In the third episode of Season 2 of Across STEM with YSI, we continue our conversations with the incredible speakers of STEM Quest 3.0, the biggest program we’ve ever hosted together with MedXplorer and STEM Up.

In this episode, Amirali Banani speaks with Sena Mekonnen, an honors environmental public health pre-med student and Morrill Scholar at The Ohio State University, as well as the co-founder and COO of FaceFrame, a health-tech startup developing AI-powered eyewear try-on solutions. Having recently spoken at STEM Quest 3.0, Sena brings a thoughtful perspective on what it truly means to reimagine healthcare through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Throughout the episode, Sena reflects on her multifaceted journey into medicine and public health—from early exposure to healthcare and personal experiences with environmental illness, to discovering how engineering, data science, policy, and design all shape health outcomes. She shares how exploring interests beyond a traditional pre-med path led her to environmental public health and entrepreneurship, and why systems-level thinking has fundamentally changed how she views patient care in America and globally.

Building on this, Sena discusses her work in nutrition research and health technology, highlighting how collaboration across disciplines leads to more meaningful, clinically relevant solutions. Drawing from her experiences in research labs and startup leadership, she speaks candidly about communication across diverse teams while navigating knowledge gaps and learning to lead without needing to know everything. While reflecting on her role as a Founder at FaceFrame, Sena offers insight into how entrepreneurship has shaped her understanding of healthcare innovation beyond what academia alone ever would.

Sena’s journey reminds us that the future of healthcare is not built in isolation. It is collaborative, it is interdisciplinary, it is deeply human.

Driven by intense curiosity and a willingness to look beyond traditional boundaries to solve the problems that matter most.

In the second episode of Season 2 of Across STEM with YSI, we continue our conversations with the speakers of STEM Quest 3.0, the biggest program we’ve ever hosted alongside MedXplorer and STEM Up, bringing together young innovators and changemakers in STEM from across the world.

In this episode, Amirali sits down with Yasmin Tarfi, a biotechnology and data science student pursuing her master’s degree in Strasbourg, France, and a former technology intern at Roche in Switzerland. Fresh off her impactful talk at STEM Quest 3.0, Yasmin brings a powerful and deeply thoughtful perspective on what happens when data-driven research and global health equity intersect.

Throughout the episode, Yasmin reflects on her unconventional yet inspiring academic journey—from a double bachelor’s degree in economics and languages to finding her place at the intersection of genomics, data science, and healthcare with an unrelenting drive to learn. She shares how curiosity and purpose guided her transition into STEM, and how her passion for cancer research and public health led her to focus on one of the most pressing challenges of our time: the underrepresentation of genomic data from underserved populations in cancer research—also the bulk of her STEM Quest presentation.

Building onto this, Yasmin discusses her research on genomic diversity and oncology, highlighting how gaps in data directly impact diagnosis accuracy, treatment efficacy, and health outcomes—particularly in regions like North and Sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing from her personal background and academic work, she speaks candidly about why inclusion in health research is not optional, but essential, and how profit-driven systems often leave entire populations behind.

While talking about her experience working at Roche, Yasmin provides a deeper look at the contrast between academia and industry. She reflects on what it means to work at a company that actually places patients at the center of innovation (unlike most companies in the industry), and how seeing her work translate into real-world impact shaped her vision for the future of science and healthcare.

Yasmin’s journey underscores a central message of this season: that the future of STEM lies not only in data and discovery, but in equity, representation, and the courage to ask hard questions.

A new year, a new season of Across STEM with YSI!!

In this second season of ASWYSI we’ll be interviewing the speakers of STEM Quest 3.0, the biggest program we’ve ever hosted along with MedXplorer and STEM Up which as of today—January 11, 2026—is still ongoing until next week!

Amirali opens up the conversation of a brand-new season of Across STEM with YSI with the brilliant Carol Warren Ornelas, a data science and industrial engineering student, neuroscience education leader, and creative entrepreneur from Mexico City. Fresh off her talk at STEM Quest 3.0, Carol brings a powerful perspective on what happens when data, neuroscience, creativity, and youth leadership intersect.

Throughout the episode, Carol reflects on her multifaceted journey so far through STEM, from rediscovering neuroscience through education initiatives like Brain Bee México where she now serves as National Director (the youngest ever!) to founding WarrenNexus Group, a digital marketing agency dedicated to helping ideas grow. She shares how curiosity, rather than credentials, has shaped her path, and why young people don’t just learn science—they question it, connect it, and transform it in deeply creative ways driven by their unrivalled energy and curiosity.

The conversation deepens, exploring Carol’s growing interest in the intersection of computation and biology, particularly in biostatistics, genomic data, and predictive medicine, and how tremendous these fields could be for healthcare accessibility throughout Mexico and the broader Latin America region in places like Colombia and Venezuela. Along the way, she speaks candidly about the incredible leadership and responsibility that comes with building spaces for youth in STEM–especially in regions where opportunities are limited or unevenly distributed based on factors like gender or economic inequality.

In one segment, Carol challenges the idea that creativity and marketing/communication through social media are distractions from “serious” STEM work. Instead, she reframes them as essential tools for accessibility and impact…bridges that allow scientific ideas to travel beyond labs and into communities, some of which may not have been exposed much to science before.

Carol’s story is one of initiative, of resilience, of intention, and being a role model for youth in her country and beyond, reminding us that the future of STEM depends not just on discovery, but on how we invite curiosity and empower young voices early on.

Watch the first episode of our new season of ASWYSI and of 2026 to learn more about Carol and all the incredible things she’s doing for STEM in Mexico!

Follow and rate Across STEM with YSI on Spotify for more conversations with STEM Quest speakers and changemakers throughout 2026 <3