AAMS MENTOR CONNECTION

Yui Sze (Samantha) Cheng is currently a second year medical student at the University of Birmingham in the UK, where she is pursuing her MBCHB degree. She is researching with Mr. Richard T Bryan about prognosis and management for bladder cancer. She is also a committee member of the Birmingham Academic Medical Society, in which she plans national research conferences as well as other academic extensions for her peers. Samantha is also involved in supporting local students in the West Midlands area in their medical school application and related schoolwork. Her interest in surgery prompted her to serve as a volunteer for an cataract surgery trip in rural China as well as a teaching assistant for the academy for the past summers. Samantha is continuing to pursue her passion for surgery, teaching underprivileged children and participating in clinical research.

Lucas Cocco Delgado graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology and a minor in Government and is currently pursuing a Masters in Education from Boston University. His undergraduate research, in collaboration with Dr. Richard T. Lee and the Harvard Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department, has focused on complement receptor C5aR1's evolutionarily conserved role in successful cardiac regeneration. He served as president of HACIA Democracy, the world's largest Model OAS conference, and of the Woodbridge Society, Harvard’s international student group, before becoming an educator with Teach for America. For the last year, Lucas has taught biology and biomedical science at a Title 1 high school. Since 2016, he has worked for the Academy as a Teaching Assistant and Residential Advisor. Aside from these roles, he is very interested in student post-secondary mentorship and counseling.

Emma Jaeger is a pre-medical student at Stanford, majoring in Biology with a concentration in Neuroscience and with a minor in Psychology. A Bay Area native, Emma was honored as Valedictorian of her graduating class at Woodside Priory High School. At Stanford, Emma recently joined the Dr. Gordon Lee Neuroscience Lab, researching surgical treatments for glioblastomas. When not in the lab, she can be found volunteering at Stanford Hospital or planning Stanford Premedical Association service events. She is also passionate about philosophy and was invited to apply to write an Honors thesis under the Stanford Center for Ethics and Society. She is also a certified EMT and plans to work as one on campus in the future. Emma spent her spring and summer interning for the childhood psychology startup BabyNoggin, researching the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences on early education under Dr. Jin Lee. She is currently teaching biology to middle and high school students with the e-learning startup Curious Cardinals.

Bina Wasunga Kakusa, M.D.

3rd year Neurosurgery Resident

Stanford Health

He graduated with a B.S. in computer science and neuroscience from the College of William and Mary where his work focused on brain computer interfaces. His current research interests are in the areas of global neurosurgery and functional neurosurgery with an emphasis in machine learning.

Harvard University

Stanford University School of Medicine

She graduated from Harvard with her Bachelor's in Molecular and Cellular Biology and her Master's in Engineering in 2014 and spent a few years working on a manufacturing startup in Uganda prior to starting medical school. Kathy's research interests include health disparities and outcomes.

Emily Nguyen is a 4th year undergraduate student double majoring in Physiology and Health and Disease at the University of Toronto. She is also the lead of a research team in the Multi-Organ Transplant Department at Toronto General Hospital, where she is involved in several projects surrounding kidney transplantation, specifically immunosuppressive drug therapy, post-surgical complications, and patient education initiatives. Outside of school, she enjoys photography and volunteering at the Royal Ontario Museum where she works with youth in hands-on discovery learning. Emily’s passion for surgery stemmed from being an intern and a teaching assistant during her summers in Stanford’s CSSSI program and she hopes to pursue a medical career in the near future.

Dartmouth College        

Columbia University College of Physician and Surgeon 

2nd year Medical School.

She is a Presidential Scholar at Dartmouth currently working in an octopus cognition lab under Professor Peter Ulrich Tse. Honor is a member of the Dartmouth Ski Patrol and spends the winters as an emergency outdoor first responder at the Dartmouth Skiway. Recently she studied abroad in Paris, France, and spent time in Kenya as a volunteer at the Andersen Medical Center in Kitale, Kenya. She intends to attend medical school after graduation and hopes to specialize in either surgery or OB/GYN. Honor has been affiliated with the CSSSI and AAMS programs since 2015, and was a teaching fellow for the program in 2016.

Itai Palmon is a 1st General Surgery Resident at the University of Michigan Medical School. He is passionate about surgical education, mentorship, and innovation in healthcare. Itai received his undergraduate degree with high distinction and Phi Beta Kappa in biological physics from the University of Michigan, where he served as Editor-in-Chief for the University of Michigan Undergraduate Research Journal and President of the Pre-Surgical Club. He co-founded Mindset Technologies, a mobile application aiming to screen and monitor early-stage dementia.

Meewon Olivia Park is a senior medical student at the Stanford School of Medicine, expected to receive her M.D. degree in June 2021. She is passionate about patient-centered quality improvement and increasing access to surgical training in low- and middle-income countries. She received her undergraduate degree B.A cum laude in Neurobiology in 2014 at Harvard University. She conducted Alzheimer’s research for two years at Columbia University. At Stanford, she completed a Scholarly Concentration in Community Health with an application in Global Health. She conducted highly productive research in hand surgery, global health, quality improvement and plastic surgery, with her work resulting in several publications and national conference presentations. Meewon served as a teaching assistant for preclinical anatomy and surgical skills courses, mentor to underrepresented high school and college students, volunteer at local AIDS hospice home, and leader of Stanford’s Christian Fellowship.

Mary-Grace Reeves

Harvard University

2nd year Ophthalmology Resident

Washington University, St. Louis She graduated from Harvard College in 2016 where she majored in Chemistry and earned a citation in Spanish language. Her research in collaboration with Dr. Suzann Pershing and Stanford's Byers Eye Institute applies bioinformatics to explore changing practice patterns and success rates in ocular surgery. She is passionate about education structure and development, volunteering as student point on a subcommittee for medical school curriculum redesign, serving in multiple leadership roles for Stanford MD admissions, and voting as a member of the inaugural Harvard College Honor Council. Mary-Grace has studied classical ballet for 18 years, dancing under Boston Ballet Company instructors during her years at Harvard.

Sarah Tsou, MD

Harvard University

UCSF School of Medicine

1st yr Brigham Women’s Hospital, Harvard

Washington University

Stanford University

1st General Surgery. 

She has previously conducted basic science research in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and is currently exploring interests in Epidemiology and Public Health by conducting research in Chinese Health Policy with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Outside of academics, she is involved in women's leadership organizations, serves as an editor for the Stanford Journal of Public Health, is a member of Stanford's Club Swimming team, and enjoys running half-marathons. Janice's passion for medicine began in high school when she spent summers working at the Cardiothoracic Surgical Skills Lab at Stanford, and she hopes to attend medical school in the future.