Kiah Williams is originally from Evergreen, Colorado and earned her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at Dartmouth College in 2015. Kiah then worked as a consultant at ClearView Healthcare Partners in Boston for two years before joining the Stanford community. Kiah is now an upcoming second year medical student at Stanford University School of Medicine, where she is exploring an interest in cardiac surgery by working in Dr. Joseph Woo’s laboratory and routinely shadowing multiple cardiac surgeons. In the research setting, Kiah is continuing her lab’s investigation of how certain cyanobacteria may support the survival of cardiomyocytes. Kiah has been passionate about pursuing a career in medicine since childhood and is excited to continue working toward this ambition with the generous support of the AATS/Scanlan Family Summer Intern Scholarship. In addition to her research, Kiah enjoys serving as a Wellness Representative for her class, providing educational tea tastings for her peers as founder of the CommuniTea! initiative, leading the Cardiovascular Interest Group, and working as a teaching assistant for cardiac surgery skills and high school anatomy classes.