Whether Omeed Yazdani, ’24, ’25, is in the lab designing a prosthetic or researching cancer, he draws inspiration from Greek mythology — and treads carefully.
“When Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of healing and medicine, began raising people from the dead,” Yazdani explains, “Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt.” It’s a classic lesson in overreaching that Yazdani — as a teacher, medical researcher and future physician — takes to heart in his interdisciplinary approach to medicine. For Yazdani, the myth “shows the fine line between innovation without reason and the ethical considerations we have to think about as researchers.”
Yazdani wasn’t taught by a famous centaur like Asclepius was, but he does have a storied education.
Yazdani obtained two bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and bioengineering from the University of Washington in 2024 — both before age 20. He’s now in the UW Graduate School finishing his master’s degree in bioengineering and will graduate in June of 2025.
He’s received various awards and scholarships such as the Mary Gates Research Scholarship, and is a 2025 Husky 100 pick in recognition of making the most of his time at the UW. He also founded a nonprofit and is researching cancer immunotherapy.
Even though he focused on science and research as an undergraduate, Yazdani was also drawn to the humanities and pursued a classics minor. “Some people think it’s weird, but the classics and medicine are far more interwoven than people realize,” he said, noting he appreciates how the classics and medicine both involve diligent research and offer a nuanced view of metaphysics.
Yazdani was picked as part of the 2025 Husky 100 in recognition of making the most of his time at the UW. Photo by University Photography.
Yazdani’s love of storytelling and medicine will take him to Columbia University this fall for medical school, where he plans to focus on narrative medicine. This intriguing discipline involves listening to and understanding patients’ stories, something that resonates with Yazdani personally.
After fleeing to the United States from persecution in Iran, his aunt had difficulty trusting the American health-care system due to language and cultural barriers. Because of that distrust, she delayed seeking treatment and died from breast cancer. This loss inspired Yazdani to address health-care inequities arising from patient stories not always shared in the medical field. He hopes to one day create a simple, affordable and effective cancer vaccine for immunotherapy that would make treatment more accessible.
The patient-first approach to care is also why Yazdani created LegUp Prosthetics, a nonprofit he founded through a UW student organization called Bioengineers Without Borders.
Yazdani prepares an experiment for his master's thesis, which is investigating the effects of a potential cancer vaccine his lab has developed on immune cell pH.
"The classics and medicine are far more interwoven than people realize."
Yazdani recognized a need in global health care for children in low-resource communities with below-the-knee (transtibial) amputations. Many families can’t afford to replace prosthetics as their children grow taller, so LegUp Prosthetics designed a prosthetic with adjustable parts that accommodates growth to meet that need.
He’s excited about the possibility of closing the gap between research and practice. “A lot of research is removed from what’s moving on the ground,” says Yazdani about why he wanted to start this nonprofit. “I can give people what they need directly.”
What’s next for the double Dawg? After medical school, he hopes to return to the UW for a faculty position.
“The classics have really been great for me as a future physician,” Yazdani affirms. Asclepius’ story is one that modern medicine still benefits from. The Rod of Asclepius, which has a single snake wrapped around a staff, is still used today as a symbol for healing and medicine, Yazdani says. Asclepius’ myth might be a cautionary tale, but it’s also a lesson in the power of shared stories.
Story by Lincoln McElwee // Photos courtesy of Omeed Yazdani
Yazdani (second from left) and other members of LegUp Prosthetics presented the group's prosthetic at the 2023 Hollomon Health Innovation Challenge, where they won the $2,500 Jim & Timmie Hollomon Best Idea for Addressing Health Access & Disparities Prize.
