Arish Mudra Rakshasa-Loots (he/him) is a neuroscientist, educator, and activist. He is currently completing a PhD in Translational Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where his work is funded by the Wellcome Trust, with additional funding from the University of Edinburgh, the South African MRC Extramural Unit on the Genomics of Brain Disorders, and the Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation. Arish obtained a BA in Liberal Arts from Earlham College in the US, where he majored in Biochemistry and Neuroscience and minored in Ancient & Classical Studies. His broad undergraduate training lends itself to his versatility as a scholar, with academic publications, conference presentations, and awards in disciplines ranging from computational biophysics to postcolonialism. Arish is a recipient of the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, through which he travelled to many different parts of the world to engage with HIV/AIDS healthcare and grassroots activism. Arish’s experiences as a queer brown immigrant in the West have driven his passion for global leadership and his awareness of modern systemic inequalities. He is particularly committed to the eradication of HIV/AIDS, which disproportionately affects marginalised populations such as the LGBTQ+ community. Arish aspires to train the next generation of conscientious, passionate scientists as an educator and contribute to global intersectional campaigns to end the AIDS pandemic.