Tejas S. Athni

Tejas Athni is an MD-PhD candidate at Harvard Medical School. Originally from Macon, Georgia, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University in 2022 with an M.S. in Epidemiology and Clinical Research, B.A. in Political Science, and B.S. in Biology, with honors and distinction.

Currently, Tejas is a student researcher in the Mordecai Lab (Stanford), where he investigates mosquito-borne diseases using ecological modeling methods, and the Benjamin-Chung Lab (Stanford), where he investigates the impact of climate change on health using computational epidemiology techniques.

Tejas has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as Ecology Letters and Developmental Cell. He is a recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship, the Coca-Cola Scholarship, the Neuroscience Research Prize from the American Academy of Neurology, and the American Statistical Association Award from the International Science & Engineering Fair. He has presented his research at public speaking venues such as TEDxPeachtree.

Previously, Tejas was a member of the Rohatgi Lab (Stanford), where he helped to elucidate a new biochemical mechanism regulating heart development, and the Joshee Lab (Fort Valley), where he investigated a plant leaf extract’s ability to inhibit glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) brain cancer, helped to identify the reproductive barriers of two medicinal plants threatened under climate change, and co-instructed research outreach programs sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture.