Leadership
MERICIEN VENZON, MD-PhD Trainee (GS2)
Co-Founder and Program Director
A Bay Area native, Ms. Venzon graduated as Moreau Catholic High School’s Valedictorian and Associated Student Body President. Figure skating competitively since she was four years old, she also won the 2009 Philippine National Championships, earning her a spot to represent the Philippines at the 2010 Olympic Trials and 2011 World Championships in Moscow, Russia.
At UCLA, Mericien continued to compete internationally while also founding UCLA’s first national figure skating club team. In addition, she was an active member of Pilipinos for Community Health, running senior citizen health screening sites on the weekends. She first got interested in research as an undergraduate and was awarded UCLA's HHMI Undergraduate Research Scholarship. In the ER as part of UCLA’s elite Stroke Team, she assisted in enrolling patients in clinical research trials testing intra-ambulance therapy to more rapidly identify and treat cerebral ischemia. In the Alfaro lab, she pursued her interests in bioinformatics and was the first to apply mathematical models conventionally used in studies of vertebrates to viruses, including flu and HIV, to investigate differential evolutionary dynamics in nonpathogenic vs. pathogenic human viruses. She graduated with highest departmental honors from UCLA in 2014, majoring in Biology with a minor in Evolutionary Medicine. She was chosen as one of five recipients of the 2014 True Bruin Distinguished Senior Award, was honored as a Bruinlife Senior of the Year, and is featured in UCLA’s Optimist Campaign among other prestigious alumni.
She matriculated in New York University School of Medicine’s MD-PhD/Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) in 2016 and joined the Cadwell Lab in March 2018. Currently in her second year of her PhD under the NIH Pre-doctoral Training Fellowship, her thesis project is looking at the interrelationships between the gut microbiome, host immune system, and intestinal parasites to identify new targets for treatment of human parasitic worm infections. She founded NYUSoM’s Women in MSTP group which helps foster community, mentorship, and allyship in a male-dominated field. Most recently, she was one of the founders of ppe2nyc.com, a centralized grassroots solution to NYC’s PPE shortage at the peak of COVID-19 that enabled PPE to be efficiently collected and distributed to hospitals, nursing homes, and homeless shelters where NYC needed it most via a text-in hotline. Her career aspirations include running her own translational research lab and specializing in neonatology. She prioritizes practicing wellness regularly through hip hop yoga, boxing, and trying to find NYC’s best pizza slice.
Brittany Tran, Medical Student (MS3)
Vice Director of Advocacy
Ms. Tran graduated top five at Trabuco Hills High School and majored in Chemistry and Chemical Biology and minored in East Asian Studies and Nutrition and Health at Cornell University. In her time at high school, she was involved promoting literacy and service in her community by being a Team Leader volunteer in the children’s Summer Reading Program at her local public library. She also tutored other high school students in math and chemistry in high school, and was involved in Key Club, National Honor Society, and California Scholarship Federation. She also was a participant in the ACS Chemistry Olympiad for high school students and took over 7 AP courses. She also was on the varsity lacrosse team for 3 years.
At Cornell University, she was a resident advisor for freshmen for 3 years, the historian of Alpha Epsilon Delta pre-health honors society, and a member of Alpha Chi Sigma professional chemistry fraternity. She also was an undergraduate research assistant in a plant virus biology lab at Cornell, a research intern in an acupuncture cardiovascular regulation lab at UCI School of Medicine, and a research volunteer in a traumatic brain injury lab at UCI School of Medicine.
Ms. Tran is now currently a medical student at UMASS Chan Medical School. She is currently interested in cardiology or hematology/oncology as specialties. At her school, she is a leader of an organization that aims to increase community awareness and practices about hands-only CPR and is a leader of the Hematology Oncology Interest Group. She is also involved in research evaluating the reproducibility of long-term teaching in CPR trainers.
Linh vo,
Vice Director of Professional Development
Ms. Vo graduated top five at Bolsa Grande High School and is currently majoring in Biology and minoring in Asian American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is known for her vast involvement in multiple campus organizations: project intern at the Asian American Studies Center, research assistant for Antonio Moya’s Pilipino AmericaN Stroke Intervention Project (PANSIN) and Andrew Wikenheiser's Psychology Lab, and student volunteer for the Asian Pacific American Health Care, Mobile Eye Clinic, and Bruin Belles Service Association. She is passionate about offering solutions to problems, as well as touching others’ lives with her passion for medicine. Her community service in local charities, research experiences in extending care to the Greater Los Angeles community, and hospital internships both abroad and in the United States inspired her to write her published book, The Healthcare Conversation: Navigating the U.S. Health System. After finishing her formal undergraduate education, she hopes to become a physician and community servant dedicated to advocating and bringing about medical inclusiveness and health access to underserved areas.
Valentina Im,
Vice Director of Operations
Ms. Im graduated from Foothill High School and is currently a third-year double majoring in Chemistry and Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In high school, she was president of National Honor Society, French Honor Society, and Science for Youth, an organization dedicated to inspiring young minds with science demonstrations weekly and a student-run Elementary Science Olympiad. Additionally, she was a part of her school's DECA and won 2nd place at the international level. Alongside these academic endeavors, she also was a part of the dive team and tutored her peers in math and English. Now at UCLA, she is a part of the only pre-medical fraternity, Phi Delta Epsilon, and she holds the position of Vice President of Recruitment. She is also one of the Directors of Analytics with the Community Service Commission (CSC), a branch of the Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) and the largest community-service organization across the nation. Recently, she also joined the Academic Advancement Program as a Peer Learning Facilitator, helping fellow peers learn multivariable calculus. In her free time, she enjoys baking, running, reading, and discovering new foods. Currently, she plans on finishing her schooling at UCLA and continuing onto medical school to one day become a physician.
Minh Luong,
Vice Director of Public Relations
Ms. Luong graduated from Rowlett High School and is currently majoring in Biology with a concentration in Cell and Molecular Biology at Baylor University. During her time at her university, she has earned the prestigious Legacy Scholarship Award sponsored by Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and the Baylor Dean's Gold Scholarship, four-year merit-based scholarships. She has extensive medical experience in hopes of becoming a future pediatrician. She previously interned at the Frisco Plano Children Pediatrics Center, working with patients and clinicians in order to help improve quality of care for kids. She is currently a crisis counselor for the Crisis Text Line and a hospice volunteer at Interim Hospice Healthcare. Furthermore, she has had the opportunity to shadow physicians in family medicine and pediatric specialties. She has strong research interests, working as an undergrad research assistant for the Acquatic Ecology Research Laboratory as well as the Genes and Development Research Laboratory for Baylor University's Department of Biology where she had the opportunity to published her work.
