Medical Student
University of Florida College of Medicine
Yusuf Mehkri is a third year medical student at the University of Florida College of Medicine (UFCOM) with a passion for neurosurgery. He began his undergraduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where he studied Biology and Psychology. There, he conducted health psychology and public health research under Dr. David Creswell in the Health and Human Performance Lab, where he helped investigate whether mindfulness meditation can reduce chronic inflammation in the elderly. At the same time, he also conducted molecular biology research under Dr. John Woolford, studying ribosome biogenesis and specifically pre-ribosomal RNA processing events in yeast. After gaining acceptance to the accelerated BS/MD program at UFCOM, Yusuf began working with the neurosurgery department at UF. His basic science research, under Dr. Maryam Rahman, consists of translational work focused on improving immune cell migration and vaccine efficacy for the treatment of malignant gliomas. His clinical research involvements, under the guidance of multiple faculty members across institutions, consist of quality improvement projects aimed at improving health outcomes following brain tumor and spine surgery. Outside of his medical education, Yusuf is both a competitive powerlifter and community leader.