Student Spotlight – Meet Amal Elmady!

My name is Amal Elmady, and I am a third-year first-generation student majoring in Behavioral Neuroscience with a minor in Public Health, on the Pre-PA track. I am from Brookfield, Connecticut, a small town in Fairfield County.

When I started my freshman year in 2020, I was so confident I was going to go to medical school and become a psychiatrist. However, over the course of the past two years, I’ve learned a lot about myself, re-assessed my priorities and values, and realized what I want the decade after I graduate to look like. I aspire to be a PA working in pediatrics, and I can credit my clarity to the experiences I’ve had here at Northeastern:

Through my involvement with AmeriCorps Jumpstart, first volunteering as a team member and now as a Team Leader, I learned how much I value education equity, especially as a first-generation student. Following the same path, I also volunteer at Boston Children’s Hospital in the Cardiology Department. In this role, I’ve been able to provide support to patients, with ages ranging from 1 month to 18 years old, and their families. Being in a hospital setting and having the chance to speak with nurses, doctors, and PAs has helped me recognize the reality of my career and solidify my passion for children medicine. This past spring, I was on my first co-op in the Speech and Neurodevelopment Lab on campus, where I was able to perform clinical research on infants and their mothers, and assess how various environmental factors impacted their neurodevelopment. I also work at the Russel J. Children’s Center as a Teacher’s Assistant and help further support emotional and educational development!

When I’m not working with kids, I am helping lead the College of Science Student Diversity Advisory Council (COSSDAC) as the Mentorship Coordinator. I organize and coordinate the Mediment and Pre-PhD programs, where I pair NU undergraduate mentees with either Harvard Medical School student mentors or Northeastern PhD candidate mentors. I am also a mentor in NEURONS, where I support my two mentees by providing advice and sharing my past experiences as a BNS student.

In addition, I am a part of the Boston Health Initiative (BHI), where I focus on educating myself and others on important public health issues, such as sex education and homelessness. I am very passionate about public health and helping make Boston a more equitable place for immigrants and marginalized communities. I hope to stay in Boston after earning my degree, hopefully providing the best healthcare possible to these populations.

Most recently, I became an RA in the M1LK Community, where I work with second-year students. Moving forward this year, I will be working to earn my EMT license to gain patient-care hours for PA school, spending more time on myself and self-care, and prioritizing the friends and family that support and inspire me. If I had any advice, it would be to focus less on what others are doing, and to work on achieving your happiness; learn about yourself and the kind impact you want to have on the world, because at the end of the day, it’s your life and no one else’s.