Fresno State alum 1 of 6 nationwide to receive a prestigious $20,000 fellowship

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Fresno State graduate has earned a prestigious fellowship to help pursue her dream of becoming a doctor.

She's not the first Fresno State grad to receive the award, but she did receive the highest amount ever given to a Bulldog.

Keyara Piri is a proud daughter of immigrants.

Her parents moved to the U.S. from Iran and she spent almost all of her life in Fresno, attending University High School and Fresno State as a President's Scholar in the Smittcamp Family Honors College.

Now, she's continuing her education across the country.

Piri is pursuing her passion of becoming a doctor in Baltimore, Maryland, and is now attending medical school at Johns Hopkins University.

"It's been awesome so far, so I can't wait to see what else they have in store," Piri said.

She's celebrating her new venture and a recent major award that will help with her schooling.

This summer, Piri was selected to receive a Marcus L. Urann Fellowship from Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

The fellowship provides $20,000 toward her tuition.

"I just feel like it lifts a burden off my shoulders and it allows me to focus more on what's important, which is studying and getting acclimated to the school and my new environment," Piri said.

The selection process is competitive.

First, the board of the Fresno State Phi Kappa Phi Chapter chose her application to forward to the national board for consideration.

Saeed Attar, Ph. D., serves on the local board and also worked closely with Piri during her time at Fresno State.

He says her application stood out.

"I had a gut feeling that Keyara's application would have a good chance of being considered," Attar said.

Along with more than 3,500 volunteer hours, Piri led multiple clubs and organizations and took part in research on prostate cancer under the mentorship of Dr. Qiao-Hong Chen while at Fresno State.

That hard work and dedication paid off as she became one of just six students selected from across the nation for the fellowship.

"It still doesn't feel real, to be quite honest. One out of six is a very shocking statistic," Piri said.

Attar says he knows Piri's future is bright.

"I hope that she will stay as motivated and as excited about her future as I am. She's going to be a fantastic physician," Attar said.

Piri says she's still unsure which specialty she'll focus on, but she's excited to explore all of her options.

"My overarching goal is to just become the best physician I can be," Piri said. "I just want to make my friends, my family, my community proud and just work hard and then maybe one day, even come back and serve the Central Valley."

Piri says she hopes this shows other Bulldogs, and potential bulldogs, that attending Fresno State can open many doors for their future.

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