Dr. Nairi Hartooni has been advising students on undergraduate, graduate, and professional school admissions for nearly a decade. As an immigrant who learned and navigated the U.S. public educational system, she successfully achieved admissions to multiple competitive, prestigious undergraduate and graduate schools and has garnered multiple competitive scholarships, grants, and fellowships. Having spent more than a decade in academia and academic consulting, including time with the prestigious Shemmassian Academic Consulting, she enjoys sharing her insight with bright young minds who need guidance in their application process.

Dr. Hartooni started her educational journey in Iran, where as a woman belonging to an ethnic group of Armenians, she had very little opportunity. After immigrating to the United States with her family, Dr. Hartooni traversed educational opportunities to advance in academic, career, and leadership pursuits. In high school, she received multiple honors and awards, including the Elks National Scholarship. Upon earning the prestigious Regents’ and Chancellor’s Scholarship, Dr. Hartooni attended the University of California, Berkeley where she double-majored in Molecular Biology and Molecular Toxicology. At Berkeley, Dr. Hartooni fell in love with scientific research. She pursued laboratory research, earning grants to support her work at the undergraduate level, including the HHMI Biology Fellows Program, and presenting her work at multiple local and national conferences. During her undergraduate career at Berkeley, she also started the Toxicology Student Association, a registered campus organization, and designed an outreach program called the Lead Education Awareness Program.

Dr. Hartooni completed her PhD in Biochemistry in the Tetrad Program at the University of California, San Francisco. Her work in the laboratory of David O. Morgan focused on the regulatory processes in cell division with particular interest in the enzymology of the anaphase-promoting complex. Applying single molecule biophysics, she developed a method to measure the dynamic molecular interactions of proteins. During her time at UCSF, Dr. Hartooni received multiple fellowships including the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and the Discovery Fellowship. She applied her knowledge in application preparation to teach grant and fellowship writing courses to fellow UCSF students.

Outside of science, Dr. Hartooni has a keen interest in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and she is a strong advocate for women in science. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and young son, and enjoys hiking, swimming, and gardening.