Author: Rachel Pian

Rachel Pian Rachel Pian (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer Emeritus

Albany Medical College


Rachel is from Yorktown Heights, New York and has a rather peculiar and unyielding affinity for infectious disease. Before graduating from Yorktown High School in 2006, she carried out a three-year-long study on E. coli, which she presented at the 2006 International Science and Engineering Fair. Excited by that experience, and driven by her desire to make a lasting impact in the lives of others, Rachel pursued a premedical track at Boston University. At BU, Rachel earned distinction in biology through her research on White Nose Syndrome, a mysterious and devastating fungal disease that is currently wiping out northeastern U.S. bat populations. Also during her time as an undergrad, she worked as assistant director of the Health Career Opportunity Program at the New York University School of Medicine.

After graduating from BU in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in biology, Rachel earned her certification as an EMT and worked for a private ambulance company in Boston. The first person in her family to pursue a career in medicine, Rachel is currently working towards her MD degree at Albany Medical College, and looks forward to the many opportunities to come.




A Personal Oath

What a surreal feeling it was, to slip my hands — the same hands that pulled me across the floor as a baby, plucked worms from the ground as a mud-covered kid, collected E. coli-infested water samples throughout high school, flipped through MCAT study guides for an infinitesimal amount of time during college — into the sleeves of my white coat. They were the same hands, yes, but as they slid through those starchy sleeves, …

Rachel Pian Rachel Pian (1 Posts)

Contributing Writer Emeritus

Albany Medical College


Rachel is from Yorktown Heights, New York and has a rather peculiar and unyielding affinity for infectious disease. Before graduating from Yorktown High School in 2006, she carried out a three-year-long study on E. coli, which she presented at the 2006 International Science and Engineering Fair. Excited by that experience, and driven by her desire to make a lasting impact in the lives of others, Rachel pursued a premedical track at Boston University. At BU, Rachel earned distinction in biology through her research on White Nose Syndrome, a mysterious and devastating fungal disease that is currently wiping out northeastern U.S. bat populations. Also during her time as an undergrad, she worked as assistant director of the Health Career Opportunity Program at the New York University School of Medicine.

After graduating from BU in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in biology, Rachel earned her certification as an EMT and worked for a private ambulance company in Boston. The first person in her family to pursue a career in medicine, Rachel is currently working towards her MD degree at Albany Medical College, and looks forward to the many opportunities to come.