Georgetown College. Georgetown University.

Tanvi Parikh learned how to conduct experiments through her work with Dr. Walker. (Courtesy Tanvi Parikh)

By Dayo Akinwande

When Tanvi Parikh, currently a medical student at Cornell University, was a first-year psychology undergraduate student at Georgetown, she believed that independent research in epilepsy and autism was exactly what she needed. She sought out Dr. Benjamin Walker, who requested that she do a “literature search.” When she replied that she did not know how to do so, Dr. Walker told her that she would have to figure it out on her own. It was then she realized that Dr. Walker was the ideal teacher for her.

“Even though I was only a sophomore in college, I was being treated like an independent researcher,” Parikh recalls.

Independence is a trait that Dr. Walker encouraged in her three-year experience working in his lab.

“Dr. Walker allowed me to design my own experiments and, most importantly, he allowed my experiments to fail,” says Parikh. “He then would discuss my experiments with me so I could figure out how to isolate the flaws in the experimental design and repeat the experiment.”

She also liked his accessibility, dedication, and easygoing demeanor.

“Dr. Walker was continuously in the laboratory while I was there. He was always there to answer any questions at all,” she says. “He's really relaxed and laid-back. He's happy and enjoys what he does.”

By working with Dr. Walker, Parikh was able to do research on the potential physiological connection between epilepsy and autism. Dr. Walker and Parikh used a GABA agonist, a treatment used for epilepsy, to treat rats with autistic-type behavior deficits. They found that the treatment with the GABA agonist curbs the behavior deficits, thus concluding that it may be possible to treat individuals with autism with epilepsy drugs in an effort to reduce the behavioral symptoms of autism.

Currently on a Howard Hughes Research Training Fellowship for Medical Students, which allows students to take a year off from medical school to conduct research, Parikh is studying skin cancer—particularly melanoma—at the Cornell-affiliated Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The fellowship allows her to expand her interests beyond the field of neuroscience. She plans to be a physician-scientist, doing research and teaching at an academic institution. And she credits it all—her subsequent accomplishments and endeavors, and her career goals—to her work with Dr. Walker.

“Before joining his lab, I was simply considering the option of a career in research,” she says. “But after the three years of working with him, I knew research was exactly what I wanted to do.”

Born and raised in Livingston, New Jersey, Parikh won a number of awards while at Georgetown, including GUROP fellowships (2002-2004) and the Patrick Healy Minority Fellowship (2003-2005). In her spare time, she enjoys performing and choreographing Indian folk dancing.

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