Howdy, y’all! My name is Francis Khuong, and I am an MD-PhD student at Texas Tech University Health Science Center. Outside of school, I serve as one of the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association (APAMSA) Region IX Directors. Before medical school, I obtained my B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Texas at Dallas and worked at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as a research technician in the Wetzel Lab, studying the mechanisms of internalization for Leishmania parasites. I continue to take an avid interest in Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), and am planning to continue focusing on them during the PhD portion of my program. In my free time, I enjoy playing games, hanging out with my cat (Nori), and fueling both my obsession with culturing and my stomach through baking sourdough!