Afia is a patent attorney with extensive research experience in the biological sciences, specifically in the field of reproductive endocrinology, obesity, and metabolism. During her graduate studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, she pursued research on the effect of dietary estrogens (Soy isoflavones) and estrogen on adipose tissue development, particularly the effect of estrogen on cell cycle inhibitor proteins in adipocytes (fat cells). Afia continued her research as a post-doctoral fellow at Joslin Diabetes Center, affiliated to Harvard Medical School, where she researched the endocrine and immunological aspects of obesity and type-2 diabetes using transgenic mouse models. During another post-doctoral training at Michigan State University, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, she was involved in a clinical research project on the implications of morbid obesity, low caloric diet, and gastric bypass surgery on innate immunity. Afia also worked at a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, Kythera biopharmaceuticals, where she designed and executed adipose drug-discovery experiments.