Jessica was born in Plano, Texas and grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. She studied physics and English in college and was a member of the inaugural class of James Brown Graham Fellows, a scholarship that supports students to pursue yearly enrichment experiences. Through this program she studied and volunteered in Panama, Greece, Thailand, Nigeria, and India.
James is a resident physician in neurological surgery at the University of Washington. His career interests lie in neurotrauma and critical care. He is also interested in designing technologies that help both physicians and patients interact with healthcare systems. Prior to residency, James received a BS from Carnegie Mellon University, an MD from Stanford University, and worked in product design at various healthcare-focused startup companies. In his spare time, James enjoys weightlifting and photography.
Guil was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and grew up in New Jersey. He studied biomedical engineering as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University. During his time in Baltimore, he served as a design team leader and developed a mobile phone-integrated tool for anemia screening in developing countries, culminating in a U.S. patent and a seed grant from the Gates Foundation. He also worked in a wet lab studying the mechanisms of endothelial cell dysfunction during aging and atherosclerosis.
Maddie grew up in Western New York State. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school then moved to Baltimore, Maryland to attend Johns Hopkins University. There she majored in neuroscience and discovered her passion for medicine. She then attended Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio where she earned her medical degree. During medical school she gained her first exposure to the operating room and instantly knew she wanted to be a surgeon.
Rajeev Sen was born in Pittsburgh, PA and raised in New York, NY. He graduated from Columbia University in 2012 with a degree in biophysics. While at Columbia, Rajeev worked with Nobel laureate neuroscientist Eric Kandel sparking his interest in the brain. Rajeev continued his education in New York at the NYU School of Medicine. During medical school he developed an interest in brain tumors while working in the lab of Dimitris Placantonakis studying glioblastoma stem cells, which led to his desire to become a neurosurgeon.
In medical school at Harvard, Brian Hanak served as President of the Cushing Neurosurgical Society. Brian won a Congress of Neurological Surgery Student Fellowship in Socioeconomic Research to study post-operative ICU requirements after elective craniotomy, as well as an AANS Fellowship used to investigate NKG2D ligand expression in human glioblastoma cells following radiation. In addition to this lab work, he was the Event Director for the John Warren Surgical Society at Harvard.
Brie was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. She completed her undergraduate training at Oberlin College with a double major in biology and biochemistry. At Oberlin, she was a member of the Varsity Women’s tennis team. She then moved to Nashville to attend Vanderbilt University where she earned her MD in 2016. Her research interests include endoscopic approaches to spinal neurosurgery and the use of intraoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasound. Brie is an avid tennis player and golfer. She enjoys completing puzzles and taking long walks on the beach.
