Alumni Testimonials
Meet Adriana Tinajero
Adriana was part of the 2026 KHILP Cohort and is now beginning her first year at UCLA.
My name is Adriana Tinajero. I come from a low-income household and have seven siblings. My parents immigrated from Mexico at the age of 22 and have now lived in the U.S. for 32 years. My family has faced countless barriers within the healthcare system. For example, my dad endures many sleepless nights due to chronic pain, and my mom struggles with whether or not to go to the hospital because she fears healthcare workers will not understand her. However, the hardest medical challenge my family has faced is my sister’s kidney failure. At a young age, she had to stay in the hospital for an extended period and undergo treatment. She continued receiving treatment for eight years, but my mom would constantly hear the same message from doctors: “Es algo con sus riñones,” yet none of the doctors fully explained what was wrong. My mother spent endless days worrying about my sister’s health and prayed for her recovery. The language barrier and educational gaps in the healthcare system are critical challenges for medical workers to understand. This experience with my family is one of the key reasons I want to enter the medical field.
I am from the San Fernando Valley, where there is a lack of resources regarding the dangers of chronic kidney disease. The topic of kidney health is rarely discussed. The San Fernando Valley is largely a Hispanic community, an ethnic group that faces significant health issues such as hypertension and diabetes. I joined the Kidney Health Innovation Program (KHILP) to gain a better understanding of kidney health and prevention, not only to help my family but also to support my community. The KHILP program empowered me to deliver a presentation on kidney health and the dangers of chronic kidney disease. I joined the program knowing very little about kidneys or kidney disease. As a result, I gained valuable knowledge, improved my time management, leadership, and active communication skills while collaborating with my cohort. Most importantly, I received mentorship from UCLA Bruins who were open and welcoming, answering many questions about school and life advice. Now, as an incoming UCLA Bruin myself, I can confidently say this program prepared me for college life. The rigorous, fast-paced lectures, coursework, and independence gave me insight into college readiness. One memorable moment was during our last meeting when Dr. Rastogi said, “Just do what you love, and you’ll always be successful.” That powerful advice stayed with me and is exactly why I would recommend everyone to apply to this program, it not only teaches you about kidney health but also inspires you to follow your passion.
Meet Suvan Yerramilli
Suvan participated in KHILP during high school, and he is now co-director of the program as a member of the Bruin Beans Health Club.
When I first joined the Kidney Health Innovation and Leadership Program (KHILP) at UCLA, I was honestly at a point where I had no idea what I wanted to do with my future. I knew I was interested in healthcare, but that was about it. Medicine felt so broad and overwhelming, and I remember feeling intimidated by how many different paths there were and how everyone else seemed to already have everything figured out. I joined KHILP mostly because I was looking for some kind of direction, but I didn’t realize at the time that it would end up becoming the starting point for so much of my growth.
From the very first few sessions, KHILP exposed me to an entirely different side of healthcare than I had ever seen before. We weren’t just learning random facts or memorizing information. We were hearing directly from physicians, medical students, and undergraduate healthcare leaders about their journeys, challenges, and experiences. For the first time, healthcare started to feel personal and real to me instead of something distant or impossible to reach. “Pre-medicine” was no longer some vague label, but a tangible thing I could pursue.
At the same time, KHILP pushed me out of my comfort zone in a really important way. Before the program, I was the type of student who would hesitate to ask questions because I was scared of sounding uninformed. I didn’t feel very confident discussing science or speaking in professional settings. But over time, KHILP helped me become more comfortable engaging with difficult topics, communicating my ideas, and being curious without feeling embarrassed for not knowing everything. Everybody was starting from scratch, and everybody was learning together. I started discovering how to think more critically, how to connect scientific ideas to real patient experiences, and how to approach challenges with more confidence.
What made the experience even more impactful was the people behind it. Through KHILP, I was introduced to the Bruin Beans Health Club at UCLA, students thriving at my dream university. The Bruin Beans mentors stood out to me because they genuinely cared about helping students like me feel welcomed and supported. They weren’t trying to impress us or speed through concepts: they truly cared about teaching, and it showed. Seeing college students who were so passionate about mentorship and outreach made me realize that healthcare wasn’t only about academics or careers; it was also about community and lifting other people up.
That experience motivated me to become more involved myself. After KHILP, I joined Bruin Beans and continued growing not just as a student, but as a leader. A lot of the confidence and communication skills I developed through KHILP carried over into everything else I did as a pre-health student. I became more willing to pursue leadership opportunities, speak up in professional spaces, connect with mentors, and take initiative in ways I probably wouldn’t have before. Looking back, KHILP gave me the foundation that allowed me to grow into those opportunities. It also gave me access to the most meaningful leadership opportunities I’ve had: this year, I’ll be the Co-Director of KHILP.
Returning to KHILP as a Co-Director has been such a meaningful full-circle moment for me. I still remember what it felt like to join the program unsure of myself and unsure of where I belonged. Now, I have the opportunity to help other students who may be feeling exactly the same way. Whether it’s organizing sessions, reaching out to speakers, or helping shape the direction of the program, everything I do comes from a genuine desire to give students the same sense of support, inspiration, and possibility that KHILP once gave me.
Sometimes all it takes is one program, one mentor, or one experience to completely change how someone sees themselves and their future.