About

What is AMSA ARC/UCD?

AMSA ARC/UCD is a partnership between the pre-medical AMSA chapters at American River College and University of California at Davis, committed to expanding the annual pre-medical and pre-public health conference, originated by AMSA ARC.

Mission Statement

The American Medical Student Association chapters at American River College and the University of California, Davis (AMSA ARC/UCD) are committed to supporting academic and admissions preparation for pre-medical and pre-health professions students; introducing students, underrepresented in medicine (URM, as defined by the AAMC), to a career in health care; effecting change in medical education, to make it more responsive to the needs of students and society; promoting involvement in local and regional communities; encouraging and maintaining programs that enhance the quality of health care in the community; and hosting the largest national pre-health professions conference.

The Pre-Medical and Pre-Public Health Conference

Over the past nine years, the AMSA ARC/UCD Pre-Medical and Pre-Public Health Conference has grown from a local community-college event, attended by 231 students in 2003, to a national venue, hosting some 3,277 attendees at the University of California, Davis in 2010. The conference not only maintains its reputation for being the largest pre-medical gathering at an undergraduate institution, but it also stands as the only two-day event of its kind, supporting URM students, interested in a career in medicine.

The unique character of the conference stems from the fact that it is entirely planned, staffed, coordinated, and funded by pre-medical college students, keenly aware of the challenges facing their peers, who aspire to become health professionals.

One of the key elements of the conference is the Deans Panel. During the course of this segment, medical school deans discuss their respective institutions – including admission requirements and qualities desired in prospective students – and take part in a moderated Q&A session.

Additionally, students are given the opportunity to select from 105 workshops. Each session is an opportunity for attendees to explore the medical school admissions process: crafting one’s personal statement, the pre-medical curriculum, summer programs, financial aid, study skills, the MCAT, career options, time management, and many others. Many of the workshops are led by deans of admission from the country’s premier medical schools, leading experts, and leaders in medicine.

Commitment to Diversity

The AMSA ARC/UCD partnership is committed to supporting and informing all California pre-health professions students and connecting them with high-ranking admissions decision-makers from health-education institutions. This commitment involves many ethnically diverse and socio-economically underserved students who are shut out of the mainstream professional school admissions process. Thus, increasing the number of URM students entering medical school and other professional health-related programs is an ongoing priority for AMSA ARC/UCD.

Conference Leadership

Board Members

Jonathan Santos
Co-Chair, Programming Coordinator
University of California, Davis

Jonathan attended Natomas High School.  He is currently on his Senior Year at UC Davis. His passion for medicine started when doing a school project at the UC Davis Hospital in his senior year in high school. Shortly after, he enrolled in American River College and enrolled into the pre-med path. His main goal is attend to a medical school in California and eventually become a practicing physician. He’s currently taking classes to complete his lower-level undergraduate requirements for a bachelor’ degree in economics and NPB as well as taking his pre-med requirements.

He joined AMSA ARC on his second semester at American River College and is currently one of the coordinators for the Pre-Med Conference.

AMSA has given him many new perspectives in life. It has also inspired him to continue his pursuit of a medical career and increased his desire to serve the community.

On his spare time, besides studying for school or putting time and effort into AMSA, Jonathan races local dirt bikes races, plays sports with his friends and likes to train dogs.

When in Medical School, he plans to specialize in emergency medicine and afterwards work in an underserved community.

Mike Stout
Program Coordinator
American River College

Mike was born and raised in Sacramento California. He’s held various positions in Information Technology, while working in industries which include: retail, product development, recreation, and construction. At a point his career, it became apparent that the satisfaction obtained from his work came from the ability to use his knowledge and expertise to assist others with their needs.

While helping care for him, Mike witnessed the deterioration of his grandfather’s health and the struggles that his mother and aunt faced, while making decisions about their father, up to his passing. With a desire for lifelong learning, and knowing that he too would soon be making decisions regarding his own parent’s health, the decision to pursue a career in healthcare was the best choice.

Returning to school full time, Mike is majoring in biochemistry, currently completing his transfer requirements at American River College (ARC). Mike keeps an open mind, and though the end goal keeps him driven, enjoying the journey itself is just as important to him as reaching the destination.

At ARC, Mike served as the 2010/2011 AMSA President, where he was dedicated to helping others who share his desire in improving the health of others. Working on the ARC/UCD conference board allows him to do continue at a much larger level. This is Mike’s second year on the board.

Away from AMSA, Mike works as a Program Assistant in the Mathematics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) center at American River College, where he helps manage the center and tutor others in science courses. Mike sees himself always teaching at some level in his life. Also, in his spare time, Mike enjoys meeting new and interesting people, playing guitar, snowboarding, and striving for self-improvement.

Liza Anwar
Public Health Coordinator
University of California, Davis

Liza was born and raised in Iraq. She came to the United States in 2006. She attended San Juan High school for 3 months, and then it was time for her to start college. Unfortunately, she didn’t graduate from high school because she didn’t have enough credit. Liza started at American River college afterword, taking some English classes building her way up to start taking her science classes. She faced some difficulties at first due to the different school system. When she met with her counselor, one of the first advises she was given, was to join AMSA ARC. Truly enough, AMSA was the best guide. Liza learned so much about being a pre-med, taking the right classes, choosing the right major, doing extracurricular activities, and of course, being a leader and a role model. She took the first steps of being a leader by applying for an officer position. Being an officer was a rewarding experience as far as helping other students and being able to coordinate the conference. The conference has made Liza more determined year after year to pursue her path on being a doctor.

Liza is currently a Neurobiology, physiology, and Behavior major at the University of California, Davis, taking her upper division classes to fulfill her major requirements, and then graduate. After graduation she is planning on applying to medical school to finally pursue her passion on becoming a physician.

Brittany Derieg
Co-Chair, Logistics
University of California, Davis

Brittany Derieg is a student at UC Davis majoring in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior. She has played an active role in UCD AMSA since her freshman year, and is the current vice-president. Having wanted to be involved with neuroscience since she was 16, Brittany is now an employee of the UCDSOM Center for Neuroscience, working under Barbara Chapman and researching neuronal activity and development. Now in her second year of independent study, she is proud to have been a presenter at Neuroscience 2010 in San Diego.

Brittany has volunteered her time at many of the hospitals and clinics near Davis, as well as around her home in southern California. She is currently apart of the AMSA ARC/UCD Surgery Internship Program at UCDMC. Before moving to Davis, She received her Certified Nursing Assistant license after working at Victoria Health Center in Costa Mesa. She enjoys being apart of Student Housing, and has been a maintenance mechanic there for almost three years. This is her third year working as a logistics coordinator of the AMSA ARC/UCD Pre-Medical and Pre-Public Health Conference. After graduation, she plans to continue her passion for research and apply to medical school. Outside of her academics, she enjoys reading fiction, gaming, and traveling.

Peggy Cheng
Co-Chair, Logistics
University of California, Davis

Peggy Cheng is a fourth year Biochemistry and Molecular Biology major and Psychology minor at UC Davis.  Born and raised in San Jose, California, Peggy comes from a second generation family with parents who have emigrated from Cambodia.  Through their inspirational influences, they became her motivation to succeed and brave any challenges.  They became a constant reminder of how one can make the most out of available resources.  She has learned to have big dreams with a strong work ethic.  Her passion for community service began and thrived since she was young, encountering issues on gender roles, racism, and the power of youth.  She became a mentor, tutor, and activist before she knew it.  After dedicating over a thousand hours, the passion grew even larger to wanting to do more by becoming a future physician.

At Davis, she volunteered for the Alzheimer Specialty Clinic, the Surgery Day Surgery Center, and the Radiology Department at UC Davis Medical Center (UCDMC). She is currently the Pre-Med AMSA President of UC Davis, a member of UCD Prytanean Women’s Honor Society, and a Patient Advocate for Paul Hom Asian Clinic (PHAC).  With the collaboration of other patient advocates, medical students, and physicians, she helps the student-run clinic serve the underprivileged Asian immigrant population with free primary care services in the Sacramento area.  Peggy is also involved in research in Dr. Carlito Lebrilla’s Lab, which is known for its medical breakthroughs of ovarian, prostate, breast, and gastric cancer through analytical chemistry. In particular, she works with graduate students to build and expand a structure library of human milk oligosaccharides to benefit health and infant development by mass spectrometry methods.  Being immersed in the medical field, she plans to further her passion of service by attending medical school after she establishes her undergraduate degree.

Yulia Smolin
Co-Chair, Workshops Coordinator
University of California, Davis

Born in Ukraine, Yulia Smolin moved to the United States at a very young age.  She grew up in Northern California and attended Del Oro High School.  After graduating from high school, Yulia attended Sierra College where she finished her undergraduate courses and discovered her passion for science.  She transferred to the University of California, Davis in the fall of 2009 and majors in biology with an emphasis in neurobiology, physiology and behavior.

She plans to graduate from UC  Davis and apply to medical school. This is her second year working on the AMSA Premed Conference. Yulia enjoys planning the conference because it gives her the opportunity to interact with students like herself.  She hopes the conference will allow students to broaden their knowledge of the healthcare field and the medical school admissions process.

Minhaaj Qasmi
Co-Chair, Programming Coordinator
University of California, Davis

Minhaaj attended American River College (ARC) from 2006 to 2009. He began at ARC as an engineering major but eventually realized that he wanted to pursue a career in the health sciences.  After attending a few AMSA ARC meetings, he decided to become a member of the club and eventually an officer.

Minhaaj began attending UC Davis in the Fall ’09 Quarter as a Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior major.  He currently volunteers and does research through UC Davis. After medical School, Minhaaj wishes to specialize in Radiology or Emergency Medicine.

In his free time, Minhaaj enjoys socializing and meeting new people. One of the things he enjoys most about the conference is that it allows him to meet and work with new people with various backgrounds who share a common goal and direction with him. He also enjoys basketball, swimming, traveling, and backpacking.

Jessica Martin
Co-Chair, Workshops Coordinator
University of California, Davis

Jessica Martin has been attending UC Davis since Fall of 2008 as a Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior major with a Sociology minor. She was born and raised in Fresno, CA with her younger brother and sister.  In her spare time here in Davis she drives buses for Unitrans, plays lacrosse for the UCD Women’s Club Lacrosse team, and is involved in Pre-Med AMSA.  She is still currently deciding exactly where in medicine she wants to go, but has interests in both Family Practice and Geriatrics.

She has been involved with the conference for 3 years, first starting out as a volunteer.  Her favorite part about the conference is the ability to interact with various admission officers and physicians as well as seeing their desire to see everyone succeed in medicine.  She wishes everyone best of luck in their endevors and is greatful to all of those who have believed in her and had the patience to share their knowledge with her.  Have a fantastic conference!

Wendy Chou
Med Student Coordinator
University of California, Davis

Wendy Chou is a third year student majoring in Environmental Toxicology, emphasizing on Molecular and Biomedical Toxicology at UC Davis.  Wendy worked in a lab for the chemistry department and nutrition department. Now she is assisting research on genetic variation in plants and pollination. She was involved with the John Muir Institute of the Environment during her freshman year at Davis; she taught 4^th and 5^th graders about water cycle and water related problems. Wendy has done a lot of environmental outreach during high school, so she used to think she wanted to pursue a career related to environmental science. However, after taking some environmental classes at UC Davis, she realized she likes outreach, but she is not interested in studying pure soil or water science. She found out she is more interested in human health, and she likes to interact with others than just work in a lab. Thus, she decided she wants a health related career in the future.

She participated in Asian liver center at Stanford University; she learned about hepatitis B and techniques to promote health awareness to the public. She volunteers for the Alzheimer Clinic at UC Davis Medical Center (UCDMC), and she really enjoys working with the nurses and helping out the patients. She wants to become a family doctor, so not only she can help patients with their health problems, but also build bonds with them. As a Pre-Med student, Wendy’s goal is to seek for more opportunity where she can continue to learn medical knowledge, gain experience with leadership and patient care. Through AMSA ARC/ UCD Pre-medical and Pre-Public Health Conference, she wants to help those Pre-Medical and Pre-Public Health students to know more about the health field and provides information necessary to succeed in medical school admission process.

Mikhail Melnik
Med Students Co-Coordinator
American River College

Mikhail Melnik was born in Ukraine, but was raised mainly in the greater Sacramento area. He is a second year college student who intends to transfer to a four year university in the near future; his top choice being UC Davis. He attended and graduated Casa Roble Fundamental High School prior to coming to American River College, which he currently attends. He is majoring in science (general), but intends to major in either chemistry or biology, two subjects of science he most loves, upon transferring.

During his high school days, Mikhail volunteered at a hospital as part of his community service project. It was here that he was exposed to medicine and developed his desire to becoming a doctor. During his stay at the hospital, he helped out patients in need and medical personnel.

After high school, Mikhail enrolled in college and joined the American Medical Student Association at American River College (AMSA ARC), in which he is currently the Vice President of Membership. It is from AMSA that Mikhail has attained the knowledge he has of the medical field and becoming a physician: such as the medical school application process, life and learning in medical school, and residency. Through AMSA, Mikhail joined the Pre-medical Surgical Internship at UC Davis Health System, where he currently shadows surgeons and witnesses the surgeries they perform.

After being a committee member during the 2010 Pre-Medical and Pre-Public Health Conference, Mikhail applied to be a member of the board, which he was subsequently chosen to be as part of the logistics team. He is currently working on the 2011 conference with other board and committee members. Mikhail enjoys playing and watching basketball and football, and watching movies. He is also very self determined and one day hopes to become a surgeon.

Neda Mitkova
Design/Med Students
University of California, Davis

Neda Mitkova graduated in June 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior Major and a minor in Comparative Literature.  She moved to the United States from Bulgaria when she was ten years old and began attending UC Davis at the age of sixteen, with the hope of realizing her dream of becoming a physician. Due to a family struggle with cancer, Neda has become involved in various activities dedicated to cancer research, education, and prevention.

As the Co-Chair of the UC Davis Relay For Life 2010, Neda helped organize a 24-hour event which focuses on celebrating cancer survivors, remembering those lost to the disease, and fighting back by raising funds for the American Cancer Society. Her passion for helping cancer patients through their struggle has led her to take part in clinical research focusing on delineating side-effects of common breast cancer treatments.Also, she has served as the Pre-Med AMSA President at UC Davis and Student Adviser at the Biological Sciences Division of the Internship and Career Center. Neda hopes that her efforts have provided more opportunities for pre-medical students here at Davis to explore their future careers, gain valuable leadership skills, and discover their passion for the medical field.

In her spare time, Neda enjoys painting, photography, travel, and various sports. Currently Neda works as a biochemistry, organic chemistry, and neurobiology tutor at UC Davis. She is applying to medical school and hopes to begin medical school in the fall of 2011.

Matthew Paranial
Volunteers/Fair Coordinator
American River College

The third of four children Matthew Paranial grew up in South Kona Hawaii where he graduated from Konawaena High school in 2000 enlisting in the United Sates Air Force in September of that year. During his six years of military service Matt traveled the glob serving tours in Korea, Qatar, and Kyrgyzstan in support of both operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Once he completed his enlistment in 2006 Matt relocated to Sacramento in order to be closer to his mother and siblings.

After a year of trying his hand in the work force Matt decided to pursue his education enrolling in American River College in the fall of 2007. Shortly After he began at ARC Matt discovered a passion for medicine and declared biological science as his major with the intent of applying to medical school. Currently Matt is still attending ARC where he is the Executive Vice president of AMSA ARC as well as board member for the AMSA ARC/ UCD pre med conference.   Matt plans on transferring to UC Davis to finish his undergraduate work “soon”.

In his spare time Matt has volunteered at the Mercy San Juan Emergency room and practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (though school keeps him from going very often and he admits he is not very good).

Angel Alvarez
Med School Fair Coordinator
American River College

Angel Alvarez was born in Salinas, CA and raised in Sacramento his entire life. He graduated from Grant Union High School at the top of his class and continued higher education at American River College. He was initially a business major for 2 1/2 years, but realized his passion was not in business, but rather in Medicine. It was his love for science and desire to help others that caused him to switch majors. After finally deciding to switch, he wanted to get involved in the community so he joined AMSA. Soon after he joined, Angel applied for an officer position because he loved everything about AMSA and what it had to offer. Angel hopes to transfer to UC Davis in 2011 where he will continue his higher education and major in Exercise Biology.

Angel is of Mexican descent and speaks fluent Spanish. He is the middle child with an older sister and a younger brother. He currently resides on his family animal farm in Rio Linda, CA that consists of many goats and chickens. He enjoys being outdoors and playing with his dog. He is also a huge fan of technology.

Angel dreams on one day becoming a practicing physician or researcher. Although he is not sure what type he would like to be, he feels that by getting involved in AMSA and getting exposed to medicine, he will eventually find where his true passion lies.

Husein Rashid
Packets/Gifts/Speaker Coordinator
University of California, Davis

Husein was born and raised in San Lorenzo, CA.  After completing his first year of high school there, he and his family relocated to Modesto, CA, where he completed his high school education as valedictorian of his class at Central Valley High School.  Afterwards, Husein began his undergraduate coursework at UC Davis.  He is currently in his third year of study in Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.  His major academic and research interests are in the design and function of biomedical devices and their effects on the human body.  Aside from a rigorous engineering course load, Husein also volunteers at Shifa Community Clinic.  Working alongside physicians, medical students, and undergraduate peers, he helps contribute to the clinic’s primary goal of serving the uninsured community in Sacramento while providing an environment where patients of different backgrounds feel comfortable while visiting.  He has also taken up a few projects in the clinic, including a chronic care project.  Husein is also employed as an Emergency Department Scribe at several Sacramento-area hospitals, where he works very closely with ED physicians to help increase the efficiency and quality of care given at the hospitals.

Husein maintains a very diverse balance between his pre-medicine studies and engineering studies.  He wants to help “bridge the gap” between engineers and physicians because he believes that it is a very important step in not only improving therapies technologically, but also making healthcare more affordable for those who need it most.  In his free time, Husein enjoys playing soccer, traveling to new places, and reading books that are not textbooks.

Marianne So
Workshops
University of California, Davis

Marianne So is a third year Environmental Toxicology major and Neuroscience minor at UC Davis. She believes there is still much to learn about the nature and mechanism of toxicants on living organisms and hopes to bring a unique perspective to medicine informed by her studies. Her past volunteer experiences include interning at UC Davis Medical Center (UCDMC), UC Davis Children’s Hospital, MIND Institute, and Sutter Davis Hospital. After an exhilarating summer spent in the UCDMC Operating Room, Marianne was inspired to pursue a life dedicated to healing and the eradication of health disparities.

As a current college student, Marianne remembers how such a large undergraduate campus can make some feel like a drop among a sea of people. She hopes her efforts will encourage students to seek and utilize the plethora of resources offered to them. Along with being a part of this year’s Programming Committee for the AMSA ARC/UCD Conference, her other activities include serving on the UC Davis Pre-Med AMSA Board, where she helps provides more opportunities for students to explore interests outside traditional realms of academia and cultivate their passion in medicine.

Marianne also serves as the Public Relations Coordinator for Bayanihan Clinic, a student-run clinic that focuses on providing culturally and linguistically appropriate medical care to the underserved Filipino World War II veterans and the uninsured population in Sacramento. She enjoys her time at the Center for Health and the Environment, where she assists the Van Winkle Laboratory in their investigation on how exposure to lung toxicants alters normal lung biology. Marianne is interested in neurosurgery and upon establishing her undergraduate degree, hopes to apply to medical school.

Committee Members

David Patron
Logistics
University of California, Davis

David grew up in Sacramento, California. His college experience began at Cosumnes River College and Sacramento City College in the Fall of 2007. He started attending UC Davis in the Fall of 2010 and is currently a third-year. He is currently volunteering and doing research through UC Davis and other organizations. Last quarter, he served as a health-care committee leader for Davis Pre-med AMSA.

He has attended the Annual Pre-Med Conference for the past three years as an attendee and as a volunteer, and each time has found it to be insightful and inspiring. Now as a conference committee member, he looks forward to contributing to this year’s experience for his fellow pre-health students. He will graduate in 2012 with dual degrees in Psychology and Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior.

Stephanie Soderberg
Logistics
American River College

Stephanie Soderberg was born in Sacramento and graduated from Inderkum High School in 2009 with honors and as captain of her school’s volleyball team. She liked to stay busy by working, going to school, volunteering, playing volleyball, and being a part of various school organizations such as AVID tutoring.

Stephanie started attending American River College in fall of 2009 and continues being active by playing on American River College’s volleyball team. She is a biological science major at American River College and plans on transferring to UC Davis in the fall of 2011.

Fascinated by surgery, Stephanie Soderberg jumped at the opportunity to apply for the AMSA ARC surgical internship program. She was thrilled to be accepted over so many exceptional applicants. Stephanie enjoys being a part of this program, and solidified her desire to become a surgeon through this wonderful experience.

In addition of being a part of AMSA ARC’s surgical internship, Stephanie was elected as the Vice President of Outreach for the fall 2010-2011 school year.  She is excited to have a leadership role in the AMSA program and looks forward to working with the other officers.

Stephanie recently was a part of a research program over at UC Davis’ NPB department and is currently completing another winter research program with the Center of Biophotinics.

In her free time Stephanie enjoys reading, playing volleyball, and spending time with her family and friends. She currently lives with her parents, her younger brother Devon, and her dog Bella.

Scott Refugio
Logistics
University of California, Davis

Scott Refugio is an undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science at UC Davis and will be graduating in Spring 2012. Scott’s passion for computers seems natural for him being a Silicon Valley native. He discovered his interest in medicine through technological advances such as the da Vinci Surgical system. Since then, he has been exploring the interface where technology and medicine interact. With his background in computer science, he wishes to help advance the field of nanosurgery with a career in medicine.

Since coming to UC Davis, Scott has been a member of the Davis Honors Challenge and is currently working on a project that addresses issues in and out of Davis. In his free time, Scott has volunteered in the Radiology department at the UC Davis Medical Center. To better prepare himself for his own research projects, Scott has participated in the 2010 Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction with Silvia Crivelli from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The experiment involves the use of various analytical and prediction techniques to synthesize tertiary protein structures of any given sequence. In particular, Scott was responsible for the utilization of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center’s supercomputers to complete the various computational tasks.  He is also a research assistant in the Division of Pain Medicine at the UC Davis Medical Center. The study involves the administration of vaporized cannabis and finding significant neuropathic pain relieving effects. As an aspiring researcher, Scott continues to seek out projects in the field of medicine that can benefit from technology.

On the side, Scott likes to experiment by creating programs with the various programming languages he has learned. When he isn’t programming his next project or managing his time between engineering and science classes, Scott enjoys spending his time with family and friends. Particularly, he likes to spend his time practicing classical guitar and playing retro platform games with friends.

Nathan Margoliash
Logistics
American River College

Nathan Margoliash was born in San Francisco, CA, yet he grew up in Mill Valley, California across the Golden Gate Bridge. His passion for medicine evolved during the summer of 1996 at Camp Arazim Jewish Summer Camp in Oakdale, CA, where as a counselor he volunteered to help in the infirmary.  Every child he helped in and out of the infirmary that summer eventually kindled a secret passion to become a Pediatrician.  While Nathan was gaining his Associates Degree in Psychology at American River College, he felt intimidated by the Calculus and the Chemistry involved to become a pediatrician, so he turned his pursuits towards Music Therapy.  After Nathan finished his lower division coursework in Psychology, he decided to take a 2 year break from school.  While interviewing for a position as youth program director at Congregation Beth Shalom in Sacramento, Nathan was reminded of his passion for pediatrics.  He decided to conquer his fear of math and science, abandon his pursuits of Music Therapy and return to his original passion of Pediatrics, except, not so secret this time.

Nathan is currently attending American River College in order to complete his lower division pre-Medical School coursework.  After American River College he plans on transferring to Sacramento State University in order to complete his upper division pre-Medical coursework, take the MCAT, gain his Bachelor’s Degree in Child Psychology and eventually gain admission to a California medical school.

Aside from furthering his passion for Pediatrics, being an officer for AMSA ARC, work and school, during Nathan’s spare time he enjoys swing dancing at Midtown Stomp in Sacramento, CA on Friday Nights, blues/west coast dancing and DJing at The Firehouse Five Dance Studio on Sunday nights, music editing, cooking, writing lyrics/composing music, singing, playing guitar, playing piano, writing poetry, bike riding, hiking and amateur voice acting.

Kristi Martinez
Logistics
American River College

Kristi Martinez was born in Sacramento in 1991. Raised primarily by her mother and step-father, she is of Costa Rican and Mexican descent and takes pride in her culture by participating in different celebrations through her church. She is inspired to one day travel out to her mother’s home in Costa Rica and help aid the citizens in need. She enjoys traveling to San Jose, Costa Rica during the summer vacation to visit her extended family. Kristi hopes to gain a better knowledge of medicine in many places around the world in order to broaden her scope of today’s treatments and methods for patients.

Throughout her youth, she became actively involved with her community by attending church, meeting new people, and competing in different sports. Her main hobby was spent in the water where she committed up to 10 years competitively swimming with the sports club nearby her school. She enjoys music just as much and has been involved in church and high school choirs, singing in different music clubs, and playing and writing music on the guitar. In 2009, Kristi graduated from Loretto High School where she swam for their Varsity swim team all four years with her classmates, participated and lead different clubs; making friendships and gaining skills. At age 15 and nearly half way into her sophomore year, Kristi quickly found her first job working at the local ice cream parlor nearby her home. She has kept a job ever since working for the State of California as a Student Assistant and a customer service employee for Jack’s Urban Eats.

She quickly found her passion after becoming involved with her community by volunteering at Kaiser Permanente. She worked hard to help those in need and learned more about the everyday life of doctors and nurses and the facilities in which they work. Kristi is majoring in Biological Science at American River College where she is working to complete her lower division courses before applying to UCD in the fall of 2011 in hopes to start her upper division classes in Davis by the fall 2012.

Angela Jeffreys
Logistics
University of California, Davis

Angela Jeffreys is from San Francisco and attended Lowell High School. She transferred to UC Davis after attending City College of San Francisco, Pierce College in Los Angeles, American River College and Sacramento City College. Her major is Science and Technology Studies, and she especially enjoys studying the history of science. Although she always wanted to be a doctor as a child, it wasn’t until her mother spent a lot of time in hospitals before passing away from breast cancer in 2006 that it became a concrete goal. She is interested in possibly going into emergency medicine or infectious disease after medical school.

Angela is currently a Biological Sciences tutor at the Student Academic Success Center at UC Davis and is participating in a clinical internship at Sutter General in Sacramento for the Emergency Department. She is involved with research as a member of the pediatric cardiac surgery stem cell team at the Institute for Regenerative Cures on the UC Davis Sacramento Campus. She is also a member of the Prytanean Women’s Honor Society, the oldest women’s honor society in the United States.

Christine Ho
Programming
University of California, Davis

Born in Oakland and raised in San Ramon, California, Christine Ho is currently a second year undergraduate double majoring in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, and Music.  Christine’s fascination with medicine began early in High School where she volunteered and worked with a nutritionist at the local Medical Center in San Ramon for three years. Since then, she has dedicated most of her time to studying the sciences. She attended the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine LA during the summer of 2008 and only found herself more so interested in the medical field. Her fascination with medicine only proved to be stronger in college where she interned at a physical therapy site.

She is currently an intern for Neuroimmunology at UCDMC where she works with her research coordinators on clinical studies for Multiple Sclerosis. Christine is particularly interested in internal medicine and has hopes of attending medical school specializing in either Rheumatology or Neurology.

Not only is Christine interested in medicine, but she also loves music. She hopes to be able to expand her musical career as well. In her spare time, she enjoys playing the piano, reading, and spending time with her family and friends.

Isaiah Roggow
Programming
University of California, Davis

Isaiah was born in a small town in northern Michigan. Right after high school he joined the Navy to serve his country in which he spent ten years. Having fulfilled his purpose and mission in the Navy, he moved out to California and attended Canada College to fulfill his lower division requirements and transferred to UC Davis where he is currently pursuing a degree in nutrition science at UC Davis.  He then plans to head on to medical school with a desire to focus on primary care.

He has a passion for working with the underserved Latino and homeless population while an undergrad and has a fierce desire to work with these populations as a family care physician.

Anugeet Aujla
Programming
University of California, Davis

Anugeet Aujla is a transfer student at UC Davis, majoring in Biological Sciences and minoring in Management and Technology. She is originally from India and has recently immigrated to United States. She is currently involved in a research project, where she studies the changes in neurons of the auditory pathway in aging primates. Apart from her research, she is also passionate about serving the community through volunteer activities. In the past, she has been engaged in serving the underserved communities in addition to teaching at the Institute for Blind in India. Anugeet has also volunteered at a post-surgical health center for two years, where her constant interactions with the patients embedded in her an ambition to specialize in neurosurgery. She is an active volunteer at the UCD Medical Center, in the radiology department. She enjoys volunteering at the after school reading program at the elementary school in Davis, because she thinks that she learns a lot from the children’s vivid imagination and knowledge.

Anugeet believes that a major fraction of medicine is spreading awareness about the medical advances in society, so that everyone can benefit from it. Therefore, in order to spread awareness about the diseases among the Davis community, she joined “The Voice: Undergraduate Health Journal” staff. Through this journal she aims at informing the student population and community about critical health and scientific issues pertaining to people in future. She is currently working on the “Haiti Initiative”, to spread knowledge about the current living conditions of people in Haiti and find potential solutions to those problems.

Apart from academics and volunteering, she enjoys art appreciation, which had provided her with the opportunities to visit other countries. Her interest in art has also allowed her to publish her oil painting in the Intense City magazine. In the recent past, she has also showcased her dance skills in a dance show, while donating the revenue for a good cause.

Mara Couch
Programming
University of California, Davis

Mara Couch is a second year Pharmaceutical Chemistry major at UC Davis. She became an AMSA member during her freshman year and is currently serving as Co-Leader of UCD AMSA’s Publicity Committee.  Fueled by her positive experience as a volunteer for AMSA ARC/UCD’s 8^th Annual Conference, Mara is delighted to be playing a larger role in this year’s event as a member of the Programming Committee.

Born in Saratoga, California, Mara has yearned to become a physician-scientist from an early age.  She has invested time in both volunteer and research capacities to better understand health professionalism as a larger entity. Her internship this past summer at Stanford’s Skeletal Mechanobiology & Regeneration Laboratory afforded her the opportunity to work with other interns and post docs to analyze cellular protein samples. In this capacity, she teamed with another intern, gave weekly PowerPoint status presentations to department staff, and frequently worked unsupervised with sensitive gel electrophoresis and imaging equipment.  Mara hopes to continue undergraduate research under the direction of a faculty member during her time at UC Davis.

Ultimately, Mara seeks to attend medical school in order to become a family physician in service of disadvantaged communities. Until then, she intends to approach her culminating years at UC Davis with curiosity, enthusiasm, and dedication in order to attain the best possible preparation for her intended professional path.

Jorge Hernandez III
Programming
University of California, Davis

Jorge Hernandez III grew up in Vallejo California, where he is the youngest of four children. He has two brothers and a twin sister Melissa that he is very close to. Jorge is of Mexican & Italian descent and speaks fluent Spanish. He graduated from Dr. James J. Hogan High School in 2004.  Jorge began pursuing his career goals by attending Los Medanos Community College in Pittsburg, Ca. It was there, he obtained his Emergency Medical Technican-1 training.  After spending some time working in that field he was determined to further his education. Jorge then enrolled at Solano Community College in Fairfield, Ca.  At Solano he majored in Biology and was also very active in the MESA program (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) as well as EPIC. (Every person Is Connected).  He attended the MESA Leadership retreat in 2009, and was involve d in SACNAS. (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) He was awarded the Travel Scholarship to attend the SACNAS National Conference that year, which was held in Dallas, Texas. Jorge was among a group of six students selected at Solano for the Biodiesel Research Academy. Jorge graduated from Solano Community College May 2010 with honors.  He know holds an Associate Science degree in Biology, Chemistry  as well as an  Associate Arts degree in General Science, and Liberal Arts.

Jorge is happy to continue his education as a new transfer student at UC Davis where he is Double Majoring in Environmental Toxicology emphasis in Medicine as well as Chicano Studies.

In his spare time he enjoys reading, exercising, playing guitar in a band with his older brother, or hanging out with his close friends.

Jorge plans to graduate Davis in 2012, and plans to attend Medical School and one day become a practicing Transplant Surgeon.

Lee Lankford
Programming
California State University, Sacramento

Lee Lankford is a 25 year old recent graduate of CSU Sacramento as well as a full-time employee at the Java City corporate warehouse in Natomas.  In his free time he enjoys playing guitar, spending time with his girlfriend Jessica, friends, and family, as well as reading.  Lee was born in Sacramento and grew up in a town just south of there called Elk Grove, where he attended elementary school through high school before moving into Sacramento to attend college.  Growing up in Elk Grove helped shape Lee into the person he is today.  During his elementary through high school years he spent most of his time playing various sports such as baseball, soccer, and football.

In 2006 Lee attended the International Scholar Laureate Program Delegation on Medicine in China, which was an educational trip throughout many areas of China where he was given basic classes on the Chinese health care system as well as various forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine.  This trip not only developed in Lee a great enjoyment in traveling, but also was his first step in deciding to dedicate his life to becoming a physician.  Since this time Lee has steadily put forth great effort to continue to grow academically and as a full-time employee.  He has also devoted over 120 hours as a volunteer at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento, as well as maintained an active role in the UC Davis Dept. of Surgery Pre-Medical Surgical Internship, both as an intern as well as a Student Outreach Coordinator.

Currently, he is pursing admission to a graduate program at CSU Sacramento and is hoping to continue his journey on to medical school once obtaining a Master’s degree.

Jonathan Mai
Programming
University of California, Davis

Jonathan Mai has studied at De Anza Community College as a biological sciences major. For three years  he has worked with fellow students on campus as member of the student senate, a biology and chemistry tutor for the Math Science Resource Center, and as a supplemental instructor for the Student Success Center.

In his spare time, Jonathan volunteers for local events including helping out in the kitchen for project Open Hand in San Francisco and mentoring community members with studying for their GED.

The tremendous encouragement and guidance from his general biology and chemistry professors at De Anza have nurtured his fascination with science very early in his studies. He will continue his undergraduate studies at University of California Davis as a cell biology major where he will hope to eventually enter the field of medicine.

Karine Reustle
Programming
California State University, Sacramento

Karine Reustle was born and raised in Vallejo California, living with her parents and three brothers whom she is very close with.   She is a mix of German and Native American, as a proud member of the Oglala Lakota Nation.  Karine enjoyed playing competitive soccer and learning karate growing up.  She was selected as a Student Ambassador in 1996 and traveled to Italy, Austria, and Hungary during the summer.

Karine enjoys spending time with her family and friends, skydiving, and riding her motorcycle.  She decided to go into medicine quite by accident after flipping through a Community College catalogue and finding a certification course for Emergency Medical Technician.  Once certified in 2002, she began working in the field responding to 9-11 calls, and was hooked.  She has been working in the Emergency Medical Services field for 8 years now, and continues to enjoy helping people during their greatest hour of need.  In 2006 a call was taken that changed her life, and after that day she decided that she needed to do more to help her patients.  She decided to pursue a degree in medicine.

Karine has been involved in the CSUS chapter of AMSA for several years as a member, followed by service as the Activities Director for one year, and finally as Vice President.  She graduated from California State University Sacramento in 2010 with a Bachelors of Science in Biology, and minored in Chemistry.  Other certifications Karine has completed include her Firefighter-1 and Phlebotomy Certification.  She has worked with the Title-IX Native American Studies program for several years as the Medical Liaison, organizing and coordinating medical standby coverage for the Annual Vallejo Intertribal Pow-Wow’s.  Additionally she has also been involved in the 2011 Lobby Day Conference as a Legislative Leader in support of health care reform to a single payer system.  Karine hopes to specialize in Neurology or Neonatology upon completion of medical school.

Diane Nguyen
Bus Coordinator
University of California, San Diego

Diane Nguyen is currently a fourth year undergraduate at UC San Diego, where she is double majoring in Human Biology and Psychology. As a first generation college student, Diane gained much of her inspiration and support through her grandfather. Fueled by her grandfather’s painful, yet preventable and lethal illness, Diane’s passion for medicine and community involvement began to develop. Throughout the remainder of her high school years, she volunteered at the Riverside Community Hospital, mentored and tutored elementary children, and promoted physical activity through teaching tennis to middle school children in after school programs.

At UCSD, Diane has continued her role in the community through tutoring at-risk youth and volunteering with the pre-med AMSA chapter, of which she is currently President. In addition, Diane currently works for the UCSD/San Diego Kids Health Assurance Network and UCSD/Dental Health Initiative projects, in which she aids in advocating no-cost or low-cost children’s health insurance to low-income families as well as the importance of dental health to pregnant women and young children. Diane also works as an after school extracurricular program coordinator, where she helps to keep high school students in school by staying active and involved. At Palomar Pomerado Hospital, Diane is currently volunteering as an intern in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit/Critical Care Unit. Soon, she will also be training with the San Diego Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), so that in the event of a natural disaster, she will be able to better assist people in need of rescue or emergency aid.

Upon graduation later this year, Diane plans to apply to graduate schools and obtain a master’s degree prior to pursuing medical school. When she is not studying, working or volunteering, Diane loves spending time with her family, boyfriend, friends and two dogs. She enjoys water sports, tennis, snowboarding, camping, baking and cooking.

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