It seems like it was a given that Ali Sahimi would pursue a degree in health sciences at USC. His mother is a physician who works at the H. Claude Hudson Comprehensive Health Center in Los Angeles. His father is a professor of chemical engineering and materials science who holds the NIOC Chair in petroleum engineering at USC. As a child, Sahimi grew up reading science-related picture books and, as a teen, the many medical journals laying around the house.

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