Casey Collet is the recipient of the 2018 Health Guardians of America Public Health Fellowship Award and serves as one of the student directors for our flagship medical health project responsible for the operations across 25-50 college campuses in the United States. Prior to her national role, she was the UCLA HGA President and joined as a founding member in early January 2016. In addition to leading the digital health project, she is involved in the design of several research studies for the project. After graduating summa cum laude from UCLA with a degree in Psychobiology, she is now helping children who have autism and tutoring middle and high school students as an incoming first-year MD student this fall at Keck School of Medicine of USC. Besides her professional involvements, Casey enjoys exercising, spending time in nature, and making art.

Jamie Lee is responsible for the strategy and operations of the health project and the health project outreach efforts as a national student director. He previously served as Chapter President of Berkeley HGA after joining the health organization as a student member in January 2016. He is a recent graduate of Berkeley majoring in Integrative Biology. He was the lab manager of the Caldwell Lab, member of the Phi Chi Pre-Health Society, and a volunteer at Maitri Compassionate Care in San Francisco. Jamie has experience teaching elementary students about health education, volunteering at homeless clinics, shadowing doctors in Mexico, making sushi, and qualifying for CPR/AED certification. Jamie has multitude of hobbies including photography, cooking and exercise. He intends to pursue a career in medicine.

Shreya Mathur is the Director of Health Impact for Health Guardians America, and founding president for the Health Guardians chapter at UC Santa Cruz. She is pursuing a degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, with plans to apply to medical school following graduation. In addition to medicine, Shreya hopes to gain exposure into the worlds of research and biotechnology by taking a gap year before setting course for medical school. She is the 2016 recipient of the Ellen Renard Memorial Scholarship for Chemistry, and is currently researching on a project for the Stanford University Medical Center. Outside of academics, she personally enjoys long hikes and road trips, improving her dreadful cooking skills, and spending time with her closest friends. Shreya is passionate about preventive health and primary medicine, and is extremely grateful for the opportunity to bring this organization to her university.

Amber Chung is an undergraduate senior majoring in General Biology at UCSD and is originally from Irvine, CA. At UCSD, she has been actively involved in students organizations such as AMSA and Saltman Quarterly, in addition to leading the UCSD HGA Chapter as president. Aside from her student life leadership responsibilities, she has continued to develop her passion for teaching and service by volunteering at her local community teaching high school students. At the Preuss School, she helps first-generation, undocumented low income immigrants tutoring students with their academic studies. She has experience as an intensive care unit hospital volunteer at the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center and has engaged in basic science research investigating antibody phage therapy at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology. She currently works at an optometry office and is a study coordinator for the Alcon Contact lens clinical trials. Upon graduation, she hopes to pursue her passions in public health and teaching. In her free time, she enjoys trying new recipes, exercising, and learning new music.

Bennet Tseng is a third year Nutritional Science major with a minor in Asian American Studies and is the current President of HGA at UC Berkeley. He is from Walnut, CA and is interested in pursuing a career in sports medicine. Beyond the classroom, Bennet is a member of the Phi Chi Pre-Health Fraternity, a researcher at Wang Lab, and a lab assistant at the UCSF/ZSFGH Orthopaedic Trauma Institute. His hobbies include watching all types of sports, listening to music, and cooking.

Justin Lee is a third year undergraduate Molecular and Cell Biology Major with an emphasis in Neurobiology and is from Boulder, CO. He is the current Co-President of the HGA Berkeley Chapter along with Bennet Tseng. His main fields of interest encompass Neurosurgery and Sports Medicine. Outside of school, Justin works at the Spine Clinic at the UCSF Parnassus Campus under Dr. Praveen Mummaneni as a Clinical Research Assistant. He is also currently shadowing Dr. Peter Sun at the UCSF Children’s Hospital in Oakland where he observes a multitude of procedures from Craniotomies to multi-level Spinal Laminectomies and Fusions. On campus, Justin serves as one of the primary instructors for a DeCal (undergraduate run class usually taken for 1-3 Units) called Introduction to Surgery where he gives lectures on different surgical practices and techniques while also providing a hands on workshop experience for students that are interested in learning how to perform basic surgical techniques such as suturing and knot-tying. In his free time, Justin enjoys playing basketball, playing guitar and hanging out with his friends.

Claire Kelsey is the founding president for Vanderbilt University’s Health Guardians chapter. Claire is a senior double-majoring in Medicine, Health & Society and Human & Organizational Development. She is on the premed track and hopes to attend medical school following graduation. Claire plans to take a gap year before matriculating to medical school and is searching for public health or clinical research positions in order to learn more about preventative and community health care. Her interest in global and public health peaked after spending the fall of 2016 studying at the Institute for Global Health at University College London. She has been able to continue to gain field experience throughout fall of 2017 by serving as an intern within the Trauma Injury Prevention Department at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital. Outside of academics and her interest in medicine, Claire enjoys running, trying new recipes and spending time outside with friends. She is extremely excited to bring Health Guardians to Vanderbilt and believes in the mission of the organization and the passion of the people behind it.

Vyshnavi is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a science degree in neuroscience. Aside from serving as the Founding Co-President of Johns Hopkins HGA Chapter, she was involved with Camp Kesem, a student group that organizes a weeklong summer camp for children whose parents have been affected by cancer. She was also a member of Nu Rho Psi, an undergraduate neuroscience society. She is involved with clinical research and academic medicine projects at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Neurology Department. In addition, she is a volunteer at the Hopkins Pediatric Emergency Department. She plans on attending medical school and would like to pursue a career in either pediatrics or neurology. She is especially passionate about informal education, especially regarding medicine and healthcare, and is therefore excited to be involved with HGA and spread awareness about the importance of fitness and nutrition.

Hey everyone! I am a third year student at UCSB majoring in Biology. I’m originally from Sacramento but moved to SoCal for school. I am a part of Los Amiguitos and AMSA in addition to HGA. I also volunteer at a diabetes research center in Santa Barbara, where we test the accuracy of new glucose monitors—one which was recently FDA approved—and other innovative, modern treatments. I am really interested in learning about preventive health care and disease treatment, which are some of the reasons why I want to pursue a career in medicine. I am a big advocate of educating the public about risk factors for certain chronic diseases because many people are not even aware of the potential harmful effects of some of their habits. Working part-time as a medical assistant has given me a glimpse into how illnesses are diagnosed and how treatment plans are devised and further motivates me to reach my goals. I love hiking, cooking, and playing piano in my free time. My favorite composer is Chopin, but my favorite piece is Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.

Radean is a sophomore at UC Santa Barbara majoring in Biological Sciences. He has been selected as the Co-President of the HGA Chapter, while also holding a leadership at Mu Delta Pre-Medical Fraternity as the Alumni Relations Chair. Aside from these leadership activities, Radean volunteers with Kids in Nutrition and conducts research at the Denise Montell Research Group investigating the role of cancer cell resistance against apoptosis through anastasis. In his free time, Radean enjoys beach runs and playing the guitar for a local heavy metal band. In the future, Radean plans to attend medical school.

Rachna is currently an undergraduate junior majoring in Genetics at Rutgers University and is planning to attend medical school in the future. She is excited to be a leading member of HGA to spread awareness about preventative medicine and fitness. Aside from being involved in HGA, Rachna also works with Kier’s Kidz, a non-profit that helps kids beat cancer, and volunteers in the Emergency Department at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. Outside of academics, Rachna loves traveling and trying new cuisines, riding roller coasters and water rides, and spending time with her friends.

Jean Llenos is currently a junior philosophy/pre-med double major at the University of Notre Dame! In addition to leading the Health Guardians chapter at Notre Dame, he helps lead and organize our Global Health Case Competition, run a mental health group on campus, and serve as an ambassador for the Philosophy department.  His main interest revolves around reconciling philosophical ideas like ethics and applying them to medicine from a behavioral standpoint.  As a freshman, his research design was awarded $12,500 to investigate the link between childhood trauma and oncological care.  Another research project he is involved in looks into ways to quantifiably measure and detect both compassionate and their barriers.  Jean plans to attend medical school to become a family physician.

Jasmin is an undergraduate senior currently studying at Johns Hopkins University and is a co-president of HGA at Johns Hopkins. She is a Molecular and Cellular Biology major, minoring in Psychology and is planning to attend medical school. She has been involved in sports all of her life, including cheering at the collegiate level at Johns Hopkins for two years, which has led her to want to pursue a career in Orthopedics. She is an undergraduate research assistant in the Chen Lab on the Johns Hopkins campus which is focused on the field of Epigenetics in Drosophila and C. elegans. She is excited to be a founding member of HGA because she recognizes the importance of addressing obesity and its many associated diseases and illnesses and looks forward to encouraging others to get active and improve their overall health.

Graeme was one of the founding partners having been involved in the early stages of the nonprofit and is a medical degree candidate at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He graduated from the University of California Berkeley majoring in integrative biology and was a competitive swimmer for the Cal Men’s Swimming. His collegiate athletic career consists of 19 All American appearances and 7 national relay championships. During his final season in 2011, Graeme was one of the seniors that led the Cal Men’s Swimming Team to a national championship title. At the age of 22, Graeme qualified to compete professionally representing South Africa in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He competed in the 100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter freestyle relay events, advancing to the final round and placing fifth overall in his second event. Realizing his passion for global health, he hopes to utilize his medical education to serve the communities of his native country of South Africa.

Dr. Sun was involved as a strategic advisor for the management team early on in the nonprofit as a medical student. He is currently a neurosurgery resident at the UCLA Medical Center. Prior to residency, he has published in numerous medical journals in the field of neurosurgery as a recipient of the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute research grant. He received his medical degree from the UCSF School of Medicine and bachelor’s degrees in biology and film studies from Stanford University where he performed as the concertmaster for the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and awarded the Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.

Caitlin is a founding member at the nonprofit and a USA Olympic swimmer notably earning a bronze medal in the 200-meter individual medley events at the 2012 London Olympics. She attended the University of California Berkeley on an athletic scholarship and was a competitive swimmer for the Cal Women’s Swimming. At the NCAA national championships in 2011, she swam the breaststroke legs for the Golden Bears’ winning relay teams in the 4×50-yard and 4×100-yard medley relay events setting a new American and NCAA record time. Her collegiate athletic career consists of countless All American appearances and winning individual national championships in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200-yard breaststroke events. In total, she has earned 7 medals at the Pan American Games, Pan Pacific Championships, and Olympic Games.

Hannah is a three-time Olympian swimmer having qualified to compete in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, and 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. She graduated from the University of California Berkeley and was a competitive swimmer for the Cal Women’s Swimming. Her college teammates include 2008 Summer Olympic Games 100 m backstroke gold medalist Natalie Coughlin and 4 × 100 m freestyle relay silver medalist Emily Silver. She has won two career Universiade gold medals and currently holds +10 Hong Kong records and two Universiade records in swimming.

Gordon is currently a physician resident and a recent graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine. He served as the founding co-president of the UC Berkeley chapter of the nonprofit organization. He contributed to the initial stages of the founding chapter at UC Berkeley. Prior to medical school, he double majored in Integrative Biology and Economics at University of California, Berkeley, where he completed a senior thesis examining the effects of HIV/AIDS on African economic growth. In addition, he took part in nutritional biochemistry and development economics research with two lab groups. His interests aside from medicine are indoor rock climbing, music, and foreign languages. He looks to unify his interest in healthcare economics with the knowledge and skills to develop innovative solutions that will refine the delivery of medical care.

Andrew is currently a physician resident at UCLA Medical Center and recently graduated from the UC Davis School of Medicine. Andrew has a strong passion for education and contributed to the development of the educational programs at the nonprofit organization. As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, he taught education, biology, and chemistry courses as an undergraduate instructor. Within the local community, he taught health workshops to under-served high school students through Peer Health Exchange. In addition to his teaching experiences, Andrew volunteered for the improvement of health and empowerment of the under-resourced Asian Pacific Islander (API) community as a member of the Hep B Project, REACH!, and the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers. Additionally, Andrew was a Teaching Assistant for the Field Study Internship, a subgroup of the Health and Medical Apprenticeship Program that places Cal students in shadowing positions with prominent Bay Area physicians. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in integrative biology with a minor in education.