Vera was an undergraduate student studying Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology with minors in Biomedical Research and Global Health. She is a Presentation Award Winner for the 2020 National Summer Undergraduate Research Project (NSURP), a participant in the UCLA-HHMI Pathways to Success Program, as well as a consistent member of the Dean’s Honor list at UCLA. She did a master’s in teaching at the University of Alcalá in Spain. She is currently a medical student at the prestigious Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena.