Features
Summer 2025 Featured Pre-Health Husky Emerald Chuesh
Being able to mitigate the harmful impacts of anxiety and stress are really important to me as a health advocate, and I'm excited to continue my work into the summer and hopefully into following years.
Emerald Chuesh is working toward her UW Bothell degree in Health Studies with minors in Biology and Neuroscience. She was recently featured as one of the University of Washington’s Husky 100 award recipients. You can connect with Emerald on LinkedIn.
Tell us more about what you’re doing currently.
Over the past year and a half, I have been working under Dr. Bryan White of the School of STEM and Dr. Linda Eaton of the School of Nursing and Health Studies in the SMARTS research project. We sought out to design a mindfulness intervention and see if playing it directly before an exam would reduce heart rate and stress levels in students. I’m excited to report that I’ve been able to share some really promising data and trends about our research project 4 times at various symposiums, showcases, and conferences. Being able to mitigate the harmful impacts of anxiety and stress are really important to me as a health advocate, and I’m excited to continue my work into the summer and hopefully into following years.
For the summer of 2023 (and continuing into summer of 2024), I worked as a Unit Leader for Camp Prov, a day-camp for children with disabilities. Through this camp I had the wonderful opportunity to work directly with children of varying ages and varying disabilities, and it was super interesting being able to see what life with a disability is like. They’re just kids who want to have fun, and I felt so lucky to be able to bring that experience to them. As a student in public health, learning about different marginalized groups is super important to me, and throughout my academic experience individuals with disabilities are rarely explicitly highlighted as individuals who face health disparities. Being able to see a glimpse into the life of children who have disabilities was an insightful experience, and I’m thankful I got to learn about some of the daily habits, struggles, and joys of children with disabilities.
Working with children fueled my passion for pediatrics, but working directly with mental disorders has catalyzed an interest in neuroscience. This, in combination with my experience in research, my job in the biology lab, and my biochemistry classroom experience from a wonderful professor, has opened up options of both medical school and graduate/PhD programs after I get a bachelor’s degree, which I am extremely grateful for.
Over the summer, I will be studying for the MCAT while continuing to work in the UWB Biology Lab and the day camp for children with disabilities. I’m glad that I get to follow my passions while preparing for my career post-graduation.
What resources did you find most helpful when it came to career or graduate/professional school exploring, preparing, and applying?
As a first generation college student, I often find myself turning to my peers for support and guidance, as they are much more prepared than I am to face the world after we graduate. I’m honored to be surrounded by so many inspiring students who are all doing incredible work, and I love hearing about their experiences and how they are preparing for their life after graduation.
What was your favorite thing about being a UW Bothell Husky?
One of my favorite things about being a UWB Husky is the amount of direct connections I’m able to make with peers and professors on a small campus. I don’t think I would’ve been able to have the opportunities or experiences that I have being lost in the sea of hundreds of students in the crowd, so I’m grateful for the connections I’ve been able to make attending UWB.
If you could go back to your first day at UWB, what advice would you give yourself?
Med school isn’t everything!!!
I know you’re so dead-set on getting into medical school and getting an MD after you graduate, but don’t worry so much about staying right on track. You’ll get to explore science, do research, work in a myriad of different fields, and with a better idea on what you want you can decide later if you still want to go to med school or not. AND IT’S OKAY IF YOU DON’T!!!
Thank you, Emerald!
We are so fortunate to have you among our UWB Husky Family. You’re doing so much to pave the way for future Pre-Health Huskies; we are grateful that you’ll be here for another year to help mentor and support them!
Past Featured Alumni
- February 2022 – Casey Cummins – Spring 2020 BA in Health Studies with minors in Biology and Chemistry
- March 2022 – Sebastien Khoutxaysana – Spring 2020 BA in Health Studies with a minor in Health Education & Promotion
- April 2022 – Van Nguyen – Spring 2020 BS in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Neuroscience
- May 2022 – Yasmin Guzman – Spring 2020 BA in Health Studies with a minor in Health Education & Promotion
- June 2022 – John Masembe – Spring 2020 BA in Health Studies
- July 2022 – Raday Gonzalez – Spring 2020 BA in Health Studies
- August 2022 – Andrew Marimon-Cabamalan – Spring 2009 BA in Business Administration with concentrations in marketing and management
- September 2022 – LaShanta Sealy Mahanti – Winter 2020 BA in Health Studies with a minor in Health Education & Promotion
- October 2022 – Atif Bhatti – Autumn 2018 BS in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Neuroscience
- November 2022 – Monserrat Morales Miranda – Spring 2020 BA in Health Studies with minors in Global Health and Health Education & Promotion
- December 2022 – Kiana Imani – Spring 2020 BS in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Neuroscience
- Winter 2023 – Keita Shimizu – Spring 2021 BA in Health Studies with minors in Global Health & Policy Studies
- Spring 2023 – Lilia Matevosyan – Winter 2023 BA in Health Studies with a minor in Neuroscience
- Summer 2023 – Andrew Collins – Spring 2018 BS in Biochemistry
- Autumn 2023 – Toluwani Oluwa-Tofehinti – Spring 2020 BS in Biology
- Winter 2024 – Ngoc-Vy Mai – Winter 2022 BA in Health Studies and Science, Technology, & Society with minors in Global Health and Health Education & Promotion
- Spring 2024 – Ali Mirzazadeh – Spring 2023 BS in Biology and MS in Biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University.