Cathedral student named to Congress of Future Medical Leaders

Cathedral Catholic High School student Rohan Loomba is making a difference by promoting vaccine education to help stop the community spread of the flu and COVID-19. Rohan, a junior at Cathedral Catholic, was recently nominated as a delegate to the Congress of Future Medical Leaders based on his academic achievements, his leadership potential with his school-based club Alliance for Immunization and his determination to serve humanity in the field of medicine.

Cathedral Catholic junior Rohan Loomba.

(Courtesy)

The Congress is a high school academic honors program for students who want to become physicians or go into medical research fields. The son of two physicians, Rohan has been interested in medicine since he was in the seventh grade and got the opportunity to intern at a radiology lab.

At Cathedral, Rohan co-founded the Alliance for Immunization (AIM) last spring to increase awareness and education about prevention of the flu, flu-like illnesses and COVID-19.

“Our goal is to remove myths regarding vaccination and provide data on how vaccination would improve the health of the community,” said Rohan, 16. “These strategies will aid in opening up the schools to full-time in-person classroom education and bring normalcy to the lives of the students. Our goal is to disseminate information regarding influenza and COVID-19 through easy access to vaccination.”

With AIM, he was able to supply 80 staff members at Cathedral with the flu vaccine, administered on-site at the school for free. In the coming years, Rohan plans for the club to expand the vaccination assistance program to other areas beyond the flu: “I believe that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure,” he said.

In addition to his work with AIM at Cathedral, Rohan also recently had a research paper published in “GUT,” an international journal in gastroenterology exploring “Virulence Factors in Gut Microbiome Affect Prognosis in Patients with Cirrhosis.”

Rohan’s nomination to Congress of Future Medical Leaders was signed by Dr. Mario Capecchi, winner of the Nobel Prize in medicine and the science director of the National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists.

Usually held in Boston, this year’s Congress of Future Medical Leaders will be held virtually on March 20-21. Rohan will join students from across the country and hear Nobel Laureates and National Medal of Science winners talk about leading medical research and get advice from Ivy League and top medical school deans on what to expect—valuable advice for a junior who is just getting started on the college application process.

Rohan and the other delegates will also hear stories from patients who are living medical miracles, learn about cutting-edge advances in medicine and medical technology as well as be inspired by fellow teen medical science prodigies.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Rohan said.