Draft:Kumayl Alloo

Kumayl Alloo (Arabic: كُمَيْل أَللو; Urdu: ; Gujarati-Kutchi: કુમાયલ એલુ; Hindi: कुमैल आलू; romanized: Kumaīl Allū) is a Tanzanian-American qāriʾ (قارئ) and research scholar. Distinguished by his unique and melodious qira'at (قراءات), his achievements in recent Qur'an competitions have garnered both national and international acclaim.

Education
Alloo graduated from the High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College in 2021 as valedictorian, subsequently matriculating at Columbia University on a full, four-year scholarship. He then became the only student in his cohort at Columbia to have been admitted into medical school as a college sophomore—two years before the traditional, pre-medical timeframe. He is currently a student-athlete at Columbia University and a researcher at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in Manhattan, New York, with academic interests in neurodegeneration, clinical medicine, cognitive neuroscience, Islamic theology, and Arabic linguistics. He speaks English, Spanish, Kutchi, Swahili, Hindi, Urdu, and Gujarati, as well as Classical, Modern-Standard, and Maghrebi registers of Arabic.

Qur'an Recitation
A three-time National Champion and World Champion qāriʾ, Alloo's achievements in numerous Qur'an competitions— coupled with his unique and melodious qira'at—have garnered national and international recognition alike. Notably, he won the National IMAM Qur'an Competition in 2019, the National Al-Qadr Qur'an Competition in 2020, and the National IMAM Qur'an Competition again in 2021. Then in 2022, he won 1st place in the Global Iqra' (اقرأ) Qur'an Recitation Competition held annually in Ontario, Canada—becoming the first Tanzanian-American to do so.

He has since judged on numerous tarteel and hifz competitions and has been invited to teach qira'at and tajweed across North American madāris. In 2023, Columbia University's Islamic Center appointed him a Muqri'  (مُقْرِئ) and Mu'addhin (مُؤَذِّن), positions he continues to maintain. He regularly recites religious texts, delivers sermons, and leads prayers for the university's Muslim community as well.

Research
In addition to Qur'an recitation, Alloo conducts peer-reviewed, scientific research, centered mostly around neurodegeneration and behavioral neuroscience. His most recent works have focused on brain development and deteriorati on in Parkinson's Disease and Huntington's Disease—common age-related, neurodegenerative disorders.

Publications (partial List)
For a complete list of publications, visit https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&hl=en&user=4WMVvbIAAAAJ
 * Alloo, K., Blake, K., Dodd, E., Guevara, C.A., Aleyasin, H., Russo, S.J., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2021). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Parkinson’s Disease-Linked LRRK2-G2019S Mutation Promotes Behavioral Maladaptations After Stress". Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
 * Alloo, K., Guevara, C.A., Blake, K., Dodd, E., Aleyasin, H., Russo, S.J., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2021). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Parkinson's-Linked LRRK2-G2019S Mutation Alters Behavioral Response to Acute Variable Stress". Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
 * Guevara, C.A., Gupta, S., Tupil, A., Alloo, K., Dodd, E., Blake, K., Tielemans, A., Cummings, K.A., Clem, R.L., Russo, S.J., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2021). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg Parkinson's disease-linked LRRK2 mutation alters synaptic and intrinsic membrane properties following stress. Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
 * Guevara, C.A., Gupta, S., Dodd, E., Blake, K., Alloo, K., LeClair, K., Cummings, K.A., Clem, R.L., Russo, S.J., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2021). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Altered synaptic and intrinsic membrane properties associated with Parkinson's disease LRRK2-G2019S mutation following acute stress". Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
 * Alloo, K., Blake, K., Dodd, E., Guevara, C.A., Aleyasin, H., Russo, S.J., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2021). Subscription-required lock blue.svg "Beyond the Surface: Analyzing the Nonmotor Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease". Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
 * Dodd, E., Guevara, C.A., Alloo, K., Blake, K., Russo, S. J., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2021). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Investigating Weight Regulation and Stress Susceptibility in LRRK2-G2019S Mice". Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
 * Guevara, C.A., Swati, S., Tielemans, A., Alloo, K., Dodd, E., Blake, K., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2021). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Parkinson's Disease-Linked LRRK2-G2019S mutation alters behavioral responses and synaptic properties following chronic stress". American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
 * Alloo, K., Guevara, C.A., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2022). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Chronic Variable Stress Drives Similar Behavioral and Neuronal Activity Patterns in Parkinson’s Disease-Linked LRRK2-G2019S Knockin and Control Mice". Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
 * Gupta, S., Meman, N., Alloo, K., Dodd, E., Guevara, C.A., Tielemans, A., Huntley, G.W., Benson, D.L. (2022). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Impairment in adaptive down-scaling in striatal projection neurons expressing Parkinson's disease associated Lrrk2-G2019S mutation". Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
 * Guevara, C.A., Alloo, K., Thomas, R., Blake, K., Meman, N,, Tielemans, A., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2022). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Early and sustained vulnerability to variable stress in mice carrying a Parkinson’s disease linked LrrkG2019S mutation". Annual Neuroscience Society Meeting, San Diego, California.
 * Guevara, C.A., Alloo, K., Thomas, R., Tielemans, A., Blake, K., Magoti, J., Gupta, S., Magee, A., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2022). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Differential vulnerabilities to acute and chronic variable stress in mice carrying a Parkinson's disease-linked Lrrk2-G2019S mutation". American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Phoenix, AZ.
 * Alloo, K., Guevara, C.A., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2023). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Differential Vulnerability to Stress Duration in Mice Carrying a Parkinson’s-Linked LRRK2-G2019S Mutation". Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.
 * Alloo, K. (2024). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "رحلتي الى المغرب هذا الصيف", جامعة الحسن الثاني بالدار البيضاء, Rabat, Morocco.
 * Alloo, K. (2024). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Unraveling the Sociological Dynamics in SpongeBob SquarePants’s “F.U.N.”".© Columbia University Press, New York, NY. doi:10.7916/zv9e-g166.
 * Guevara, C.A., Alloo, K., Gupta, S., Thomas, R., del Valle, P., Magee, A.R., Benson, D.L., Huntley, G.W. (2024). Open_Access_logo_PLoS_white_green.svg "Parkinson’s LRRK2-G2019S risk gene mutation drives sex-specific behavioral and cellular adaptations to chronic variable stress". Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. doi:10.1101/2024.06.05.597647.

Research awards


For a complete list of research awards, visit https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/2761436/bio
 * 2022: WEP Research Award, Columbia University
 * 2022: Pritzker Pucker Research Fellow, Pritzker Pucker Foundation
 * 2022: Parkinson's Foundation Fellow, Parkinson's Foundation
 * 2023: PF Travel Award, Parkinson's Foundation
 * 2023: Trailblazer Scholar, Columbia University
 * 2023: Critical Language Fellowship, AmidEast Education Abroad
 * 2023: Global Learning Scholar, Columbia University
 * 2023: Flexmed Scholar, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
 * 2024: Saltzman Scholar, Columbia University
 * 2024: Named Scholar, Columbia University