Features
Spring 2025 Featured Alum Arnav Gambhir
Don't participate to just participate, but enjoy your journey.
Arnav Gambhir graduated from UW Bothell in Spring 2023 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and a minor in Neuroscience. Connect with Arnav on LinkedIn!
Tell us more about what you’re doing currently.
I am currently working as a Medical assistant in a Neurosurgery clinic at the moment. My surgeon focuses on complex spine cases, so if you ever look at the Xrays of patients who have had a surgery done, it looks like we built a building with scaffolding inside their body. It is a great opportunity to not just connect with patients and follow them through their journey with surgery, but also to gain experience with the amount of paperwork and authorizations needed to run a clinic. I also help out 2 surgeons in my clinic with research projects at Seattle Science Foundation. I am currently working on Goutallier Classification of paraspinal muscles, basically looking at if fatty infiltration of those muscles changes patient outcomes after complex spine surgeries. These opportunities have allowed me to work with individuals that are at the top in their filed, and has been eye opening to the amount of work and effort that goes into becoming a competent physician. I admire the surgeons I work with, and they now serve as my north star-guiding my ship to become the person I want to be.
I am also volunteering at a food bank, which allows me to gain experience with the most vulnerable population in our community. Currently in the process of applying to become a volunteer with the crisis text line, which will allow me to experience another underserved population in distress, and build the skills to help them as much as I can.
What resources did you find most helpful when it came to career or graduate/professional school exploring, preparing, and applying?
Nothing makes you learn faster than hands on experience, and I will be carrying all that I have learned from last year into this years application. If you have tenacity, you will find a way to get experience to build skills of becoming a physician anywhere. No one would hire me in the medical field without any licenses, and volunteering was low stakes and boring. So I decided to get my phlebotomy license, and somehow met with the admin team at a local hospital and pleaded them to hire me as an MA with no experience. Shockingly, it worked. Soon after, I decided to throw my application at an urgent care with no expectations of hearing back. Within 2 days of applying, I was hired. After 6 months at the urgent care and giving my MCAT, I decided to apply for my Neurosurgery position. 2 weeks later, I was hired. I am now approaching a year at this clinic, and it has allowed me to pursue my goals with patient experience and research at the same time.
If I could sum up my experience and offer advice, it would be to just jump in head first with the intentions of doing your best at every step. Don’t participate to just participate, but enjoy your journey. Don’t fear your MCAT, jump in with focus on every question and do your best. A common fear I had with research was feeling inadequate in my knowledge of topics, and worrying about how well I would be able to participate. It literally does not matter. Jump in with the best intentions and you will learn.
What was your favorite thing about being a UW Bothell Husky?
The community is outstanding. Everyone genuinely wants each other to succeed, all the way from advisors and students/peers. Everyone is willing to help, and it is comforting knowing that I have a whole community behind my efforts.
If you could go back to your first day at UWB, what advice would you give yourself?
Try your best without worrying about the result.
Worrying about the result has held me back the most, and it has also been the most futile worrying I have engaged in. No point in worrying about the end point if you haven’t even started the process.
Thank you, Arnav!
All your learning and doing is so inspirational! May we all enjoy the journey as much as you have.
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.
- Summer 2024 – Emerald Chuesh – UW Husky 100 Awardee for 2024
- Autumn 2024 – Vivian Lam – UW Husky 100 Awardee for 2024
- Winter 2025 – Amelia Alam – Summer 2023 BS in Biochemistry with minors in Biology and Neuroscience