Irina earned a BS in Biological Sciences with a specialization in Physiology and Neurobiology from the University of Maryland, College Park. During her time at UMD, she worked as an EMT which exposed her to a wide range of patients and sparked her interest in surgery. Irina is a first year medical student at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where she takes every opportunity to gain more exposure to surgery. This is how she became involved with research in the cardiothoracic surgery department under the mentorship of Dr. Bartley Griffith and Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin. Irina’s summer research project will focus on characterizing Perioperative Cardiac Xenograft Dysfunction (PCXD) in pig to baboon cardiac xenotransplantations.