Ariana is a fourth-year student at Harvard Medical School who will be pursuing a residency in general surgery this fall. She graduated from UCLA in 2005 with an undergraduate degree in Political Science and French, intending to pursue international law. However, her post-graduate experiences serving in Northwest Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer and working for the non-profit, AIDS Project Los Angeles, shifted her career trajectory toward medicine. She completed a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at Johns Hopkins University. Since then, she has conducted longitudinal research on substance abuse outcomes, served as an HIV/AIDS counselor, and helped manage an OR recycling program. She is currently writing a book detailing the life of a terminal patient who she has been clinically following since her first year of medical school. As a surgeon, she hopes to continue her commitment to clinical excellence and become a leader in surgical outcomes research.