Aindri Patra

Aindri Patra

Project Title: Diagnosing neurological disorders: a scientific and sociocultural approach

Project Description: My project will focus on gaining a better understanding of how medical
diagnoses are currently made and how to improve that process, starting with how physicians are
taught to make a diagnosis and how that should evolve. I aim to combine biology, data science,
and anthropology to study the physiology of disease, but also to develop a diagnostic system that
doesn’t ignore culturally relevant information about a patient. A diagnosis can irreversibly
change someone’s life, making its accuracy essential.

Most important achievement to date: Pending :))

Reflections on College Scholar Program: Research is always inherently interdisciplinary
considering how, in the real world, different fields of study always overlap. The College Scholar
Program allows me to study important research questions from a wide variety of disciplines. It
embodies the very ideals of “any person, any study” that drew me to Cornell in the first place. In
addition, the program’s close, tight-knit nature gives me the opportunity to learn from my peers,
where we can bounce ideas off each other despite how different our projects may be.