeals Staff Attorney at the Mental Health Litigation Division of the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Massachusetts. She represents people who are contesting wrongful commitment and guardianship orders. This is an awesome and humbling responsibility. In advocating for the rights of an often marginalized and patronized population, she has the opportunity to tell the court an individual’s story and why he deserves a legal remedy. When Devorah is not fighting for simple justice, she is immersed in flour, water, salt and lots of microorganisms.