MEET THE #PedsMatch2023 TEAM
The #PedsMatch2023 team is comprised of a group of dedicated future pediatricians from around the world. Learn more about them below.

Co-Director
Amy Renee Lorber (she/her)
Amy is originally from Portland, Oregon and currently attends Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She is passionate about career development and medical education. Her current interests include general pediatrics and genetics. She is passionate about advocacy for both patients and providers, equitable access to care, and immigrant health. Outside of medicine, she loves any opportunity to be in nature. She can be found walking her dog Ube, drawing, reading poetry, or trying to improve her Spanish.

Co-Director
Chiamaka Nwachukwu (she/her)
Chiamaka is an IMG from Nigeria and graduated from the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. She currently is part of the Youth Advisory Panel for the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health Journal. She is passionate about child and adolescent health, wellbeing and social development for young people of African descent. She advocates for adolescent centered healthcare delivery and youth co-leadership in policies affecting young people. She likes to read historical fiction and fantasy novels, travel and look at houses she cannot afford (yet).
Equity Team

Associate Director of Equity
Sergio Trejo Jr. (he/him)
Sergio Trejo Jr. was born in raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, but has called Reno, Nevada his home since 2017. He is passionate about preventive health, alleviating health disparities among underserved communities, especially those that face prominent language barriers, and most importantly as he discovered this year during his clerkships, Pediatrics!
In his spare time, Sergio enjoys playing his Nintendo Switch, reading manga, and traveling the world! He looks forward to starting a long rewarding career in the field of Pediatrics!

Assistant Director of IMG Equity
Diana Carolina (Carol) Largo (she/her)
Carol is an Ecuadorian IMG graduate from UTE University. She was born in Loja, a small city in Ecuador, then moved to the capital, Quito, to become an MD. She is currently working as a general practitioner and research assistant; she plans to apply to Categorical Pediatrics this fall. During her social service year, she served as a physician during the COVID-19 pandemic in underserved areas and acknowledged the barriers these communities suffer, particularly the pediatric population. She advocates for reducing health disparities and equality in health care access. In her spare time, she loves to try new food! (I am a foodie), spend time outdoors, dancing, and making video calls with her pet.

Assistant Director of URiM Equity
Whitney Nichols (she/her)
Whitney Nichols is currently a fourth-year medical student at the Frank H Netter MD School of Medicine in North Haven, CT. She was born and raised in Suffolk, Va and is the first in her family to pursue a career in medicine. She is excited to apply Medicine-Pediatrics this fall. From an early age, Whitney knew she wanted to matriculate into Pediatrics as a result of her experiences with her childhood pediatrician as well as her work in her community. She is a fierce advocate for those underrepresented in medicine and health equity. Whitney hopes to pursue fellowship in the future, so she can use her clinical and research knowledge to provide quality research and health care to patients with Sickle Cell.

Assistant Director of DO Equity
Kirthi Machireddy (she/her)
Kirthi is a 4th year osteopathic medical student at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine. She was born and raised in Maryland. Kirthi developed a strong love and passion for pediatrics from caring for her younger cousin with cerebral palsy, to simply loving being around children, to volunteering as a bedside buddy at a children's hospital throughout undergrad. She is passionate about advocacy, child immigrant health, infant development, and has interests in general pediatrics. Outside of medicine, her hobbies lie in interior designing, playing tennis, and traveling.

Assistant Director of LGBTQ+ Equity
Eduarda Casali (she/her)
Eduarda is an Italian-Brazilian IMG from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul School of Medicine, Brazil. She was born and raised in Porto Alegre, in the South of Brazil and currently divides her time between her hometown and Philadelphia, PA, where her family lives. She is passionate about Neonatology, Health Equity, Pediatric LGBTQ+ health and Developmental Medicine, especially Speech and Language Development. Since her graduation she worked as a Primary Care physician and participated in multiple projects to improve healthcare access in underserved communities in her home country while preparing for the USMLE exams. Outside of medicine, she loves History, and studying foreign languages. During her free time she enjoys cooking, watching documentaries and spending time with her friends and family, which includes her wife and their beloved cats (she is a confessed cat lover).
Public Relations Team

Associate Director of Public Relations
Snimarjot Kaur (she/her)
Snimar was born in Punjab and moved to New Delhi for med-school to become the first doctor in her family. Starting as a med-student at VMMC & SJH, to currently being a postdoc researcher at MGH, she is on her journey to becoming a pediatrician-scientist. Her academic interests lie in adolescent medicine, bone and metabolic disorders, and healthcare equity research. Being a trained Kathak and Bhangra dancer, you can always find her dancing to the music in her head. She loves spending her weekends cooking, reading, or tending to her houseplants.

Assistant Director of Publishing
Preeti Shakya (she/her)
Dr. Preeti Shakya is a physician and writer from Nepal. She is passionate about health equity and serving the underserved populations. Her overarching interests include health activism, health policy advocacy, clinical research, evidence-based medicine, public health, narrative medicine and medical humanities. In her free time, Preeti loves to travel, write, read literature and watch documentaries.

Assistant Director of Social Media
Nyqueisha Thomas (she/her)
Nyqueisha was born and raised in North Carolina and currently attends St. George's University. She is interested in pursuing a career in neonatology. She developed a love for pediatrics thanks to her mother's kindness and dedication to help teach developmentally disabled children. She has a passion for equity in healthcare, mentorship, and helping underserved communities. Outside of medicine she enjoys cooking newly pinned recipes on Pinterest, watching movies, and spending time with family and friends.

Assistant Director of Design
Yavani Kulasingham (she/her)
Yavani is originally from Toronto, Canada and is a recent medical graduate from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland. She is interested in pursuing a career in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. Yavani developed her love for Pediatrics through her volunteer and work experiences during her time in highschool and medical school. She has a keen passion for youth education, growth and development, especially youth underrepresented in STEM. Currently, she provides mentorship to highschool students across Canada interested in pursuing a career in medicine and the healthcare field. Outside of medicine, her hobbies include health and wellness, fitness, and dance. She also enjoys playing basketball and attending Toronto Raptors Basketball games (shoutout to the Toronto Raptors - 2019 NBA Champions!)

Assistant Director of Social Media
Lekha Karthikeyan (she/her)
Lekha was born and raised in Chennai, India, and completed her MD in Tbilisi, Georgia. She works as a global health researcher studying epilepsy in Uganda. She is involved in leadership activities surrounding animal welfare, menstrual justice, and healthcare for vulnerable populations. During medical school, she learned a new language to navigate life in a foreign country and served as a mentor for hundreds of international medical students. She is passionate about research, mental health for medical students, and health literacy. She has an affinity for writing, creating, acting, performing, public speaking, and spoken-word poetry.

Assistant Director of Web Design
Alexandre Castro (he/him)
Alexandre is a final-year Brazilian medical student and attends the Federal University of Uberlandia, Brazil. He has a strong passion for Pediatrics since his first years of graduation and has continued to pursue this direction with a particular focus on adolescent mental health, learning disorders, and neuro-pediatrics. Alexandre is also a technology enthusiast and likes to learn about digital marketing, photography and video production. In his free time, he enjoys planning travels, cooking and editing family and friends' videos.
Research Team
Webinars Team

Associate Director of Webinars
Zachary J. Kravetz (he/him)
Zach a is rising M4 student at Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine in Boca Raton, Florida. He is a Florida native and fun-fact, he was born at one of his medical schools teaching hospitals! He is currently serving as the Assistant Medical Student Representative for District X of the American Academy of Pediatrics and has worked on increasing awareness and training for medical students in child trafficking awareness and prevention. He is very interested in medical education and advocating for increased training in pediatrics regarding the social determinants of health. He also works with his medical school outreach program to teach middle and high schoolers about anatomy and disease processes. In his free time, he enjoys taking his dog on long walks, visiting his family (especially his grandmother who is turning 95!), going on hikes with his girlfriend, playing basketball, and relaxing while playing video games.

Assistant Director of Webinars
Zeva Graf (she/her)
Zeva Graf is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who is currently studying at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, PA. Her pediatrics interests include primary care with a passion for patient and family education. Her hobbies include baking, biking, hiking with her husband and dog, traveling, and exploring local coffee shops.

Assistant Director of Webinars
Benilda S Mercado Garcia (she/her)
Nina Mercado was born in Santa Marta, Colombia and living in Arlington, Virginia. She currently works for Johns Hopkins Community Physician in McLean, VA. As an IMG, she worked with and served low-income and underserved populations, trained in immigrant health care, neonatology, and P-ICU assistance, as well as minority health policy and advocacy. Within pediatrics, Nina is interested in neonatology or P-ICU, being a leader who can help other IMGs reach their goal of being pediatricians in the US as well. Outside of medicine, she loves to cook, reads a good book, and rides on her bike for the impressive scenes of the DMV.

Assistant Director of Webinars
Alyssa Ryan (she/her)
Alyssa is a Philadelphian (born and raised) and a rising 4th year medical student at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is ecstatic to be applying into the most rewarding specialty - pediatrics. Alyssa has a strong passion for mentorship. She loves to tutor children at the local elementary school, assist pre-medical students in their applications, and volunteer with Special Olympics. She also devotes herself to vaccine equity and education advocacy, including conducting a research project of her own. Her interests in pediatrics include neonatology and pediatric sports medicine. Outside of medicine, she plays in the midfield for a semi-professional soccer team. She also plays the piano and loves being outdoors, especially with her four month old puppy, Nash.

Assistant Director of Webinars
Glory Ayanda (she/her)
Glory Ayanda was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria. She recently completed her medical training at Windsor University School of Medicine in St. Kitts. She has an interest in pediatric hospitalist medicine and administrative leadership in medicine. In her spare time, Glory loves to blog as she owns one and watch lifestyle content on YouTube. She also recently picked up an interest in playing the violin.

Assistant Director of Webinars
Sabina Khalid (she/her)
Sabina is a rising 4th year osteopathic medical student who was born and raised in Massachusetts. She currently attends Lincoln Memorial University- DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine in Tennessee but currently calls Ohio her home. She is passionate about health promotion and mental health awareness especially in underserved and immigrant populations given that she is a first generation American. During her free time, Sabina enjoys hiking around the local parks, reading fiction books and trying out new recipes.

Assistant Director of Webinars
Tania Raygoza (she/her)
Tania Raygoza is an IMG graduate from Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, born and raised in California. She is currently working as a medical scribe in a family practice clinic. Her passions are general pediatrics and helping underserved populations, equity initiatives, and mental health awareness. During her “free time.” (rare times since she has twin girls) she loves enjoying nature and what it has to offer and reading fiction books.