UCLA

Valerie Arboleda  Valerie Arboleda earned the Toffler Scholar Award in 2023 at UCLA Biography Valerie Arboleda was born in Los Angeles, California, to immigrant parents from the Philippines. Her parents were trained as physicians and moved to California to pursue board certifications and a better life. Dr. Arboleda spent the first year of her life…

Andrew Holbrook  Andrew Holbrook earned the Toffler Scholar Award in 2023 at UCLA Biography Andrew Holbrook grew up in Orange County, California, with an older brother and a younger sister. From early childhood through his teenage years and beyond, he’s always been an intensely curious person. He loved all the subjects he studied at school,…

Roch Nianogo  Roch Nianogo earned the Toffler Scholar Award in 2022 at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health Biography The middle child of three boys, Dr. Roch Nianogo grew up in Ouagadougou (pronounced “Wagadugu”), which is the capital and largest city of Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa. Dr. Nianogo’s father, who is a…

CATHERINE PSARAS  Catherine Psaras is a 2021 Toffler Scholar at UCLA Biography Catherine Psaras grew up in New Jersey. The daughter of immigrants, Catherine’s mother is from England and her father is from Greece. As a child, she spent idyllic summers in Greece, where she remembers eating figs off of trees. Both of Catherine’s parents…

Cindy Beard  Cindy Beard earned the Toffler Scholar Award in 2021 at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, Epidemiology Department. Biography Cindy Beard was born in Darnestown, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C. The daughter of two mechanical engineers, Beard grew up exploring and enjoying the outdoors with her parents and her brother. She credits…

Lara Yoon  Lara Yoon earned the Toffler Scholar Award in 2021 at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health Biography Lara Yoon grew up in Norcross, a suburb just north of Atlanta, Georgia. Her parents’ work in public health inspired her, and her eighth-grade science teacher was influential in her pursuit of science and research. Her…

Dr. Daniel Tward Daniel Tward earned the Toffler Scholar Award in 2020 at the University of California Los Angeles. Biography Dr. Daniel Tward was born in Toronto, Canada. Growing up, Dr. Tward’s family encouraged him to pursue interests in multiple areas, and he developed a love of visual art and music. This attitude was nurtured…

Dr. Ira Hofer  Dr. Hofer is the inaugural Toffler Scholar for 2020 at UCLA. Biography Dr. Ira Hofer was born and raised in New York. As an undergraduate, he earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Materials Science and a Bachelor of Science in Finance and General Management from the University of Pennsylvania and the…