Renee Zhao

Renee Zhao is currently a medical student at UCLA. Renee completed her undergraduate studies in Chemistry and Biology at MIT and afterwards worked with Professor Sangeeta Bhatia at MIT designing a urinary paper test for early cancer detection. While at MIT, Renee began competing in taekwondo and became a member of the U.S. National Team in 2019. Inspired by her involvement in sports, she developed an injury surveillance program in collegiate taekwondo and worked on various injury and concussion prevention initiatives. While at UCLA, she became involved with ultrasound education research and the BrainSPORT group, where she is studying the clinical course of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and the use of rTMS as a novel therapy for post-concussion syndrome. Renee hopes to one day adapt her background into the field of sports medicine. In her spare time, she continues to train in taekwondo and likes drinking boba and trying new restaurants in LA.