Zirun was born and raised in Beijing, China. She moved to the United States to attend Duke University where she majored in neuroscience. She graduated with distinction and completed an honor thesis on validation of a conditional TrkB mutant mouse model to study epileptogenesis. Zirun completed her medical education at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University in New York, where her research interest developed in glioblastoma and traumatic brain injury. In her spare time, Zirun enjoys cooking, baking and decorating cakes, playing tennis, karaoke, and discovering hiking trails in the Pacific Northwest. Select awards and honors include Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society (2017), Graduation with Distinction in Neuroscience, Duke University (2018), and Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society (2021).
Undergraduate Education, Duke University
Medical Education, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stone Brook University