After graduating from UC Berkeley with degrees in MCB and Spanish, Pema worked in the Kajimura Lab at UCSF studying brown fat metabolism, then in the Boyer Lab at MIT studying cardiac regeneration. She joined the MIT Biology Program in 2021 and Bioelectronics in 2022. Currently, she is studying the role of the gut-brain axis in opioid addiction. Outside of lab, she enjoys skiing, going to concerts, and making/eating dumplings.