About Me

Welcome! My name is Avani Giri and I am a first year medical student at Sidney Kimmel Medical College. I attended Pennsylvania State University as a part of the accelerated 7-year BS/MD program with Sidney Kimmel Medical College. I have always had a passion for helping others, specifically in the field of medicine. My desire for a career in medicine was born from my personal experience with a chronic medical condition. In elementary school, I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a connective tissue disorder which leads to hyperflexibility, joint dislocations, and surgeries if there are repeated dislocations. Many times, I had knee dislocations requiring use of braces and long-term physical therapy, and I was limited in the physical activities that I was allowed to do. Throughout these times, my knowledgeable and compassionate physicians guided me through the physical and emotional pain, provided strategies to help me stay engaged with life, and supported me in pursuing activities that I love and that my body can sustain, like golf. My experiences with EDS birthed open mindedness, grit, generosity of spirit - and a deep desire to become a doctor.

My desire to become a physician only strengthened in my high school and undergraduate years through both volunteering and shadowing experiences. Specifically, volunteering with Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center to promote educational awareness about cancer screenings helped me better understand how in order to truly help a patient, the physician must work to understand their background and the resources they have access to based on the community they come from. This experience helped me further understand how there are various factors impacting patient care, and how the field of medicine is expansive, as it includes both understanding a patients’ financial capabilities and a physician’s background so that the highest quality care is given and received.

With the Community Outreach and Engagement Team at Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, I have volunteered at events with their mobile mammography van since 2020 to help educate communities on the importance of cancer screenings and to help provide cancer screening access to these communities. The work I have done with this team, along with the medical education that I have acquired thus far, helped me to further understand the importance of providing education to various communities in ways that are easily accessible so that they are in the best control of their own health. This approach can be applied to any medical education, not just cancer screening education. For example, providing education to communities about what a heart-healthy lifestyle can look like can help communities take stronger control of their own health by strongly lowering their cardiovascular risk. Cardiovascular disease is the number 1 cause of death in the United States, so educating communities about cardiovascular risk factors and what they can do to lower their individual risk can help spread awareness and improve overall health outcomes.

I strive to create initiatives, like creating awareness of heart-healthy diets, so that patients and communities are as well-informed about their health as possible.