Ansel Oommen, CASAC-T, MLS(ASCP)CM is a credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselor trainee, horticultural therapist trainee, licensed and board certified medical laboratory scientist, and graduate entomology student studying at the University of Florida with a specialization in medical entomology. His graduate capstone project focuses on the conceptualization of a novel form of psychotherapy that centers on the holometabolous life cycle of the insect order Lepidoptera to effect cognitive, behavioral, and affective changes in individuals and groups of people through their experiential rearing of butterflies and moths.

Check out this NYTimes feature on the way he used art and lessons from the natural world to cope with his own grief while analyzing COVID swabs during the pandemic, and well as his own writing about the process.