Helping create paths of discovery

Meet Omeed Moini ’25, former undergraduate research fellow at the Flora Rose House and a clinical research assistant for the Geriatric and Palliative (GeriPal) Care Immersion Program at Weill Cornell Medicine. During his undergraduate studies, he was also a part-time caregiver at an assisted living community.

Tell me about an experience you had at Cornell that you love telling others about.

I was fortunate enough to join the Cornell Wind Symphony on their tour across Cuba in 2024, which was one of my favorite experiences I've had at Cornell. I rarely travel outside of the U.S., so the opportunity to be immersed fully in a different culture than what I was used to was incredibly exciting for me.

While I've been playing the trumpet for half of my life, the culture of the U.S. is not such that we constantly immerse ourselves in music and the arts. In Cuba, music is central to everyday life. It's for this reason that it was exhilarating to experience their deep passion for music and to learn about their approach to the arts.

We had many incredible opportunities while touring across Cuba, from listening and dancing with the folkloric group, Güiros de San Cristóbal, to visiting the historic city of Matanzas, and sharing our music with the Cuban public. Perhaps my favorite experience from the trip came from a chance encounter I had with a musician who spent a while jamming out with me and a few of my friends. He showed us how Cubans actually play the clave rhythm—which is different from what they teach us in the United States! Additionally, this allowed us to explore the nuances of improvisation in Cuban jazz, helped me gain an even deeper appreciation for their approach to music, and how deeply ingrained it is into their cultural identity.

What I learned most from this experience is that humans, no matter our backgrounds or political affiliations, are inextricably linked and connected to one another through the universal language of the arts. Though we separate ourselves from others by arbitrary racial, ethnic, or religious lines, we are all fundamentally seeking the same things: expression, connection, and understanding.

Describe an experience that inspired you to chart a new path.

When I first entered Cornell, I was determined to explore the field of developmental pediatrics, hoping to work with children with neurodevelopmental disorders. I wasn't expecting to develop a passion for working with older adults. However, my major in human development required that I take classes that cover topics across the lifespan, and it was there that I learned about the complex factors that impact the lived experiences of older adults. Ever since then, I've been hooked.

My human development professors were more than enthusiastic to help cultivate my interests and referred me to the Geriatric and Palliative (GeriPal) Care Immersion Program. Through this program, I joined a lab at Weill Cornell Medicine, which studies how to best support family caregivers of older adults with Alzheimer's and related dementias.

This research has been incredibly affirming of my interests in the field: I've met weekly with family caregivers through a health promotion program, pursued independent research projects with strong mentorship, co-authored a paper with a medical student at Weill, and presented my lab's work at a symposium.

Beyond research, the GeriPal program has connected me with dedicated mentors. We met weekly with Weill Cornell Medicine physicians, Cornell alumni, and community leaders in the field of aging. I even had the chance to shadow some of these physicians over winter break, meet with them individually, and gain post-grad job connections in the field of geriatrics.

Thanks to Cornell's support and the GeriPal program, I've not only found my passion in geriatrics but also gained invaluable mentorship, research experience, and professional connections to confidently pursue a career in the field.

Cornell annual funds support transformational student journeys like Omeed's. Learn more about them and the impact of annual fund donors in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.