The NATMA Student Membership Committee will be hosting its Inaugural Seminar: Preparing for Medical School Applications and Interviews.
Date: April 26, 2025 (Sat)
Time: 1:00-2:30 pm Eastern Time
Agenda
6 Taiwanese-American medical students across the US will share their journey on how they prepared for their US medical school applications and interviews.
Speakers
Allison Chou is a current M1 at Harvard Medical School. She was born and raised in Taipei and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in neuroscience. At Penn, she worked in Dr. Sigrid Veasey’s lab researching mechanisms of neural injuries in chronic sleep disruption and Alzheimer’s Disease. After graduating, she received the Fulbright/Swiss Government Research Award and spent a year in Bern, Switzerland working in Dr. Antoine Adamantidis’ lab to study the cellular consequences of sleep wave oscillations. Now at HMS, she is interested in the global health of neurological conditions. Outside of academics, she loves doing Pilates, traveling, swimming, and hiking.
Catherine Chang is a first-year medical student at Rush Medical College. She was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, and earned her bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Health Care Management from the University of Pennsylvania. During her time at Penn, she was actively involved with the Penn Medical Emergency Response Team and served as President of the Penn Taiwanese Society. In 2023, she was awarded the Penn President’s Engagement Prize, which supported her co-founding of Act First, a nonprofit organization that equips Philadelphia high school students with essential first aid skills, including CPR. At Rush, Catherine is involved with the Community Health Clinic and APAMSA, and she is currently exploring various medical specialties. In her free time, she enjoys playing badminton and discovering new restaurants around Chicago.
Austine Peng is a rising MS3 at UCSF with a strong commitment to emergency medicine, acute care, health equity, and mentorship. Born in the Bay Area and raised in rural Illinois, Nevada, and Taiwan, Austine studied Public Health and MCB at UC Berkeley, with a minor in Global Poverty & Practice. They were Executive Director of UCB’s Suitcase Clinic, co-founded the Berkeley Outreach Coalition during the COVID-19 pandemic, and served in ITASA and TASA leadership. After graduation, they worked as an intensive case manager at an FQHC in Oakland. At UCSF, Austine helped relaunch the student-run Shelter Clinic, founded UCSF’s first-ever Taiwanese American Student Association, led initiatives like the Human Rights Clinic, Companion Care, and PrideMed, and served as the AMA-MSS Region 1 Service Chair. Outside of medicine, they enjoy fishkeeping and aquascaping, performing music with friends, and trying new shaved ice spots.
Hudson Liu is a rising M3 at Georgetown University School of Medicine. He hails from San Diego, California, and studied Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University. After college, he received a Fulbright teaching grant to work in Taiwan for a year before medical school, and also interned at a medical device startup. At Georgetown, he has been involved with GUSOM Executive Council as Chair of External Affairs, Georgetown Street Medicine Outreach, Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association (APAMSA), and Hoyas Interested in Psychiatry. His current specialty interests include ENT, psychiatry, internal medicine, and family medicine. Yes, he knows those are all very different. For fun, he enjoys playing basketball, making ceramics, playing board games, and hiking.
Samuel Chang is a current MD/PhD trainee at the UAB Heersink School of Medicine, Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP); he is in the last few months of his PhD and will return to medical school as third year student this summer. Samuel is from San Diego California, and attended undergrad at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) where he majored in Psychological and Brain Sciences with a minor in Asian American Studies; at WashU, he did sarcoma metabolism research. After college he deferred his MSTP acceptance to work at the St. Louis Metro Market, a food access nonprofit addressing food deserts and insecurity in St. Louis, and to study abroad at National Cheng Kung University Medical School in Tainan, Taiwan. At UAB medical school and PhD, Samuel has been active his academic community, for example he served as president of the UAB chapter of the Asian Pacific Islander Medical Student Association. Since starting the MSTP, Samuel has been continuously NIH funded through various T32 grants, and his own F30 fellowship award. His clinical interests, similar to his PhD, lie at the intersection of diabetes and cardiovascular disease; and outside of the MD/PhD, Samuel enjoys learning Karate, running with a local run club, singing in his church choir and traveling (especially back to Taiwan).
Stephen Yao is a MS4 medical student at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix. He is the first in his family to pursue a career in medicine. Born in Socorro, a small town in New Mexico, and raised in Tucson, AZ, Stephen completed his undergraduate studies in Molecular Cellular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Arizona in Tucson and worked as an EMT during the COVID pandemic before matriculating into medical school. He previously served as Vice President of the Medical Student Government and was heavily involved in APAMSA. Outside of medicine, he enjoys music production, playing sports, woodworking, and tinkering. He is passionate about mentorship, has many student pre-med mentees, and always happy to support those exploring the path to medical school.
Please Register for the seminar at: https://forms.gle/WfwbEpsudkFvMgQLA and a zoom link will be sent to you before the seminar.
Feel free to forward this email to people who you think might be interested in this topic.
Looking forward,
Peter
2025-2026 NATMA President
