Karena Yan joined the diaTribe Foundation in 2019 after graduating from Washington University in St. Louis with a bachelors in Biology and Global Health and Environment.

As an undergrad, she held an executive position in WashU's First Year Center, striving to make first year students' transition to WashU as comfortable and seamless as possible. Karena also spent two summers at the Stanley Center of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, researching biomarkers of schizophrenia to better inform diagnosis and treatment.

She is passionate about minority and underserved communities' access to healthcare, serving over two hundred hours as a volunteer at Barnes Jewish Hospital, Lawrence General Hospital, and Affinia Healthcare. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, playing tennis, snowboarding, and traveling.