She received her undergraduate and medical school training at George Washington University in Washington D.C.. It was here that she trained at four large area hospitals, including the National Institutes of Health and George Washington University Hospital. As a sophomore in college, Dr. Payman was admitted to the early selection medical school program at George Washington University, which preselects highly qualified applicants in their sophomore year of college based on their scholastic and research achievements. She completed her residency program in 2008 at George Washington University, and relocated to Atlanta, Georgia where she practiced outpatient internal medicine at Emory University, and was an instructor in clinical medicine teaching medical students.