Meet Our Team

Niloufar Khanna is a 4th-year medical student at California Northstate University College of Medicine. She is passionate about reducing health inequities and contributing in a small capacity to health policies that will impact the lives of millions of Californians. To better understand both biological and psychosocial factors that influence patients’ health, as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, she double-majored in Molecular and Cell Biology and Psychology to gain insight into the multitude of factors that can influence a person’s health outcomes, including cultural, socioeconomic, and other factors. She also conducted smoking prevention research with low-income and homeless individuals. From this experience, she learned of the barriers these individuals faced in quitting smoking such as housing insecurity, lack of access to health care as well as nicotine replacement therapy, and counseling. As a medical student at California Northstate University, in addition to her work with CaPA, she serves as her school’s president for the Health Policy Interest Group, as a Resolution Review Committee Member for the California Medical Association Medical Student Section, and is the incoming California Medical Association Medical Student Section CALPAC Board of Directors Liaison. Additionally, she has written 6 resolutions for the CMA MSS addressing a diverse range of topics including human trafficking, gender-affirming care, police brutality, racism in medical education, de-incarceration during the COVID-19 pandemic, and others. She has also participated in legislative events and met with representatives from across the state to discuss issues related to health care and health policy. She hopes to contribute in her own small way to policies that will improve the health and quality of life of millions of Californians and empower her fellow medical students to do the same.