Briana Martin-Villa selected as a John Gardner Public Service Fellows
Briana Martin-Villa (Bioengineering ‘23) has been selected as one of Stanford's John Gardner Public Service Fellows. The Gardner Fellowship is a highly competitive opportunity between Stanford and UC Berkeley. It allows students graduating to work in the public service/social impact organization of their choice with a high-level mentor for ten months after graduation.
Briana Martin-Villa is a first-generation Mexican-American bioengineer and daughter of farmworkers who grew up in rural eastern Washington. Her experiences growing up in a low-resource migrant household have greatly influenced her academic and professional pursuits. Briana is passionate about elevating community voices in conversations centered on health, identity, and the future of biotechnology. Since her sophomore year, Briana has co-founded and led an educational program called BioJam CoLABS (Community Learning with Art, Biodesign, and Solidarity). BioJam integrates bioengineering, human-centered design practices, and culturally-relevant pedagogy to reframe what science can be. Through this work, she has collaborated with Bay Area youth from low-resource communities, artists, educators, and Stanford faculty to create summer camps to explore science in a transformative way.
In conjunction with science activism, Briana is interested in scientific research to understand how to prevent and treat diseases. She has conducted extensive research at Stanford using biomaterials and stem cell technology to explore their application in regenerative medicine. By leveraging the power of scientific research, Briana seeks to develop more accessible treatments and advocate for policies that bridge the healthcare gap in underrepresented communities.
In her free time, Briana has volunteered as a Spanish interpreter at Stanford’s Arbor Free Clinics, which provides free healthcare services to low-income people in the Bay Area. As an aspiring physician-scientist, she seeks to create systemic change toward making a more just and accessible healthcare system. Through the Gardner Public Service Fellowship, Briana is excited to continue engaging in community-centered work that advocates for more equitable health and science policies. She looks forward to gaining the resources to explore her passions while positively impacting marginalized communities through policy and advocacy work.
