Rohit Aita is a Presidential Scholar of the Honors College, majoring in Genetics, and pursuing a Certificate in Computational Genetics. After being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2016, Rohit has been inspired to pursue a career in medicine and help make a difference in research, patient care, and advocacy. During his freshman year, Rohit was honored with the New Jersey Governor’s STEM Scholars (NJGSS) Fellowship to lead a team of high school students to conduct research on metabolic syndrome and inflammatory disease under Dr. Harini Sampath. He presented his research at the New Jersey Statehouse during the 2018 STEM Month and continues to serve as a NJGSS ambassador. Rohit has also been honored as an Aresty Research fellow under Dr. Michael Verzi at the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey, where he uses bioinformatic analyses to investigate projects related to intestinal epithelial expression. Recently, Rohit has become involved as an intern under the COMBINE clinical trial, the first to study whether Methotrexate is needed for pediatric patients with Crohn’s disease in supplementation to conventional drugs. Outside of research, he volunteers in hospitals and underserved clinics, serves as President of the Rutgers IBD and IBS Association, and is a member of the Improve Care Now Patient Advisory Council. In his free time, Rohit likes playing and watching basketball, working out, doing yoga, and cooking.
