Tanya Datta

David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Tanya Datta (she/her/hers) is a fourth-year medical student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She grew up in a first-generation Indian-American household where mind-body modalities such as meditation and yoga were normalized and integrated into her home. She discovered the wonders of a formal mindfulness meditation practice as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania while studying behavioral neuroscience. She credits her mentors at the Won Buddhism Institute of Philadelphia with laying the groundwork for her future interests in integrative medicine. After graduating, she took a clinical research coordinator position at the Lazar Lab for Neuroimaging of Meditation and Yoga in Boston, Massachusetts to further dive into the scientific study of contemplative practices with a geriatric study population. At UCLA along with her wonderful medical school peers, Tanya established a student-led meditation group and created wellness programming incorporated into the new medical school curriculum.

Tanya is excited to pursue a career in psychiatry with a focus on integrative medicine and providing care for underserved and vulnerable populations. In her free time, she loves dancing, learning new languages, baking with friends and petting all the dogs. She is looking forward to learning a lot with and from her fellow HEARTies!

Elena Hirsch

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine

Elena Hirsch (she/her/hers) is a fourth year medical student at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and first became interested in integrative medicine when she was introduced to yoga and meditation at just 12 years old. A few years later, in 2013, she completed a 200 hour yoga teacher training, before starting college at Johns Hopkins University. During her undergraduate years, Elena studied psychology, taught biweekly yoga classes, and conducted research examining the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure in a diverse group of at-risk children and adolescents. Elena has maintained her yoga and meditation practices for over fifteen years now and has enjoyed integrating her osteopathic medical knowledge into her practice and teachings.

Elena is excited for a career in adolescent medicine and working to improve equitable access to high-quality holistic medical care. Outside of yoga and medicine, Elena enjoys ceramics, rock climbing, scuba diving, biking, and cooking. She’s excited to work alongside her wonderful co-coordinators to curate a transformative and unforgettable HEART IM experience!

Divya Krishna is a fourth year medical student at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. She studied Biology and Gender Studies during her undergraduate years at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she also became involved in community engagement initiatives both locally and abroad. Throughout medical school, she continued her service to the community by leading a healthcare navigation project to help newly settled refugees understand and access medical care in the United States. 

In her downtime, Divya also enjoys reading books and climbing trees. An avid hiker with a background in patient advocacy work, she is eager to partake in this humanistic elective in the Redwood Forest!

Brinda Raval

New York Medical College

Brinda Raval is a 4th year medical student at New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York. Brinda earned her B.A. at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY, where she studied a wide range of humanities subjects including psychology, religion, history and writing. She also completed her pre-med coursework here and got to explore her interest in integrative medicine through projects on Ayurveda, mind-body medicine, and chronic pain management. Brinda spent a gap year as an AmeriCorps member at a federally qualified community health center with Hudson River Healthcare, serving a primarily farmworker population in Goshen, New York. Here, she got to experience the practical side of lifestyle medicine – particularly through organizing weekly fitness and nutrition groups for the children and teenagers of the community. She also gained an understanding of the unique challenges farmworkers face in regards to healthcare.

At New York Medical College, Brinda has been involved in various initiatives, including a Lifestyle Medicine Interest Group and as editor-in-chief of the student journal Quill & Scope. She is also pursuing an area of concentration in Global Health and Bioethics through the medical school. Brinda was also involved in her medical school’s AMSA chapter as chair of the committee on Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Health Action (REACH), and facilitated monthly discussion clubs on relevant topics. Research interests include a project on unique considerations for palliative and end-of-life care for Hindu patients. Brinda plans to pursue neurology and bring an emphasis on humanism and lifestyle medicine to her practice.

Cassie Roberts

University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine

Cassie Roberts (she/her/ella) is the acting Student Director of HEART-IM. Originally from Southwest Missouri, Cassie received her B.A. in Drama and Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. Before her medical training, she worked to integrate her love of theater and community building by leading Theater for Social Change workshops at University City High School.

Throughout medical school, Cassie has honed her passion for advocacy in her own community through work in Student Government, in addition to serving the unhoused and other vulnerable populations through the Outreach Medicine Program. During the COVID-19 viral pandemic vaccine inaccessibility, especially in the Southside of San Antonio, became the focus of much of her extracurricular efforts. Now as a fourth year student at UIWSOM, Cassie appreciates how honored she has been to learn Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine from her mentors there, including the Fascial Distortion Model.

Cassie is ecstatically pursuing a career in pediatrics where she hopes to utilize integrative medicine practices to enhance the patient-parent-physician relationship. She re-energizes herself by puttering in her garden and reading next to her dog, Tyler.

Cassie cannot wait to learn and explore alongside the 2023 HEART-ies!