Baldwin High School alumna Aakriti Neopaney earned her B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh, where she graduated summa cum laude with departmental honors. She now keeps the demanding schedule of a medical student at Stanford University School of Medicine: up early for classes, job shadowing, meetings, and endless studying. The rigorous career path she’s chosen is one she was inspired to pursue by her own experience. She explains, “I was born and raised as a Bhutanese refugee in Nepal. Growing up, I witnessed and experienced many health disparities, such as limited access to adequate health care, low health literacy, and a lack of preventive health services. From a young age, I felt the need to resolve such health inequities to provide better care and reduce preventable suffering in my community. This early experience planted the initial ‘seed’ of my interest in medicine, which was further strengthened by many other experiences over the years.”
She is driven to be a doctor who makes a difference. Neopaney shares, “While I do not have a specific area of speciality I am pursuing yet, I have a strong sense of the kind of physician I want to be. I envision myself as a community-oriented physician scientist, working closely with communities to understand and address the biggest health inequities they face. For example, the Bhutanese refugee community experiences suicide rates nearly double that of the general U.S. population. I would want to work collaboratively with the community to understand the reasons for this disproportionate disparity and develop targeted interventions to reduce this suffering. Rather than guessing what the community needs, I envision conducting community-based participatory research to gain insights and solutions that are culturally sensitive, trauma-informed, and grounded on the actual needs of the community. Regardless of the specific research topic or the community involved, this sort of work excites me the most because of its potential for translational impact in reducing suffering in other communities around the world.”
Her time in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District gave Neopaney a positive foundation that has empowered her to pursue her aspirations. She reflects, “One of the greatest things that BWSD did for me was accept me with open arms into its community from day one. I moved to Baldwin in the sixth grade and at that point in my life, I had never truly belonged to any country. Although I was a Bhutanese refugee, I had never seen Bhutan. And although I was born in Nepal, I was not a citizen of the country and did not have a path to citizenship there. BWSD supported me immensely with acculturation and integration into the social fabric of the country through a balance of support for cultural programs which encouraged me to be culturally engaged, and exposure to activities such as Baldwinaires, the Baldwin girls tennis team, and the National Honor Society which helped me feel like I was just like the other students and I belonged. I became an American citizen as a BWSD student, and BWSD has had an immense positive influence on the kind of citizen I am and aspire to be.”
While a student, Neopaney shaped her own definition of success rather than being dictated by expectations. She notes, “One of the biggest lessons I learned in high school was the importance of forging my own path rather than conforming to what others around me were doing. Initially, I felt pressure to engage in certain academic and extracurricular pursuits simply because they were popular amongst my peers or expected of ‘a college-bound student.’ However, I realized that pursuing activities that did not align with my interests or strengths was not productive. By focusing on what truly resonated with me, such as being involved in Baldwinaires, I was able to excel and find more meaning in my activities. I have carried this lesson beyond high school, pursuing longitudinal activities that I was passionate about and that left a positive impact on others around me, rather than just doing box-checking activities for my résumé. These are the activities that my colleagues, interviewers, and mentors have inquired most curiously about in conversations, and I believe they have helped me feel fulfilled and achieve my career goals.”
Neopaney encourages all students not to sabotage their own success with doubt. She shares, “Don’t self-disqualify! That is, don’t tell yourself that you’re not good enough and not apply for that internship, or try out for that role, or apply for that scholarship. If you have the time and the means, and you believe there’s the slightest chance of success, apply! Let others decide if you are the person they are searching for. You might think you’re unqualified but your interviewers/judges/essay reviewers might believe you possess the specific qualities that they are looking for. I can tell you that I certainly would not be where I am at in my career if I allowed myself to self-disqualify and self-eliminate from different opportunities due to self-doubt.”
