Sophia grew up in Milford, Michigan, a small town between Ann Arbor and Detroit, and graduated as her high school’s valedictorian. She attended Johns Hopkins University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on Computational Biology and a second major in Applied Mathematics and Statistics. During college, she also pursued her interest in Spanish, completing advanced coursework and spending a semester translating at a community clinic. Before graduating, Sophia interned at Medtronic, where she worked on computer vision algorithms for medical imaging—an experience that sparked her interest in deep learning and healthcare technology.
After college, Sophia continued her research at Johns Hopkins while earning a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in Imaging and Instrumentation. She later worked as a Data Scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses before enrolling in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MD/PhD) at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She is currently completing her PhD in Biomedical Data Science, where her research focuses on using large language models to predict patient deterioration in intensive care units. Sophia plans to pursue a career in academic medicine as a neurologist or interventional radiologist. She has published multiple peer-reviewed papers and is passionate about mentoring students, having volunteered extensively with youth programs and educational outreach initiatives. She is excited to continue supporting and empowering students through her work at Galin Education.
