I am a sixth-year MD/PhD candidate at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where I am doing my PhD in the Department of Global Health and Population. I will defend my PhD this fall—my dissertation is entitled Ethics Amidst Uncertainty: Essays on Global Health Priority Setting—and graduate from medical school in May of 2025.

I am originally from Arlington, VA and attended Brown University, where I completed an independent major in Human Rights. Before college and as an undergraduate, I spent time studying and working on development initiatives in South Africa. After graduating, I completed a two-year fellowship in the NIH Department of Bioethics, where I worked on ethical issues related to health research priority setting. I also write about other topics in bioethics and health policy, and co-host a podcast, Bio(un)ethical.

In my free time, I enjoy doodling, playing ukulele, raising two cats,  and tweeting lukewarm takes. You can reach me at leah_pierson(at)hms.harvard.edu.