Marissa Gani

Global Challenge: Emerging Technology Impact in Healthcare

Marissa Gani is a rising sophomore majoring in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Originally from California, moving to the east coast was quite a change for her, but she is nonetheless excited for what New York has to offer. Marissa enjoys math and science, and has been a dancer her whole life, which are her main motivations to study how engineering principles can be applied to the field of medicine. Growing up with ballet, she knew that each articulate movement was not an easy feat for the human body. After experiencing injuries and a sudden autoimmune flare-up, Marissa was drawn to how underlying smaller-scale biological systems and anatomy could play such fundamental roles in both health and her passion for dance.

Marissa plans to pursue a future pre-medical career, leaning towards orthopedics or anesthesiology. Currently, Marissa wants to develop a strong research foundation through UGSRP at Professor Thorsten Kirsch’s lab, which aims to slow development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis. In particular, she will be focusing on the P15-1 peptide which inhibits macrophage inflammatory pathways in joints. Marissa also loves to teach and intends to continue throughout college, whether it be dance in the city or mentoring students in STEM subjects. Through these experiences, she has learned to be more patient, be an active listener and learner, and be more proactive in critical thinking.

The GLASS program was the perfect opportunity for her to keep striving for academic excellence. During her first year at Tandon, Marissa realized that health and engineering both require collaboration across unique disciplines, and she is excited to be a part of that diverse community in GLASS. Within the small cohorts, Marissa is grateful to learn from and be surrounded by such accomplished people– her peers to connect with and students in previous cohorts to look up to. As someone who loves to travel and explore new cultures, Marissa has also always known that she wanted to study abroad. At NYU Shanghai, she wants to focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goal for Good Health and Well Being to gain a deeper understanding of how different cultures perceive medicine, hoping to balance both academic goals and artistic endeavors as well.