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This story is part of the . Our affiliated students and faculty share why econ matters to them, their work, and our world.

Priyanka Parikh laces up her shoes and heads out for pickup basketball with �������� friends every Wednesday afternoon.

“I absolutely love the game,” she says, before confessing that her skills are a “work in progress.”

While many people stick to their strengths, Parikh chooses to step out of her comfort zone and embrace challenges — even on the basketball court, where her 5-foot, 2-inch stature gives her game an additional hurdle.

“Sometimes it’s so easy not to do something because you already think you won’t be good at it,” she says. “I try to avoid that mentality.”

If she didn’t, she might never have discovered a passion for economics — and a desire to pursue a PhD and master the academic tools she says can improve people’s lives.

When she graduated with degrees in biochemistry from the University of Georgia in 2023, Parikh thought she would go to medical school. During college, she joined physicians volunteering for a nonprofit that teaches school-age girls about menstruation. It’s a topic that isn’t always taught in Georgia’s schools, and she admired the broader community impact of the doctors she met that went beyond treating patients.

Parikh’s vision was to earn a medical degree so she could help advance health policies.

That changed when she came to the �������� Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) as a predoctoral fellow. She applied to the predoc program because she wanted to explore life as a researcher but was unsure of pursuing a health economics PhD. After fully immersing herself in economic policy research, she realized she wanted to train as a health economist, but was concerned about math requirements — an issue �������� recently addressed by into economics.

So what did Parikh do? She leaned into her perceived weakness and signed up for a series of math classes her first year as a predoc.

“I was so worried that I would sink, not swim,” she says. “But the mentality among all the other predocs and my mentors was that it’s okay if you don’t know something because the point is to learn.”

And learn she did — not only that she is more than capable of doing the math, but also that her future lies in economics research. She recently co-authored her first study, a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper showing how tax deductions for medical expenses . Shortly after its release, Parikh met with researchers at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C.

“I love that I got to meet economists who work in government and are close to the policymaking world,” she says. “It reinvigorated my desire to pursue a PhD and make an impact through research.”

Why the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden?

Priyanka chose to be photographed at the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden on ��������'s campus. “I think the garden is a great place to find a moment of calm when I’m caught up in the business of work," she says. 

Story by Krysten Crawford. Photos by Ryan Zhang. Published in 2025.