Nirali

Nirali Chauhan has loved baking since she was a kid, but she got into it more in recent years when she returned to Chicago. She grew up in the northwest suburbs and went east for college and graduate school.

Chauhan became a medical student at the University of Illinois Chicago, hoping to specialize in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R). She suffered a traumatic brain injury herself seven years ago after she was struck by an SUV, and had to undergo a long recovery. She hopes to give others the same kind of treatment that she received at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, which had a big impact on her.

Baking has been a healing space for Nirali, too.

“I find baking to be meditative as well. So even though I'm in motion, it feels like it's a fulfilling type of motion and almost restful in a way,” Nirali says. “It just feels like it's out of your head, and into your hands. It feels so nice.”

Sharing her baking with others is also what keeps Chauhan motivated. Sometimes, she says, she gets up at four in the morning to bake something so it’ll be cool enough by the time she needs to leave. Her fellow medical school classmates, friends, and family are often the beneficiaries of all that hard work.

Citation: WTTW